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Sources of unemployment in Namibia: an application of the structural VAR approach
No full textThe main purpose of the research was to establish the sources of
unemployment in Namibia for the period 1980 to 2013 using the SVAR
methodology. Empirical results show that persistently high unemployment is
the result of a combination of various shocks as well as the hysteresis
mechanism. The impulse response functions and variance decomposition
functions agree that labour supply, aggregate demand, and real wages seem to
be the critical factors affecting unemployment. Moreover, the price shocks
affect unemployment in the long run and productivity shocks explain only a
small fraction of the forecast error variance decomposition of unemployment
in both the short run and long run. This finding is consistent with the
controversy of uncertain effects of productivity shocks on the unemployment
rate. Aggregate demand policies, deregulation policies and structural labour
market reforms can be useful policy instruments to tackle unemployment in
Namibia
HOME RANGE AND THERMAL ANALYSES OF TWO SYMPATRIC TORTOISE SPECIES, STIGMOCHELYS PARDALIS AND PSAMMOBATES OCULIFER IN THE THORNBUSH SAVANNA OF CENTRAL NAMIBIA.
No full textSouthern Africa harbors one-third of the world's Testudinid species, many of which inhabit arid or semi-arid areas. Namibia has the second highest tortoise diversity after South Africa with six species and five of the recognized genera of modem Testudinidae in the world. Detailed ecological information on the Namibian species is generally lacking. This study analyzed the home ranges and thermal activities of two sympatric tortoise species, the Leopard tortoise, Stigmochlelys pardalis (previously known as Geochelone pardalis) and the poorly studied Kalahari tent tortoise, Psammobates oculifer. The study was conducted at the Hohewarte Farm, situated in the thorn-bush savanna southwest of Windhoek, Namibia. All encountered tortoises from both species were equipped with radio transmitters and temperature loggers (iButtons) which allowed for continuous monitoring of individuals throughout the study period. Data was collected for 17 months from December 2013 to April 2015 to determine the average annual and seasonal difference in thermally driven activity patterns and home range of these tortoises. Results from the study suggest that the smaller P. oculifer (with one dramatic exception of a wandering male) had a larger average annual home range ( 64 ha) compared to the much larger and common S. pardalis (20 ha). Exclusion of the wandering male from data analysis yielded a reduction in the annual home range size of P. oculifer to 32 ha. There was however great variation within individual home range sizes; the largest annual home range size (299 ha) was for a male P. oculifer while the smallest annual average home range was 5 ha recorded for two (2) female P. oculifer. For S. pardalis, 58 ha was the largest annual average home range size recorded for a medium sized male while two (2) juvenile S. pardalis had the smallest annual average home ranges of 1 ha. The study also found that home ranges were larger during the wet seasons for both species and that there was evident intraspecific and interspecific home range overlaps between the two species and even between sexes of the same species. There was no significant difference found between the different temperatures recorded for the tortoises ( shell, iButton, ambient and surface). On the orientation aspect of the study, tortoise rear orientation directions differed and were not uniform. Results from Rayleigh's Z statistical test (Rayleigh Z7.075, P < 0.001) have shown that there was no mean direction for the species orientation. It was however found that during the dry season, the northerly directions (NE and NW) were the
dominant rear directions for S. pardalis while N, NE, and easterly direction (E) were the dominant rear directions for P. oculifer. Observations during the wet seasons have indicated that s. pardalis tortoises mostly oriented their rear end towards the NE and N directions while the westerly directions (NW, W, and SW) were the dominant directions for P. oculifer. The NE direction was observed to be the mean direction that tortoises from both species oriented the rear ends towards
Thanatographical narration in Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart
No full textLecturer published articleAutobiographical writing is the narration of one’s own life. This simple act which entails the retrospective narrative in prose has become one of the most contested issues in written discourses. Using Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart, this paper explores dying and death and the ways culture impacts care for the dying, the overall experience of dying and how the dead are remembered. In the memoir, life writing is often entwined with stories of death and bereavement. As such, the paper argues that thanatographical and autothanatographical narration are approaches used for therapy purposes. It also posits that life writing is not about resurrecting the dead through language or burying them in a mass of words; rather, it seeks to interpret the myriad of interrelations and interactions that exist between death and culture. Thus, culture operates as a vehicle and medium through which the meaning of death is communicated and understood. This paper concludes that thanatographical narration in Undisciplined Heart, allows Katjavivi to contemplate the loss of her friends, chronicles her struggle with grief and also, supposedly provides consolation for her loss
