EU and Namibian Parliament celebrate achievements of the EU funded Parliamentary Support Programme (PSP)

On the 18th of May 2017, the EU and the Namibian Parliament, together with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (who implemented the programme), the media and stakeholders attended an event to mark the closure of the PSP and to celebrate the achievements reached.

The PSP was funded by the EU with an amount of EUR1,7 million from 2012-2017.  The main aim of the programme was to strengthen the capacity of the National Assembly and National Council to increase domestic accountability for the purpose of greater engagement by parliament in poverty reduction programmes.

In his key-note address, Hon Professor Peter Katjavivi, Speaker of the National Assembly thanked the EU for the assistance and partnership in this programme. He furthermore highlighted the digitising of the Development Budget as a major milestone, which greatly assisted MPs and REgional Councillors and Governors to track progress of projects in their respective regions in terms of the funding allocated to them.

EU Ambassador to Namibia, Jana Hybaskova in her remarks noted that the PSP is one of the EU's flagship programmes in Namibia. She added that although a lot has been achieved "more needs to be done" and informed the gathering that under the 11th EDF, further support will continue through a new programme 'Enhancing Participatory Democracy in Namibia'. The objectives of this programme will be -  to enhance Namibian Civil Society's contribution to the implementation of public policies in the sectors of Education and Rural development and to strengthen Parliament's Standing Committees' oversight functions and their interaction with Civil Society.  Total estimated support to this programme will be EUR 6 Million.