[{"bbox": [83, 106, 1145, 185], "category": "Text", "text": "The other key ministries involved in the education sector are: the MGEPESW for ECD; the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), whose responsibility also includes nutrition; the Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT) for construction and maintenance. ECD is currently the only sub-sector that is not under the MoEAC."}, {"bbox": [83, 212, 1145, 345], "category": "Text", "text": "Responsibility for ECD is supposed to be migrating from the MGEPESW to the (better funded) MoEAC. This was achieved in South Africa at the beginning of 2022 thanks to a strong political impulse. This would provide a valuable model and lessons to be learned for an exhaustive strategy. Whilst it has been Government policy for many years for this to take place, it may be surmised that there are inhibiting factors that have slowed this process down, especially regarding the financial implications for each Ministry."}, {"bbox": [83, 378, 1145, 463], "category": "Text", "text": "The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are historical partners of the Government of Namibia in the sector of Education. UNICEF was the EU implementing partner during the 11th EDF ESRC."}, {"bbox": [83, 505, 1145, 661], "category": "Text", "text": "UNICEF has a 5-year country programme in place, which ends in 2023. A new 5-year plan is in preparation. Otherwise, annual working plans are being signed every year with the different ministries, including MoEAC, MGEPESW and MoHSS. UNICEF's international exposure and expertise would continue to be valuable assets, particularly on policy issues, including the activation of the IECD framework, advocacy and awareness activities at all engagement levels, data management, but also training of both teachers and educators and parental engagement in ECD."}, {"bbox": [83, 690, 1145, 769], "category": "Text", "text": "Civil society is very much involved in ECD. Their capacity to act in remote places, far from the action radius of the ministries, makes them privileged actors. The private sector also has an important role to play and their added value deserves to be reinforced, and their activities better coordinated towards common priorities"}, {"bbox": [123, 815, 511, 841], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.3 Additional Areas of Assessment"}, {"bbox": [123, 858, 578, 884], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.3.1 Pre-condition on Fundamental Values"}, {"bbox": [83, 922, 1145, 1106], "category": "Text", "text": "Since this is not a Sustainable Development Goals Contract, the precondition on Fundamental Values does not apply. As noted by the MIP: 2021-2027: since its independence in 1990, Namibia has matured as a democracy and has been enjoying stability and relative prosperity. The dominance of the liberation party SWAPO brought long-term stability after independence, but this era is slowly coming to an end and a broader spectrum of political choices is now apparent. In many aspects, Namibia is considered a model of overall good governance. But the country is still facing enormous social disparities amongst the various ethnic groups, between north and south and between urban and rural area."}, {"bbox": [83, 1134, 1145, 1347], "category": "Text", "text": "With a Gini Index of 0.610, Namibia scores second after South Africa in terms of wealth inequality. Inequality is also expressed in public sectors. Access to quality public services is strikingly uneven in almost all relevant public sectors, ranging from access to education, energy, health and water/sanitation and hygiene. Its last census was in 2011, and to date (May 2022) no funding has been allocated to a new census or to major household surveys. This is a concern because the rate of internal migration has been high resulting in large informal settlements springing up in the last decade, especially close to Windhoek. There is an apparent reluctance to acknowledge their need for services (health, education, social) or utilities (power, water, sanitation), on the basis that they are temporary. Under-documented, under-recorded people are likely to be further marginalized as a consequence."}, {"bbox": [83, 1373, 1145, 1453], "category": "Text", "text": "Governance indicators (particularly on transparency, accountability and corruption) do show some negative trends, as is explored in the Public Financial Management (PFM) annex, although Namibia remains one of the top performers overall in the region."}, {"bbox": [83, 1479, 1145, 1639], "category": "Text", "text": "The Namibian economy is largely based on the exploitation of its natural resources (mining, fisheries, agriculture and tourism). Namibia has been in recession or only registered negligible economic growth since 2016, leading to a high and rising public debt (above 60% in 2021). The pandemic sharply deteriorated Namibia's economic fundamentals affecting debt sustainability and leading it to request its first International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan (Rapid Financing Instrument) of USD 273 million. GRN faces difficulties responding to the triple challenges of the economy, climate change and COVID-19. This might put in jeopardy Namibia's current achievements as well as its capacity"}, {"bbox": [578, 1662, 650, 1688], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page | 8"}]