The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is partnering with the Khomas Directorate of Adult Education and Lifelong Learning, Namibia, to offer literacy, entrepreneurship and livelihood skills to women and girls, including persons with disabilities, in ten districts in the Khomas region.

Some examples of the training being carried out through this activity are provided below.

At the Windhoek Rural Primary School, the Khomas Capacity Building Project (KCBP) helped set up a vegetable garden in 2021. The teacher in charge explained that the school soup kitchen now harvests and uses assorted green leafy vegetables once a week. She stated, “We are happy that we can feed children from poorer families who may not have a meal. Any pupil interested in assisting in maintaining the garden is given vegetables to take home.”

Farm Versailles, a community located in the Khomasdal Rural District, holds tailoring classes for women in an old farmhouse where colourful displays of children’s clothing, quilts and fabric bags are visible. The trainer explained, “At first, only older women came in for training, but now the younger ones have so much interest after realising this is an income-generating opportunity.”

Ms Petrina Shiweda, Chief Education Officer, Subdivision of Adult and Continuing Education Programmes and leader of the delegation, noted that KCBP ensured that training in literacy and human rights went hand-in-hand with entrepreneurship. The project has acquired a generator and is providing fuel for running the tailoring equipment and fabrics.

Dr Karen Nyangara, COL Adviser: Gender, who visited some of the project sites noted that through the project, COL is offering young women an opportunity for empowerment through self-employment.  She noted that KCBP is uniquely placed to help transform the lives of the women and girls at Farm Versailles as the project staff, education officers in Adult and Lifelong Learning, have the expertise in adult and lifelong learning to expand training into other areas such as repair of farm machinery, pottery, general carpentry and plumbing.