Information beats poverty - Jagger

Deputy environment minister Bernadette Jagger says Namibians are living in poverty because they do not have access to information that can empower them. Speaking at Library Information Sharing Day this week, Jagger challenged Namibians to research opportunities through reading, while adding this will surely help beat poverty. “I believe there are many opportunities with the potential to transform our lives, but they pass us by, just because we are too lazy to do research.”She explained that access to information is a basic human right in international law.According to Jagger Namibia is a signatory to the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport, which was ratified by parliament in 2002. Member states were called on to promote the use of information and communication technologies to achieve access to information.“Therefore, our failure to deliver access to information is a serious violation of this crucial human right.”Jagger commended the education ministry for the time and resources invested in ensuring that Namibia's library system is functional.She said special libraries, particularly ministerial libraries or resource centres, are also integrated into the system. At present the education ministry provides librarians to 14 libraries in different ministries. She encouraged staff to make use of the libraries, and by doing so, discover opportunities for research writing. Jagger said information is an essential resource for economic development and no modern economy or society can function without reliable information. According to her libraries are significant information outlets, which should be accessible to all Namibians.“If indeed we are serious about providing information for developmental or transformational purposes, we need to equip our libraries and resource centres. “Currently, I feel Namibian libraries are not adequately equipped to provide information that supports developmental needs, both for our country and for individuals. I would like to, therefore, hear a lot of voices in support of libraries from my fellow decision-makers. If we have to transform our societies, it has to start with transforming libraries,” Jagger said.She said there is also a need to conduct market research to identify information gaps and the needs of people, so government can align its services accordingly. “In this information age, special librarians are essential as they provide the information edge for a knowledge-based organisation, by responding with a sense of urgency to the critical information needs of their parent organisation. In order to fulfil this key role, special librarians require two main types of competencies: Professional and personal.”Jagger said professional competencies relate to the special librarian's knowledge in the areas of information resources, information access, technology, management and research, and their ability to use these areas of knowledge as a basis for providing library and information services.On the other hand, personal competencies represent a set of skills, attitudes and values that enable librarians to work efficiently. ELLANIE SMIT

Information beats poverty - Jagger

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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Information beats poverty - Jagger

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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