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Metaphors of changing identities, resilience and cultural transformation for survival in times of crisis.
No full textThis paper is an exploration of the literary representations of survival and coping strategies during times of socio-economic upheavals. Charles Mungoshi’s short story entitled "The Hare” is critically analysed and the two major characters in the story are used to show the different ways people respond to crises in their lives. Such a dichotomous analysis results in the conclusion that agency is ubiquitous and survival is quite possible. Through short stories such as this one, it is made evident that African literature can assist readers to face their daily challenges and rise above adversity
Review of the book Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
No full textBook reviewThis article reviews the book entitled: "Americanah" written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2013, published by Harper Collins
Testing the long-run relationship between export and economic growth: Evidence from Namibia.
No full textoai:ir.nust.na:10628/387This study investigates the export-economic growth relationship for Namibia. The study was motivated by the contradicting results in the literature of the export and economic growth relationship despite the wide theoretical consensus among researchers that “export expansion is the engine of economic growth.” Namibia was chosen as a case study since the Namibian government also put some weights on export promotion as one of its growth strategies. The study models the relationship through the augmented neoclassical production function framework. The Johansen co-integration test, the vector-error correction model (VECM) and the Granger causality tests were employed to test for the nature of the relationship. The Granger causality test indicates a uni-directional causation from export to economic growth. This allows us to confirm the validity of the export-led growth hypothesis in the case of Namibia. The findings also suggest that economic growth is dependent on export performance in a way. Therefore Namibia can enhance its economic growth by improving upon the competitiveness of its exported items
Namibia's performance in mathematics and physical science: Implications for technical skills.
No full textIn recent years skill shortages in the labour force have become a key challenge in the SADC region, suggesting that policies for continuous upgrading of skills of the workforce are becoming increasingly important [1]. While Namibia is no exception to the skills shortage dilemma, over the past
decade the situation has been worsened by the increased unemployment rates in the country’s urban areas, particularly in Windhoek. Obtaining a junior/senior certificate alone does not guarantee any return to the youth of our country unless accompanied by some technical skills. The
curriculum for Namibian Basic Education as set out in “Toward Education for All” [2] includes the following: Aesthetic, social and economic, linguistic and literacy, mathematical, spiritual, moral and ethical, physical, natural scientific and technological learning areas. These, if developed further and applied appropriately to the country’s economic situation, should be sufficient to combat the existing skills deficit
Exploring the impact of work ethics on specific workplace practices in the Ministry of Home Affairs & Immigration.
No full textThesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Leadership and Change Management in the Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business at the NUSTThe title of this study is: Exploring the Impact of Work Ethics on Specific Work
Practices in the Ministry of Home Affairs & Immigration’s Division of Alien Control,
Citizenship and Passports. It’s a mixed research and one of the objectives is to test the correlation between the ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration and the public’s
perception on work ethics. The intention of the research is: To assess the employees’
understanding and perceptions with regard to work ethics. To establish how work ethics
impact on specific workplace practices within government ministries. To identify
appropriate workplace practices that can contribute toward better performance and
service delivery within government ministries. The respondents articulated that
customer service at Home Affairs & Immigration is very poor. The frontline officers are not friendly, very hostile, rude and don’t have time to listen to customers. The researcher observed that the Home Affairs staff are very argumentative towards clients and leave the counters unattended. The major finding was that there is lack of training among Home Affairs staff. The majority of those who have been trained have a problem of applying what they have been taught at government training offices. The researcher also observed that there is too much workload for the staff to cope with the work and there is a need to employ more personnel in order to improve the processes.
The realization of the study is that poor work ethics has a negative impact on the
Ministry of Home Affairs. The researcher unravelled that negative components of
punctuality, honesty, dependability, efficiency, positive work habits, friendliness, job satisfaction, professionalism will all impact negatively on the performance of an organization. The performance ratings by the government on average show that it is good.Supervisor: Mr. Eden T. Shipang
An Exploration of Participatory Mapping Approaches for Integrated Land Use Planning in the Hardap Region, Namibia.
