Is Vision 2030 achievable?

By Edward ShatiVision 2030 is a Namibian perception of the future which reveals and points to something new and beyond what is already available and accessible. The goal of Vision 2030 is to improve the quality of life of the people of Namibia to the level of their counterparts in the developed world by 2030. In order to get there, there is a need for a framework that defines clearly where we are today as a nation, where we want to be by 2030 and how we will get there. Defining this framework in operational terms is visioning. Visioning for a nation means creating multiple alternative development strategies and integrated implementation approaches, for reaching the goal of Namibia’s future development.However, I feel like Vision 2030 isn’t achievable due to the minimum efforts that Namibia has made and embarked on in order to achieve Vision 2030. I feel like government has put in so little effort for the vision to be achieved, and on the other hand 2030 envisions a lot of huge and great improvements that require more effort and contribution. The challenges facing Namibia when it comes to achieving Vision 2030 stem from the fact that the majority of the people are not participants in the process of industrialisation.Vision 2030 seems to be unachievable because Namibia as a nation faces many problems that block its realisation. For example, there are complications with land redistribution as well as land distribution in the Namibian society. Thousands of Namibians don’t have access to land. This is despite land being an essential resource for living because people need land in order to maximise their welfare, by housing themselves or by producing, and this enables them to be productive and contribute towards Vision 2030. It enables each society to be productive. Currently there are frustrations with regards to land, Namibian civil society feels like the governing regime has abandoned its own people and the regime is doing little to improve the social conditions of its own people. Vision 2030 also targets social improvements through improved standards of living and government is doing little to address that. The Namibian economy is characterised by low living standards for the general population and the industry is also sitting on heavy income disparities.Poverty is very high in the country; thousands of people are struggling to make ends meet. The state does little to feed its own people; a hungry society is not good because people lack the energy, motivation and the desire to work. This is a consequence because the civil society that is capable of contributing to Vision 2030 is not given an adequate chance or opportunity to contribute towards the realisation of the vision. Poverty is a human rights violation because people live under harsh and difficult conditions that are not acceptable. If people are violated through poverty then 2030 is visionless because people can’t build and contribute to a prosperous future when their rights are being violated. The majority of Namibians reside in rural areas where there are few economic activities that can contribute meaningfully to the overall national growth and enable 2030’s goals to be met. Government has failed to identify key sectors in the economy that need to be developed to house the fundamental goals and objectives of Vision 2030, neither does it have funds available for the country to be fully industrialised by 2030. The process of industrialisation needs more funding; government expenditure needs to increase in order for 2030 to be met. Capital is lacking for SMEs, Namibia is not investing enough capital in small-to medium-scale development, the SME sector should be government’s core expenditure to stimulate growth and broaden the job market. This will massively contribute to Vision 2030 as opposed to expenditure of a new parliament and buying fancy cars from abroad for ministers to ride in. Namibia does not have a clear focus on how to achieve Vision 2030 and there is no co-ordination between the education sector which is an important catalyst of development, and the industry that requires human resources. For Namibia to achieve developmental goals set out in Vision 2030, the government needs to pursue reform in education and the general economy so that they complement each other. The state needs to alter investments in the education sector to contribute to human resources development that are massively needed and are contributors to Vision 2030. Government is not vigorously investing in the manufacturing sector and improving the living standards of rural subsistence farmers. Given the current consequences, Vision 2030 can be viewed as a framework of postponing social evils and problems that need to be addressed immediately. However we need to re-strategise if the country is to achieve the goals set out in Vision 2030 so that we have the majority of Namibians participating in the industrialisation process. *Edward Shati is a third-year education student at the University of Namibia

Is Vision 2030 achievable?

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-13

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Is Vision 2030 achievable?

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-13

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