Introducing The TH!NK NAMIBIA Campaign: A Second Phase And New Look

 Sustainable development is everyone’s business. And as Namibia tackles a variety of environmental, social and economic challenges; it also has many opportunities to transform its economy into one powered by sustainable energy, efficient resource use, decent jobs and quality education. Public awareness, information sharing and capacity development are vital in order to continually make these opportunities for sustainable development a reality in Namibia. The first phase of the ThinkNamibia Environmental Awareness Campaign was geared to contribute to environmental sustainability in Namibia through awareness raising on environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation. On the 8th of November 2017, the Hanns Seidel Foundation Namibia, in collaboration with partners, launched the second phase of the campaign which will build onto the first phase and promote renewable energies and resource efficiency in Namibia. The logo for the second phase of the Campaign was also launched at the event to create a new visual identity for the Campaign given its focus and content also change for the second phase.

The second phase of the campaign was launched by Dr Michael Humavindu, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development. Dr Humavindu underlined the significance of initiatives such as Think Namibia Campaign that play a key role in climate change adaptation and mitigation in Namibia. He added, “The need to elaborate a nationwide campaign on environmental awareness and climate change is highly relevant in the Namibia of today and that of the generations of tomorrow”.

The main objectives of the project which will implement the TH!NK NAMIBIA Campaign is to contribute to the increased use of renewable energies and energy efficiency in Namibia with the focus on schools, SMEs and start-ups in rural parts of Namibia. 

The Promoting Renewable Energies in Namibia (PREN) Project was officially launch on the 28 September 2017 and has the objectives to:

• Implement a nationwide campaign aimed at improving the awareness on the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency in Namibia;
• Promote the use of renewable energies in schools as well as in SMEs and start-ups in target regions in rural areas, making use of capacity building interventions;
• Support selected rural schools and SMEs and/or start-ups in obtaining renewable energy hardware.

The PREN Project will implement these objectives through a dynamic and engaging approach including information and educational material development, a national information campaign (the TH!NK NAMIBIA Campaign), public dialogue platforms and training of multipliers.

Furthermore through the following activities, the project aims at carrying out these objectives by increased knowledge and skills on renewable energy and resource energy efficiency issues, promotion of knowledge transfer in rural schools on renewable energy and resource efficiency, knowledge and skills transfer to rural schools, SMEs and Start-ups and support acquisition of renewable energy and technologies.

With the main focus being rural schools and rural SMEs, strategies are put in place to reach the rural communities such as through university student clubs, house-to-house visits in identified rural areas, developing and distributing localised posters and fact sheets and through targeted capacity building initiatives.

The PREN Project implementation phase is from 2017 to 2019 and will contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on renewable energy by addressing the need to provide tailored clean energy solutions to rural communities in off-grid areas.

For more information: www.facebook.com/thinknamibia