No full textThe paper presents empirical findings on the potential value of participatory
mapping for effective Integrated Land Use Plan (ILUP) by local communities
in Hardap Region. It reflects on how future participatory approaches should
be structured. The research applied a combination of approaches that include
sketch mapping, photo-mapping and consultative meetings. Both positive and
negative impacts of participatory mapping on ILUP were measured and local
communities’ knowledge of participatory approaches objectively tested on the
basis of this investigation’s findings. The research established that although
participatory mapping is known to the experts in the fields of Geography,
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Land Use Planning (LUP), it is
still not well known to local land users whose knowledge of other participatory
approaches that can support ILUP in Namibia is limited. Participatory maps
that were produced by local communities in Hardap region suggest that local
communities are willing to learn about participatory approaches and willing
to share their knowledge on land use. Sketch and photo-maps - although
not accurate and sometimes imprecise - were found to be satisfactory
approaches to capture and document local knowledge. Local communities
are motivated to improve their land use activities by the outcomes of their
knowledge input in participatory mapping. Key recommendations include
comprehensive participatory land use planning and better knowledge
gathering from local communities. The paper presents results of participatory
mapping and lessons learned from exploring participatory mapping
Manual for working with MODIS images in SeaDAS 6.2.
No full textTraining Manual for SeaDAS software, NUST, School of Natural Resources & Tourism, Department of Land ManagementThis manual was written for the students of the School of Natural Resources and Tourism,
NUST during the pilot project “Assessing potential to produce final Ocean Colour maps of Namibia’s marine environment”, which is supported by the BCLME
Programme and the NUST.
The manual is written for students working with the SeaDAS software on the Linux computer of the Department of Land Management (operating system is Fedora Core 10) or the version of SeaDAS which can be installed in Windows through a virtual application Vmware player (seadasva). The images used are MODIS Aqua provided by NASA (HDF version 4 format)
From analysis to action: A snapshot of the Namibian inmate population - work in progress.
No full textThinking outside the cell: Reducing the use of imprisonment: ICPA Conference (2013 Oct. 27 - Nov. 13 : Colorado Springs)Gauging the actual offender population through a comprehensive inmate surve
The impact of performance related pay on employees - A case study of the performance incentive bonus scheme at the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.
No full textThesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Business in the Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business at the NUSTThe Performance Incentive Bonus Scheme (PIBS) is part of the broader market
type transformations occurring in Public Service in Namibia today (Mwita, 2002).
The thesis claims that the value of PIBS policy is a function of the organizational
setting, objectivity of performance measurement process and perceived equity of the fixed scheme.
The research uses survey based data for the Case Study of PIBS in the MVA Fund.
The issue of employees’ performance in persistence of organisational objectives
has employed management consideration for long. This study examined the issue of
performance-related pay as a motivational device for realizing organisational
performance at the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund of Namibia as a Case Study.
The main objective of the study was to survey the impact of the current MVA
Fund Performance Incentive Bonus Scheme on employee motivation, employee performance and organizational performance.
Sixty one respondents took part in the survey. The sample comprised 3 executives
and 58 employees.
The research instrument was the questionnaire. The result of the study revealed that the effect of performance-related pay on employee performance is very high; and the motivational effect of merit pay is often supported by Performance Incentive Bonus Scheme. Most outstandingly, in conjunction with the goal setting theory, the point to which both employees and executives are involved in crafting the organizational objectives is a main source of motivation to the MVA Fund employees.
It was also noted that there is buy in from the employees, which actually helps the
institution to attain its set objectives. This inclusiveness assisted the MVA Fund to make the Performance Incentive Bonus Scheme a success. Evidence indicates a robust support at all level on the acceptability of the scheme in the Fund.
The main limitation of the study is that it could not cover all employees within the
target population, due to time and financial constraints. In this respect, the interpretation of the results of the study should not be over-generalised.Supervisor: Prof. Grafton Whyt
The effects of equity and motivation on the work performance of support staff at NIP Ltd.
No full textThesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Business in the Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business at the NUSTThe objectives of this research were to establish the link between perception of equity and work performance of the non-technical support staff of the NIP as well as to determine whether there is a link between work performance and motivation of the NIP non-technical support staff.
Since the determination of fairness is based on individual feelings and perception data
was collected through survey questionnaires and interviews to gain an in-depth
understanding of issues which influence an individuals’ determination of fairness of
equity.
The study utilized a quantitative approach based on an interpretive theory, where data
collected was analysed and communicated through correlations and interpreted to depict the norm or average of the group’s performance.
The quantitative method was relevant for this study as the study aimed to establish
the relationship between Equity of Treatment and Motivation as independent variables
against Work Performance as the dependent variable.
The study found a very strong correlation between equity of treatment and levels of
work performance, as well as between the motivation and work performance.
The study further found a direct link between the two independent variables, equity of treatment and motivation.
It could thus be concluded that low levels of work performance can be attributed to feelings of lack of equitable treatment which resulted into feelings of dissatisfaction and de-motivation.Supervisor: Prof. Grafton Whyt