REASSESSING THE EXPORT-LED GROWTH RELATIONSHIP THROUGH COINTEGRATION METHODS
No full textThe purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of the export-led growth nexus in the context of Namibia for the period 1990 to 2013 through the application of the Vector Autoregression (VAR) technique, which incorporates the following processes: Unit root tests, determination of the optimal lag length, testing the stability of the vector autoregression system, cointegration tests, estimation of the long-run equation, diagnostic checks for serial correlation, heteroscedasticity and normality, as well as the pairwise Granger-causality tests. Quarterly time series datasets were engaged. The study found cointegrating relationships among the variables that were examined. Further, the study found that export is a good predictor of economic growth. Therefore, the need for Namibia to pay special attention to developments in the export sector of its economy cannot be overstated. Additional research opportunities for upcoming researchers to further probe the issue under consideration are suggested
Sustainable Land Governance in Support of the Global Agenda
No full textThis paper is work in progress and draws from previous research. The paper supports the public lecture on Sustainable Land Governance in Support of the Global Agenda given at Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) on 4 March 2016
A study of the specific English language needs of engineering students of Adama Science and Technology University (Ethiopia): A case study
No full text*Regional Communications, Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Development Innovator, ISSD Ethiopia
([email protected], Tel: +251-911-977910)
**Deputy Director/Associate Professor, Department of Communication, FHS, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, NamibiaThis study focused on analysing the ESP needs of engineering students at Adama Science and Technology
University (ASTU) and the extent to which these needs of students have a proper place in the syllabus
redesign and material preparation. Special focus was on the course technical report writing which was
designed to enhance the successful training and preparation of engineering students for effective and
efficient workplace performances. Second year students, engineers and course instructors at the
University and employers (institutions) participated in this study. The first group of respondents was
students. A total population of 630 students took the course. From this total population, 189 students
(30%) were randomly selected and included in the study. This means that 68 students from the Civil
Engineering, 67 students from Mechanical and 54 students from Geomatics Engineering were the specific
respondents of the study. The second groups of respondents were employers and English instructors of
engineering students. Five instructors, who were offering the technical report writing course, were first
taken as data sources. Secondly, employers, namely Adama Municipality and the GIZ construction, Adama
project office were involved to find out the type and the purpose of English language these employers
expected from their engineering employees. Qualitative and quantitative data were drawn from these
participants through questionnaires, interviews and focus-group discussions. To gather additional data
and crosscheck responses, text analysis was made on the course technical report writing. Findings from
the responses of the participants revealed that English was highly demanded in both occupational and
academic domains of the engineering profession. However, there was a huge gap between their needs
and what the course offered, between their future targets and their present competences, based on the
responses found from the participants through questionnaires, FGD and interviews
Tourism and rural community development in Namibia: Policy issues review
No full textDuring the past decades, the tourism sector has become an increasing important issue for governments and regional agencies searching for socio-economic development. Especially in the Global South the increasing tourism demand has been seen highly beneficial as evolving tourism can create direct and indirect income and employment effects to the host regions and previously marginalised communities, with potential to aid with the poverty reduction targets. This research note reviews the existing policy and planning frameworks in relation to tourism and rural development in Namibia. Especially the policy aims towards rural community development are overviewed with focus on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) initiatives. The research note involves a retrospective review of tourism policies and rural local development initiatives in Namibia where the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) initiated a community-based tourism policy. The policy emphasises structures and processes helping