Namibia

One of the youngest nations in Africa, Namibia achieved independence from South Africa (SA) in 1990. Since then, politics have been dominated by a strong ruling party, SWAPO, whose leader, Dr Sam Nujoma, stepped down as President of Namibia in 2005. Namibia has a good track record of stable macro-economic management and a sound environment for private sector investment. It is rated the fifth least corrupt country in Africa. President Pohamba, who was elected in 2004, declared the fight against corruption a top priority. In regional politics Namibia often plays a moderating role, and it provides an important contingent to the UN Peace Keeping Force in Liberia.

A lower middle income country with an average GDP per capita of USD 3 157, Namibia remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, despite an improvement in the Gini coefficient from 0.7 in 1993/94 to 0.6 in 2003/4. 10% of Namibia's population of 2.03 million2 receive 50% of the national income, while 28% of the population – mostly black – are considered poor. GRN post-independence policies were guided by a national reconciliation drive, land reform based on the “willing seller-willing buyer” principle, a strong effort in education, and job creation through affirmative action in the civil service and the parastatal sector. However, there is now widespread disillusionment with the perceived slow pace of transfer of land-ownership, high unemployment and the persistence of inequalities. Cheap manufactured imports limit possibilities for job creation outside the civil service, farming, tourism and the capital-intensive mining sector (Namibia has sizeable mineral – gold, uranium and diamond – reserves). The civil service is 2.5 times larger than the sub-Saharan average, and eats 43% of government spending, making civil service reform an urgent requirement. Adding to these challenges is the poor quality of education outcomes – despite high enrolment rates – which fail to provide young Namibians with the skills and qualities required in a global economy. With a prevalence rate of 20%, HIV/AIDS is taking a heavy toll and has reduced life expectancy to now only 46 years.

Support under EDF10 will retain the priority sectors of EDF9, i.e. education/human resource development and rural development, with the aim of assisting the Government's effort to reduce poverty as specified in the Vision 2030, the 1998 Poverty Reduction Plan and the 3rd National Development Plan (NDP3) currently in preparation. The design of the Country Support Strategy took into account the activities of MS and other development partners (DPs), including the major assistance expected from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) starting in 2008, and the results of consultations with non-state actors. Implementation mechanisms for Community support will promote the application of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. In rural development, EC support will be closely aligned with NDP3 and include the development of a SWAp. Community support to the sector will extend to (i) rural economic activities, partly with a view to benefits from improved market access to the regional market and the EU under an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA); (ii) land reform; (iii) rural water supply; (iv) sanitation; and (v) road construction. In education, modalities for a sector-wide approach (SWAp) have been put in place with the ETSIP programme, a 15-year strategic plan. This will be complemented by support in non-focal areas, directed on the one hand towards increasing civil service efficiency and effectiveness in areas related to the priority sectors and on the other hand to leveraging NSAs’ contributions, both to the priority areas and to the governance agenda, including economic governance and democratization. EDF10 support will pay increased attention to coherence with other EU policies such as agriculture, environment and trade. Namibia is negotiating an EPA with the EU in a configuration with 7 other SADC countries to replace the current unilateral trade preferences as from 1 January 2008 under the name of SADC-EPA.