Martin Endjala
The Namibia Institute for Pathology (NIP) became the fifth corporate participant in the Namibia National Internship Programme (NNIP).
The NIP joined the likes of Momentum Metropolitan, Old Mutual, Standard Bank Namibia, and MTC, who have been part of the programme.
To ensure that the program continues to grow as a national vehicle for internships, MTC committed N$2 million in funding per year.
This collaborative partnership seeks to aid young Namibians’ development and drive the country to become a knowledge-based economy.
The NIP contributed N$300 000 towards the programme on Monday.
Oaitse Van Staden, the NIP’s chief human capital, said the implementation of the internship training programme for NIP through the NNIP in partnership with MTC is a move in the right direction to not only support the success of the NIP’s strategic and operational deliverables but also address youth unemployment.
“Surely, this forms part of the NIP’s contribution to advance the socio-economic agenda from a corporate social investment (CSI) perspective. Therefore, granting an opportunity to young people requiring work-related and developmental opportunities to enhance their careers can never be understated. NIP is pleased to be part of this collaboration with MTC,” she said.
MTC’s Chief Human Capital, Marketing, and Corporate Affairs, Tim Ekandjo, welcomed the contribution.
“We are appreciative, and we welcome NIP’s support. This will significantly assist in upscaling the programme’s capacity. We thus urge more corporates to come on board, and so collectively we can address the shortage of work-integrated learning opportunities in the country,” he said.
Ekandjo said the NIP indicated that its decision to support the NNIP is in line with its Integrated Strategic Business Plan (ISBP) 2022–2027, which includes capacity development as one of its key strategic objectives.
He stated that the main goal of the internship program will be to complement and steer NIP towards achieving much-needed capacity development to support the full implementation of our people’s agenda moving forward.
According to Ekandjo, Namibia reports that over 48 000 students nationwide must complete work-integrated learning (WIL) in order to graduate.
Ekandjo said a call had been extended to corporate Namibia to aid the course with a minimum of N$200 000 to upscale the programme’s intake.
To date, NNIP has recorded a total of 990 students placed for work-integrated learning in different sectors.