local communities to benefit from the tourism sector, and the active and coordinating involvement of communities, especially, is expected to ensure that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the local level where tourist activities take place. However, it is noted that in addition to public policy-makers also other tourism developers and private business environment in Namibia need to recognize the full potential of rural tourism development in order to meet the created politically driven promises at the policy level. In this respect, a national tourism policy could provide an enabling framework, integrating the tourism sector’s development aims to rural and community development needs in future. In addition, there is a need to coordinate a comprehensive vision of what type of rural tourism development or tourism in rural environments holds the most potential to benefit both local communities and the mainstream sector
Production frontier of small scale pearl millet farmers under conservation agriculture in northern Namibia
No full textPearl millet is a major staple food crop of Northern Namibia dominantly produced by small scale
farmers. This paper examines technical efficiency of smallholder pearl millet farmers under
Conservation and Traditional Agriculture as well as their willingness to pay for extension
services. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire administrated to 100 randomly
selected small-scale pearl millet farmers in Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Oshana and
Kavango regions. Data was analysed by descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production
function approach as well as the probit regression model. The estimated stochastic frontier Cobb-
Douglas production function showed that land availability, the level of fertilizer use and tractor
power explains variations in the production of pearl millet. The efficiency analysis results show
that farm level technical efficiency for Conservation Agriculture and Traditional Agriculture
were 32% and 33% respectively. This indicates that overall, there is a potential to improve
efficiency in pearl millet production among smallholder farmers in the study area by 68%
through the efficient use of Conservation Agriculture. Furthermore, on Traditional Agriculture,
there is a potential to improve efficiency by about 67% utilising existing farm resources better
and adopting improved technology and techniques. Based on this result, the study recommends
that Conservation Agriculture should be continued and over a long period of time so that the
impact can be felt. The results of the inefficiency model indicate that under Conservation
Agriculture, farming experience has a significant positive effect on efficiency. While on
Traditional Agriculture, farm experience, farm size, training had a significant and positive effect
on efficiency. The policy implications with regards to the technical efficiency are that to improve
farm efficiency, efforts should focus on capacity building, training, extension services,
information on agronomic practices and farmer’s education. On farmer’s willingness to pay for
extension services, the predicted probability of getting farmers willing to pay is 60%. The model
showed that farm size, Income < 2000, cooperative membership and household size are
significant determinants of farmers’ willingness to pay. The study recommends that these key
parameters are given proper policy consideration in the design and the implementation of a
workable policy, for example, improving extension services through privatization
Thanatographical narration in Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart
No full textPublished articleAutobiographical writing is the narration of one’s own life. This simple act which
entails the retrospective narrative in prose has become one of the most contested
issues in written discourses. Using Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart, this
paper explores dying and death and the ways culture impacts care for the dying, the
overall experience of dying and how the dead are remembered. In the memoir, life
writing is often entwined with stories of death and bereavement. As such, the paper
argues that thanatographical and autothanatographical narration are approaches
used for therapy purposes. It also posits that life writing is not about resurrecting the
dead through language or burying them in a mass of words; rather, it seeks to
interpret the myriad of interrelations and interactions that exist between death and
culture. Thus, culture operates as a vehicle and medium through which the meaning
of death is communicated and understood. This paper concludes that thanatographical
narration in Undisciplined Heart, allows Katjavivi to contemplate the loss of
her friends, chronicles her struggle with grief and also, supposedly provides conso
lation for her loss
Land Reform in Namibia: A Bibliography
No full textILMI is delighted to publish this bibliography in its Working Paper Series. It sees this as a small
contribution to encourage and facilitate research on land reform in Namibia. Perhaps more
ambitiously, this bibliography may serve as a starting point to collect the titles listed in order to
strengthen the resource centre on land administration and land reform