Namibian Context Research Articles

Mathematics as a driver for sustainable development: Pre-service teachers’ perspectives on awareness, challenges, and implications for teacher training

Despite mathematics being multidisciplinary, sustainability and mathematics education are largely under-researched and in an infant stage. In the Namibian context, previous research has investigated in-service teachers' per­ceptions of education for sustainable development and teach­ing practices. Little is known about pre-service teachers' per­spectives on mathematics for sustainable development in terms of awareness, challenges, and how pedagogical mod­ules can be enhanced to develop students' pedagogical knowledge to integrate sustainability concepts in mathemat­ics. The study uses a qualitative approach with an exploratory case study design. Eight third-year pre-service Mathematics teachers were conveniently sampled and completed an open-ended questionnaire. The researcher, informed by the Repre­sentations, Educational approach, Didactic tools, and Skills model, conducted a content analysis of participants' aware­ness, challenges, and implications for training Mathematics teachers. In terms of awareness, the findings revealed that most of the pre-service teachers appear aware and knowl­edgeable of the role of mathematics in driving education for sustainable development. The study also found that the major challenges in incorporating ESD in the mathematics teaching and learning process are didactic tools and skills. Based on the study findings, teacher educators should develop student teachers' pedagogical ESD knowledge to be able to link Mathematics to appropriate SD themes, design learning tasks and materials, and present lessons that incorporate SD. The findings of the study provide direction on components to be considered to en­hance pedagogical modules for pre-service teachers. This study is limited to a case study of the chosen pre-service teachers and campus, thus cannot be extrapolated to a broader population.

Wildlife corridors in a Southern African conservation landscape: the political ecology of multispecies mobilities along the arteries of anthropogenic conservation

The decline of biodiversity is a key topic in public discussions around the globe. These debates have triggered massive efforts to increase protected areas and to safeguard the corridors connecting them. The wildlife corridors dealt with in this article are mainly thought to facilitate the mobility of elephants and some other large herbivores (for example, zebra and buffalo). Wildlife corridors are not only essential for species connectivity but also an integral part of the booming ecotourism in north-eastern Namibia’s conservation landscapes. Coexistence infrastructure is meant to contribute to economic development and local incomes. Conservancies — community-based conservation organisations in the Namibian context — gazette corridors and market wildlife abundance to ecotourists, potential investors in tourism and commercial hunters. The coexistence of humans and wildlife is challenging, though. Human-wildlife interactions frequently result in damage, and often conservationist environmental infrastructuring runs against the aims of farmers to expand their fields for commercial crop production and to gain pastures for growing cattle herds. It also runs against other governmentally endorsed infrastructuring that brings tarred roads, water pipelines and boreholes. This article analyses contested wildlife corridors as part of a larger conservationist project in the western parts of Namibia’s Zambezi Region.

REGULATION OF THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS’ FIDELITY FUND INVESTMENTS IN NAMIBIA

In the Namibian context, the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund is created by statute, and is administered by a board of control known as the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund Board of Control.1 In terms of the law, the Board of Control (the Board) has the mandate to invest moneys of the fund from time to time if, in the opinion of the Board, such funds are not immediately required for other purposes.2 Market failures are continuously experienced globally, and may lead to failed investments. This reality requires investors to take proper steps to ensure that their investments are sound. The soundness of an investment rests in the possibility of increasing investment returns and reducing possible risk of investment failure. The Legal Practitioners Act does not provide any steps to follow to guard against the failure of fidelity fund investments. The Act also fails to indicate the extent to which the Board or any other person may be held accountable for failed investments. The Rules of the Law Society of Namibia are equally silent on this matter. This article seeks to investigate the extent to which the Board may be held liable for any failed investments. The article also attempts to establish various steps that should be followed by the Board to prevent or avoid the failure of fidelity fund investments.

Analysing intermodal connectivity for the functionality of Namibia’s regional logistics hub

Background: In today’s interconnected global economy, logistics and supply chain management are pivotal in facilitating the movement of goods and services across regions. Supply chains have become increasingly complex, involving multiple stakeholders, diverse transportation modes, and intricate global networks. The efficient management of these supply chains has emerged as a critical determinant of competitiveness and economic growth for businesses and nations.Objectives: The study aims to analyse the level of intermodal connectivity and how it enhances the functionality of a regional logistics hub using Namibia as a case study.Method: The research study adopted a mixed-method design, collecting data through interviews, questionnaires, and documentary analysis to examine intermodal connectivity and its impact on the functionality of the Namibian regional logistics hub.Results: The study’s key findings reveal a fragmented railway system and a significant reliance on road transportation within the Namibian transport system. The level of intermodality is found to be low, indicating limited connectivity and integration between different modes of transport in Namibia.Conclusion: The study highlights the need to address the fragmentation within the railway system, reduce the heavy reliance on road transportation, and improve intermodal connectivity to enhance the functionality and efficiency of the Namibian transport system.Contribution: This research contributes to the existing knowledge of transportation and logistics hubs within the Namibian context. By exploring the role of intermodal connectivity, the study builds upon the theoretical frameworks of transport geography, logistics management, and infrastructure planning.

