Harambee Youth Awards coming

Later this year, the brain child of Nelson Haihambo, the founder of the Harambee Youth Awards (HYA), will be coming into fruition.
The idea for the awards came to Nelson while he was on a plane to Asia when he thought of coming up with a project that can award the youth of Namibia in diverse precincts.
The Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) is the same plan that inspired the birth of the Harambee Youth Awards, to appreciate youth that have overcome many challenges and difficulties in life to achieve what they have always wanted to achieve and to also encourage them by saying that “they are not alone this fight”, and that we as a nation are fighting together to achieve a common purpose; a purpose to prosper, a purpose to succeed and a purpose to make Namibia a better place for everyone so that no one is left out.
HYA 2016 is a youth project, prepared by a few Namibians under the leadership of Nelson Haihambo, who is the founder and innovator of the awards.
The founders of the awards say that they have realised that since independence, the country has been growing and developing, yet young people don’t seem to have found a body which recognises the strides they have made in their various industries and specialities.
“On many occasions when the youth is mentioned, many tend to think of the youth in terms of school-going learners, tertiary students, sports, arts and culture, but there is more to the youth than just those categories,” the founders explained.
Citing that in recent years the youth have been doing really well considering the socio-political and economic obstacles they face in the country, the founders of the HYA felt that it was time to create a legitimate platform that can celebrate and highlight the achievement of young Namibians.
“Having recognised the importance of honouring the people who have contributed immensely to the Namibian nation, the HYA seeks to award the youth who are under the age of 35, who have made strides towards empowering themselves as well as the others, who in essence are the youth that need inspiration,” Haihambo reminded the nation.
Haihambo also expressed that the aspirations of the youth of Namibia cannot be separated from the aspirations of the nation as a whole.
“The perspective on what the national youth awards seeks to achieve within the economic sphere of Namibia and why its existence is essential to carry out its vital objectives, is the urgent need to serve as an important tool for youth empowerment whereby the youth of Namibia becomes part of an overall economic empowerment process in the economy. Our main aims and objectives are that the youth be acknowledged for their capacity and ability, skills, talent and so forth,” the concept note for the HYA stated.
Youth from all 14 regions are going to be represented amongst the nominees for the various awards, with a nationally recognised standard prize award, that will be based on the contribution the youth has made to the country whether it is through business entrepreneurship, art and culture, sport, athletics, media and entertainment, academic achievements (at tertiary and lower level education), motivation, innovation, health care profession etc.
The group’s mission is to hold the Harambee Youth Awards ceremony annually on a fair-grounded assortment with integrity, honesty, accountability, service excellence, and respect for youth and Namibia as a nation, with a sincere appreciation for diversity.

Award categories
The awards are going to have a wide array of categories that seek to celebrate young people. There are 22 categories in which one can win the awards. They include:
· Best Youth in Academic Excellence Awards (for tertiary, vocational and secondary school levels).
· Best Made in Namibia Product Youth Award
· Best Innovation Youth Award
· Best Film Youth Award
· Best Art Painting Youth Award
· Best Youth campaigning against Gender-Based Violence Award
· Best Youth Sports Award
· Best Overall Male Harambee Youth Award
· Best Overall Female Harambee Youth Award
· Best Youth involved or campaigning in Road Safety and Accident Award
· Best Small Scale Street/market Vendor Award
· Best Music Youth Award
· Best Medical Doctor Youth Award
· Best Pilot Youth Award
· Best Youth Contributing towards Poverty Eradication (Charity) Award
· Best Inspiring Preacher Youth Award
· Best Youth Involved in Raising Awareness on Hiv/AIDS Award
· Best Youth Involved in Combating Alcohol and Drug Abuse Award
· Best Food Sector Youth Award
· Best Employment Youth Award
· Best Fashion Design Youth Award
The award categories are however subject to change every year, and might be replaced by other categories as the awards grow and expand. Some of categories that might change are the Best Film Youth Award, Best Art Painting Youth Award, Best Small Scale Street Vendor Award, Best Medical Doctor Award, Best Pilot Youth Award, Best Inspiring Preacher Youth Award, Best Journalist Youth Award and Best Fashion Design Youth Award.

How to get involved
The criteria for entry is that entrants must be between the ages of 18 and 35, are Namibian citizens and meet the specific requirements of each category. Nominees are invited from the general public for the selection for award winners in each category.
In a concept note seen by The Zone, the organisational committee has already determined which criteria are going to be used to determine the winner in each category. For instance, in the ‘Best Made in Namibia Product Youth Award’ the product needs to be an original concept that is originally manufactured, produced or made in Namibia.
The criteria for this category included the idea being innovative and inspirational, the entrepreneur having spent time creating and developing the product and the possibility of the product giving further exposure to Namibia as a whole.
Haihambo rehashed the age-old adage ‘the youth are the future’ in making the point that the youth of Namibia are filled with ‘tremendous and towering ambitions’.
“It will be a great wastage of resources if these youth are not given an opportunity to exercise their capacity,” Haihambo noted. He made mention also of how it is that young people are hungry for better options, many of them wanting to claim their right to a better life and willing to take the risks to do so.
“Lastly, the organisers of the awards want to challenge private sector, civil society, trade unions and the government of the Republic of Namibia and others to assist the Harambee Youth Awards 2016 in building capacity of the youth at the regional, local levels. With any assistance that can be made available to us since we are launching our first ever Harambee Youth Awards in days to come and ready to take up the duty for the registration of the 2016 Nominees, this entire journey can be made more enjoyable,” a statement of the committee reiterated..
Keith Vries