Swakopmund: Rural communities continue to face persistent challenges, including poverty, limited access to basic services, and inadequate economic opportunities, despite progress recorded since independence. This is according to Erongo Governor Nathalia |Goagoses, at the opening of the Erongo Region Rural Development Forum Workshop in Swakopmund on Tuesday.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Governor |Goagoses emphasized the urgent need to translate rural development policies into concrete action that delivers visible and measurable improvements in the lives of people in underserved communities. 'When we discuss rural communities, we are speaking about mothers who walk long distances to fetch water, youth searching for employment opportunities, farmers who depend on the land, and elders who deserve dignity,' she noted, while calling for development efforts to move beyond policy discussions, to be felt by communities on the ground.
The governor highlighted the importance of the National Rural Development Policy, describing it as both a policy framework and a political obligation that requires visible and measurable action. She underscored the need to address disparities between rural and urban areas, calling for deliberate interventions to reverse existing imbalances.
Chief Regional Officer of the Erongo Regional Council, Sam Ntelamo echoed the governor's sentiments but cautioned that persistent structural and administrative challenges continue to hinder progress in rural areas. He noted that inadequate planning, weak coordination, and limited community involvement often result in duplicated interventions, with multiple institutions implementing similar programmes in the same areas while others remain neglected.
Ntelamo further stressed the importance of data-driven decision-making, warning that poor planning, such as introducing projects in areas without basic resources like water, undermines development outcomes. He also pointed to gaps in infrastructure, limited access to markets and finance, and the slow pace of decentralisation as key barriers to rural development.
According to Ntelamo, the imbalance between rural and urban development is largely driven by administrative limitations, with many programmes concentrated in urban centres while rural areas remain underserved. 'The consequences are evident in increased rural-to-urban migration, as people move in search of opportunities that are not available in their communities,' he said.