WINDHOEK: While Namibian development achievements so far are impressive, the challenges are equally daunting, said President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Thursday. Launching the National Development Plan (NDP4) in the capital on Thursday, Pohamba indicated that the economy is still not growing at a sufficient rate in order to generate the necessary employment opportunities for the citizens.

“Today we are faced with an unacceptably high level of unemployment. The level of the inequality in our society is still something that we cannot be satisfied with,” he said, adding that those challenges need to be addressed in order not to erode the gains the country has achieved so far. Given the development challenges ahead, Pohamba said, development planning has now become a key tool in unlocking the economic growth potential.

“Without proper planning, we run the risk of not identifying the real bottlenecks to our development. It is only when we are able to clearly identify the areas of our shortcomings that we have access at addressing our development challenges,” he stated. In the crafting of the NDP4, the team carefully reviewed the previous planning strategies to ensure that they improve on the effectiveness.

“Where it was found that earlier strategies did not deliver fully on what was expected of us, we agreed to modify our strategies. We alsdo agreed not to be satisfied only with what we did before, but to also be bold in introsducing new startegies,” he stated further. He explained further that NDP4 differs from the previous NDPs in one main aspect, explaining that given that there is no enough resources to address all the challenges at the same time, it was agreed to better prioritise the actions and to have fewer goals.

“We adopted a targeted approach towards economic development, where resources are targeted towards economic and social sectors with higher potential for socio-economic development,” he said.
The main goals are targeted in NDP4 are sustainable high economic growth, the creation of employment opportunities and the reduction of inequality in the distribution of economic benefits.

Cabinet Ministers, members of the Diplomatic corps, and high-ranking government officials among others witnessed the launch of the NDP4.
(edited)WINDHOEK; Namibia’s development achievements are impressive, but the challenges are equally daunting, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said on Thursday. Launching the National Development Plan Four (NDP4) in the capital, Pohamba indicated that the economy is still not growing at a sufficient rate in order to generate the necessary employment opportunities for its citizens.

“Today, we are faced with an unacceptably high level of unemployment. The level of inequality in our society is still something that we cannot be satisfied with,” he said, adding that those challenges need to be addressed in order not to erode the gains the country had achieved so far.

On the development challenges ahead, Pohamba said development planning has now become a key tool in unlocking the country’s economic growth potential. “Without proper planning, we run the risk of not identifying the real bottlenecks to our development. It is only when we are able to clearly identify the areas of our shortcomings that we have access at addressing our development challenges,” he stated.
In the crafting of NDP4, the team carefully reviewed the previous planning strategies to ensure that they improve on its effectiveness.

“Where it was found that earlier strategies did not deliver fully on what was expected of us, we agreed to modify our strategies. We also agreed not to be satisfied only with what we did before, but to also be bold in introducing new strategies,” the president stated.

He explained that NDP4 differs from the previous NDPs in one main aspect, because given the fact that there are not enough resources to address all the challenges at the same time, it was agreed to better prioritise the actions, and to have fewer goals.

“We adopted a targeted approach towards economic development, where resources are targeted towards the economic and social sectors with higher potential for socio-economic development,” he noted.

The main goals targeted in NDP4 are sustainable high economic growth; the creation of employment opportunities; and the reduction of inequality in the distribution of economic benefits. Cabinet Ministers, members of the Diplomatic Corps and high-ranking Government officials were amongst the guests who witnessed the launch.