PHASE 2 ACTIVITIES
To add its voice to those advocating for national governments to invest more in food security and rural development, NRWA sent a delegation of 27 members from Kavango West, Kavango East and Zambezi Regions to the event. The national commemoration was held in Bunya, Kavango West Region and was attended by various people, organization, ministries, etc.
As a way of advocating for more enabling environment for improved food security, on the 15th August 2018, NRWA joined other farmers and civil society organizations from SADC to attend a one day meeting jointly hosted by the RWA and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) at Gateway Conference Centre, Windhoek. The main aim of this meeting was to share views and experience on the FISP and the public sector support for agroecology (AE) in Southern Africa.
Key issues from this meeting discussions:
Corruption, political abuse, cost and distance were pinpointed as the main factors limiting the involvement of farmers especially the poor ones.
NRWA also highlighted various challenges limiting Namibian farmers such as gender stereotypes, lack of access to land, climate change, lack of seeds, etc.
The representative from the Namibian MAWF (Mrs. Sophia Kasheeta) highlighted several initiatives set up by the ministry to empower the rural women engaged in livestock, crop production and processing
As the Namibia Rural Women made their voices heard during the regional consultation meetings, the Prime Minister’s office officially invited NRWA to delegate five (5) members to represent it at the 2 nd national land conference that took place from the 01st – 05th October 2018 at Safari Hotel. The theme of the land conference was “Towards a comprehensive and sustainable land reform in Namibia.” During the conference NRWA representatives participated and contributed to all discussion and also managed to submit their position paper. As a result of participating in the national land conference NRWA has been officially appointed by the Prime Minister’s office as a member of the high level committee (HLC), whose responsibilities among others include:
Providing advice to cabinet towards the implementation of the resolutions of the 2 nd national land conference.
Considering and endorsing the action plan of the 2 nd national land conference for cabinet approval.
Receive, review and recommend to cabinet the progress on the implementation of the 2 nd national land conference resolutions.
Providing advocacy and community participation on the matters related to the implementation of the national land conference resolutions.
Rallying and supporting land reform in Namibia.
As a way of visibility and strengthening their voice, in August 2018 about 200 NRWA members Joined the rest of Southern African Civil societies to participate in the 2018 SADC People’s Summit which was held from the 17th – 18th August 2018 at the Windhoek Show Ground. Apart from being a participant, NRWA also participated and contributed to one of the sessions hosted during the summit This session “Gender Justice and Empowerment” discussed securing women’s land rights, in their contribution NRWA representatives raised the issues of patriarchy, the inheritance system that disowns women of their land and property, the “Red Line” (veterinary cordon fence) limit farmers from the northern communal areas to market their cattle national and international, the illegal fencing of the communal land by the elite, the commercializing/commodifying of the communal land , etc. All these leave the Namibian rural woman without any power and source of income. Apart from participating, NRWA was also a member of the local committee that led the organizing of the SADC People’s Summit 2018. Because of all the effort put in by NRWA, they were one of organizations delegated to deliver the summit’s communique to the 38 th SADC Heads of State Summit at Safari Hotel.
Official launch of NRWA by the Deputy Minister of MGECW at Windhoek Show Ground – 17th August 2018
To be more visible and to strengthen the Namibia rural woman’s voice, NRWA officially launched its national chapter on the 16th August 2018 at Windhoek Show Ground on the sidelines of the SADC People’s Summit. This launch was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) Hon. Lucia Witbooi and it was witnessed by more than 300 people that included other RWA chapters from SADC, representatives from OSISA, TCOE, NDT, etc. Launching the NRWA national chapter has helped to strengthen the movement and become known across Namibia and SADC region, this is proven from the numerous invitations they are now getting from various ministries, civil society organizations, etc. One such invitation is from women in informal cross border trade (WICBT) in Namibia that invited NRWA to send names of those women that can represent it on WICBT.
As a way of visibility NRWA members from Hardap and !!Kharas Regions joined the rest of Namibia to celebrate the 2019 international women’s day which was held at Hoachanas in Hardap Region. During the event NRWA national coordinator sensitized those in attendance about the organization and also encouraged women to understand that they are mothers of the nation and their rights need to be respected by all.
In September 2019, NRWA administrator and the RFP for Erongo region joined other 24 young women to attend a three day social media training organized by RWA. The training took place in South Africa from the 25th – 27th September 2019 and its aim was build the social media skills of RWA young women so that they can use it as a medium for advocacy and information sharing with other rural women worldwide. During this training it was realized that though NRWA has a Facebook page it was dormant so the NRWA representatives were reminded to activate it and to ensure that it is updated regularly.
Community Outreach and Education). It was facilitated by Mo Salomon from the 23rd – 24th April 2019 and was attended by the NRWA steering committee and the regional focal persons. The main aim of the workshop was to equip the participants with better leadership and communication skills and tools for the well management of NRWA.
Two NRWA representatives participated in international social forum on mining and extractive economy which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2018. The main aim of the forum was to develop a common strategy for solidarity to guarantee human rights and to ensure a better world for the future generations.