President orders govt offices to hire graduate interns

With 4 342 graduates entering Namibia’s job market this month alone, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has ordered all government institutions to budget for internship and apprenticeship programmes.

Speaking at the University of Namibia’s graduation ceremony last week, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the initiative is already being implemented as government moves to tackle graduate unemployment and equip young Namibians with workplace experience.

Under the initiative, state offices, ministries and agencies are expected to create structured internship opportunities and recruit graduate interns as part of their annual budgets, allowing young professionals to gain industry exposure and practical skills.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said the initiative forms part of broader efforts to equip young people with skills needed to address inequality and unemployment. “We want to properly train and educate them to effectively address these challenges,” she said.

“I call upon the private sector to join hands with the government and make this programme a success,” she said, urging companies to support internship and apprenticeship opportunities while benefiting from incentives offered by the state.

"We are too few to be poor and we must help each other,” the president noted. 

Desperate job searches

The directive comes at a time when Namibia continues to grapple with rising youth unemployment, as it reached 53% in 2023, according to Namibian Statistics Agency data. 

Additionally, increasing numbers of graduates are entering a highly competitive job market.

Many young people have repeatedly raised concerns over the difficulty of securing jobs without experience, creating a cycle that leaves even qualified graduates locked out of opportunities.

With higher learning institutions producing thousands of graduates each year, pressure has been mounting on both government and industry to create pathways that ease the transition from education to employment.

By formalising internship allocations within government structures, authorities are seeking to create a more predictable and sustainable system that supports skills development while addressing workforce gaps within the public sector.

The success of the initiative, however, is likely to depend on implementation, particularly whether ministries allocate sufficient funding and whether the private sector responds to the call for partnership.