Namibia: Govt Urged to Introduce Unemployment Social Grant

The National Council has recommended expanding social grants to unemployed Namibians aged 18 to 59, following a study on the basic income grant.

The standing committee on health, social welfare and labour affairs has urged the government to extend social grants to include these citizens, who do not receive benefits from existing social safety nets.

The recommendation comes from the standing committee's investigative report on the benefits of the basic income grant (BIG) for the Otjivero-Omitara communities in the Omaheke region.

The committee was mandated by the National Council after it passed a motion emphasising the importance of adopting a universal BIG as a means to provide social protection for poor and vulnerable Namibians.

The committee's vice chairperson, Emma Muteka, tabled the report for adoption during a National Council session on Thursday.

She said the investigation found that the implementation of a BIG has improved living conditions at the two settlements which relied on old-age pensions and child grants.

"Economic activities at the settlement increased, some beneficiaries combined their income and built proper structures with iron sheets, and some managed to send their children back to school. Some started small businesses such as brickmaking, selling ice, baking bread, dressmaking and shoe repairs, which improved their livelihoods," she said.

In 2005, a coalition of non-governmental organisations proposed the BIG programme, which aims to give every Namibian a monthly cash grant of at least N$100.

The project was piloted at Otjivero-Omitara from January 2008 to December 2009, with 1 000 beneficiaries.

Muteka said the committee has observed that Namibia has various social assistance programmes which are not synchronised or well publicised to effectively reach the target beneficiaries.

Namibia has several cash-transfer programmes, including the old-age grant, disability grant, and grants for vulnerable children.

Other programmes include the school-feeding programme and the drought-relief programme.

The government has also transitioned the old food bank programme to a monthly cash grant of N$600 for vulnerable people, Muteka said.

"We commend the government for the various social assistance programmes in place, however, we observed that there are no programmes in place that target the vulnerable people in the age group 19 to 59, unless the person is disabled," she said.

The committee advised the government to learn from the social grant systems of South Africa and Botswana.

Muteka said South Africa has a social relief distress grant that supports unemployed individuals aged 18 to 59 who are not included in the social assistance programme.

In addition to social grants, Botswana has a youth development fund that provides support for unemployed young people aged 18 to 35 by funding income-generating projects.

This fund offers 50% loans and 50% grants and also assists citizens who earn less than N$3 422 per month.

Read the original article on Namibian.