The Deputy Prime Minister is the patroness of the project and is giving her untiring support to the efforts of easing the plight of the San people in Namibia. She commented: “If we are to achieve our Vision 2030, by that date no San in Namibia should be in a situation of absolute and abject poverty.”


Studies commissioned by UNESCO in 2000, identified that the San were the most disadvantaged and isolated community in the Ohangwena Region, with very limited access to services and development opportunities. As a result, in 2002 UNESCO and USAID designed an intervention to promote the participation of San children in early childhood development in Ekoka, Endobe and Onamatadiva villages.

Since September 2004, the various departments of the Namibian National and Regional Government in partnership with Acacia Grassroots Development Network and with the financial and technical support of UNESCO have continued to address the challenges, through the project “Promoting Early Childhood Development amongst San Communities in Ohangwena Region”.

In her address at the event, Dr Claudia Harvey, UNESCO Director and Representative to Angola, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, highlighted some of the results achieved by the project as follows:

• 60 children had successfully completed their pre-primary education at the end of the first two-year intervention 2002-2004, and, by 2005, 138 children were registered in the three ECD centers, with a regular attendance of 40 children per center.

• 87 San learners were enrolled at the primary school, 38 of them registered at the two existing community hostels, reducing the absenteeism because of the long distance walk between the homestead and the school.

• 12 ECD Caregivers were trained in ECD teaching tools.

• The infrastructure of the three ECD centers has been highly improved and the Eenhana Ouholamo ECD Center, inaugurated on 24 April, was built with the involvement of the Ouholamo community.

UNESCO sees these efforts as a small contribution to achieving the goals of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP).

The involvement of the Deputy Prime Minister has further catalyzed interest on the project itself and the wider plight of the San people. Thanks to its successes, the San project has become a flagship project in the UNESCO Windhoek Cluster.

More progress is expected to take place in 2006, not only with UNESCO’s Headquarters Unit on Vulnerable Children contribution, but also thanks to the HERO campaign of the United Nations Association of the USA, who are raising funds for the activities for this year. They have already contributed 35,000 US$ and are aiming to raise a further 65,000 US$ this year. In addition, one of the Rotary Clubs of Japan will contribute a further 25,000 US$. A Swiss group is also raising funds for the project. Spain and Italy have also contributed through the provision of volunteers. It has therefore been possible to mobilise funds from four different continents to support the San in Ohangwena and soon in Tsumkwe.

Mr Festus Nakale, a San teacher in one of the Kindergartens supported by the project noted: “Much progress has been made to help the San in Ohangwena improve their situation, and we are thankful to the Government of Namibia, Acacia Grassroots Network and UNESCO. However, more needs to be done, and we are looking forward to other important issues being addressed.”