ICT
MTC MTC SET TO PROVIDE CLOSE TO 250 LOW-COST HOUSES Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) has set its eyes on providing low-cost houses to the homeless and targets to hand over close to 270 houses in the next two years. In 2018, MTC sponsored an amount of N$700 000 to the Shack Dwellers Federation through the ‘Buy A Brick’ project to build 20 houses. To date 15 of the 20 houses have been completed and handed over to proud home owners. A total of ten houses were handed over in Okongo, five in Helao Nafidi and five nearing completion in Mariental for handover in the next few months. In 2019, MTC again made a joint donation in collaboration with Huawei to the tune of N$10 million to the same project. The amount is expected to see over 250 houses built. The 250 houses will be spread amongst nine regions namely Erongo, Otjozondjupa, Ohangwena, Kunene, Oshana, Zambezi, Kavango West, Omusati and Hardap. The following towns have been targeted: Omaruru, Swakopmund, Okahandja, Grootfontein, Okakarara, Kalkfeld, Eenhana, Opuwo, Oshakati, Ondangwa, Katima Mulilo, Bukalo, Rupara, Okahao, Onesi and Aranos. Building of these houses will only start depending on the availability of land as provided by town councils, village councils and municipalities to the Shack Dwellers Federation. It is estimated that there are more than 308 informal settlements in Namibia with a staggering 228 000 shacks accommodating about 995 000 people in urban areas. This means close to 40% of the Namibian population are now living in shacks in urban areas, predominantly in Windhoek.
Given the high number of Namibians without housing, MTC has taken this project very seriously and believes that our partnership with the Shack Dwellers Federation through the ‘Buy A Brick’ project is something that must become successful in order to restore the dignity of so many Namibians. ‘The model used by the Shack Dwellers Federation remains the most viable: to build a decent house for between N$30 000-N$40 000 But the authorities that own the land must bring their part by making land available so that the building of the houses can start with immediate effect. The longer we wait, the worse the housing problem becomes,’ said Ekandjo, MTC’s Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer. The Shack Dwellers Federation is made up of 805 savings groups living in shacks in informal settlements, backyards and rented rooms, who have organised themselves into a group. About 25 000 members, the majority who are women earning less than N$4 000 per month, are affiliated. These members work together to improve the living conditions for their families with the potential to impact more than 100 000 people directly. MTC TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT WHEN IT PAINTS NAMIBIA BLUE Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) is set to create temporal employment opportunities for artisans in all 14 regions in the country when it embarks on its project to paint Namibia blue. The ‘Paint Namibia Blue’ project, scheduled to kick-start this month expects to see unemployed painters sitting at home finally generate some income through this exercise. MTC will identify outlets with the help of its distribution team in rolling out this project.
While aimed at increasing the visibility of the telecommunication giant and ITC enabler, MTC’s Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer Tim Ekandjo highlighted the need for corporates alike to create opportunities, even outside their scope of business, that will benefit the alarming and growing numbers of unemployed youth. ‘With this project, we wish to contribute towards youth empowerment, hence we intend to solely partner with local skilful and capable painters (men and women) with outstanding portfolios to execute the task,’ said Ekandjo, adding that this skill force will extract talent from the benefiting 121 constituencies. ‘This means that we will take skills from a constituency to do work in their constituency in order to ensure that the opportunity is shared equally,’ he said. Lack of employment opportunities is a serious concern in the country, with at least 33.4% of the youth unemployed according to the Namibia Statistic Agency’s latest report (2018). Secondary to creating temporary employment opportunities, the ‘Paint Namibia Blue’ project will also stretch and push the company’s brand prominence to all corners of the country and constantly reflect and resonate with the portfolio of what the company stands for in the society. ‘This project is anticipated to achieve two things. First, to create temporary youth employment opportunities, and second, to increase MTC’s brand and corporate identity across the country. It is thus only fair that we give talents from those constituencies an opportunity to do the work,’ concludes Ekandjo.
MTC (+264) 61 280 2000 mtcbusiness@mtc.com.na www.mtc.com.na w w w. n a m i b i a t r a d e d i r e c t o r y. c o m
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