Contacts In Washington : Beldina Auma-Owuor +1 (202) 458 7307 baumaowuor@worldbank.org In Pretoria : Mmantsetsa Marope (+27-12-431-3113) mmarope@worldbank.org WASHINGTON , May 24, 2007 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan of US$7.5 million to support the Government of the Republic of Namibia ’s education and training sector improvement program. The World Bank program will contribute to Government efforts to equitably increase the immediate supply of middle to high level skills required to meet current labor market demands, to lay a foundation for a sustainable supply of skills required for future equitable growth and to facilitate Namibia ’s transition to a knowledge-based economy The First Development Policy Loan specifically supports the first implementation phase of Namibia ’s Education and Training Sector Improvement program (ETSIP1), a five-year sector program estimated to cost about US$357 million. The Development Policy Loan (DPL) is an instrument that provides direct budget support and disburses funds against policy and institutional reforms already achieved by the government. The loan constitutes about 14 percent of the funds required for the first year of ETSIP1. The rest will be financed by the Government of the Republic of Namibia, national development partners and international development partners. This loan is the first of two single-tranche sector Development Policy Loans (DPLs) of US$7.5 million each. It is also the first IBRD lending operation for Namibia. The development loan coincided with Board discussion of the Namibian Interim Strategy Note. In the past several years the Government of Namibia has signaled an interest in Bank support for its development agenda. The first-ever strategy note sets out a framework for strengthening the Bank Group’s engagement with Namibia over the next two years. At the end of this period the Bank and the Government will discuss the possibility of preparing a full Country Partnership Strategy. The Education and Training Sector Improvement program (2006-2011) is the first implementation phase of the government’s 15-year strategic plan for the improvement of the education and training sector. Inspired by Vision 2030, the strategic plan aims to transform the education and training system into a more effective tool for supporting the attainment of core national development goals to accelerate growth, reduce poverty and social inequalities, and to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. “The Government of the Republic of Namibia recognizes the importance of the education, training and skills development sector as a key source of the level and quality of labor required to support knowledge-driven growth. The World Bank welcomes the opportunity to support the government in achieving its objective to provide Namibians equal opportunity for high quality education, training and skills development and, to demonstrate our strategic value as a development partner,” according to Mmantsetsa Marope, World Bank Team Leader for this program. The DPL will support (i) the development of specific policies and policy instruments to guide and give effect to planned sector reforms; (ii) legal instruments to enforce policy implementation; and (iii) institutional capacities required for effective implementation of planned sector reforms. This program is consistent with the Bank’s Africa Action Plan (AAP) flagship goal of building skills for competitiveness in a global economy that supports activities that accelerate the attainment of education MDGs, build skills to promote growth, strengthen partnerships, and strengthen partner countries’ capacity to design, implement and monitor their own sector development plans and programs. Program preparation benefited from inputs from a broad base of stakeholders from the public, private and parastatal sectors, academics, civil society, teachers’ unions and international development partners. A memorandum of understanding between the Government and international development partners designates the Bank as the lead technical agency during the implementation of ETSIP1 and the European Union as the lead coordinating agency. For more information on the World Bank’s work in Namibia, visit www.worldbank.org/namibia For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa, visit www.worldbank.org/afr For more information about this project visit http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=382293&menuPK=382328&Projectid=P086875 |
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