Exploring the Factors that Shape the Intentions of Namibian Youths Towards Social Entrepreneurship

This study investigates the factors influencing social entrepreneurial intentions among youth in Namibia and explores their relationship with social entrepreneurship. The research adopts a qualitative and quantitative approach. Data was collected through google form which was sent via Namibian WhatsApp group in India. 69 students participated in the study, where 42 were females and 22 males. The data are analysed using factor analysis and regression analysis. The findings show that among young Namibians, self-efficacy and prior experience are major predictors of social entrepreneurship goals. In addition, when asked about the obstacles preventing them from launching social initiatives, respondents stated that 68% cited restricted access to cash as the key barrier, 7% mentioned a lack of self-esteem and competence in the area of social entrepreneurship, and 4% mentioned a lack of support networks. These findings offer valuable insights into the primary factors influencing social entrepreneurship in the Namibian context, providing guidance for policymakers and practitioners aiming to promote social entrepreneurship among youth. Additionally, the study recommends that higher education institutions incorporate social entrepreneurship into their curricula across various subjects. By providing insights to educators, policymakers, and youth, this research underscores the positive impact of social entrepreneurship on communities, contributes to the ongoing discourse, and raises awareness about social entrepreneurship among young individuals.

Facilitating childbirth choice for positive postnatal mental health well-being among women: a Namibian case study.

Childbirth affects women in a myriad of ways including feelings of tiredness, being overwhelmed, stressed, and having baby blues, and if not attended to, this can lead to postpartum depression, which is a mental condition that can have disastrous effects. Childbirth can affect the mental and physical status of a woman and having supportive midwives who guide women by giving adequate information is an issue of critical concern for a positive birth experience. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has emphasised the need to facilitate childbirth choices for women as a means of having a safe and memorable experience as the experience in childbirth affects the psychological status of a woman. Some women may experience worry and anxiety during labour and childbirth, which may be exacerbated by bias and a lack of childbirth choice facilitation during pregnancy. A negative childbirth experience may lead to negative psychological distress and postpartum depression, which will interfere with the bond between the mother, baby, and family. Midwives, thus, need to understand the emotional aspects that are attached to childbirth and be able to facilitate and support the emotional as well as the psychosocial needs of women under their care. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence within the Namibian context that can provide direction and context-specific solutions to the present challenge. The current study followed a qualitative research design with an exploratory approach with one-on-one interviews with 10 midwives who were purposively selected. The midwives' experiences in this study depicted their zeal towards the issue at hand; however, what stood out were some barriers in the facilitation of childbirth choices (theme 1) as they expressed the shortages of staff, the timing of information, information sharing, and cultural influences as some of their experiences in facilitating childbirth. Furthermore, midwives shared a lack of provision for childbirth choice (theme 2) as the rights of women were not observed, and a lack of women-centred care despite protocols and guidelines being there, and yet they are not adhered to. In conclusion, midwives as primary caregivers actively need to provide unbiased childbirth information to achieve positive postpartum health. Initiating childbirth choices early in pregnancy gives women the time to weigh options and clearing of any misconceptions relating to childbirth types as well as reducing anxiety and fear of birth, which could lead to postpartum depression and by extension, the mental well-being of the women. Facilitating childbirth choices is critical in positive birth experiences and the management of childbirth as well as crafting guidelines and policy formulation that ensure a mentally healthy woman and society.

Teaching Programming Experience at Primary and Secondary School students in the Namibian context: A SWOT Analysis

Teaching Programming Experience at Primary and Secondary School students in the Namibian context: A SWOT Analysis

Exploring the implementation of role extension for Namibian radiographers: Perspectives on intravenous injection of contrast media

IntroductionRole extension to include intravenous (IV) injection of contrast media has been formally embraced by radiographers and their regulatory bodies in developed countries. The revised scope of practice, in our Namibian context, has formalised IV injection as an extended role for radiographers. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of radiographers regarding this new role of IV injection of contrast media. MethodsA qualitative design with a descriptive phenomenological approach was employed to collect data from 15 radiographers working in both public and private radiology facilities. Participants were purposively selected to participate in focus group discussions and individual interviews. An interview guide was used to facilitate the discussions and interviews, and a voice recorder was used for recording. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Tesch's 8-step method. ResultsFrom the 15 participants, three themes were developed: enhanced service delivery with two subthemes (improved departmental workflow and patient care), training needs with two subthemes (inadequate contrast media reaction training and standardised training requirement), and medical-legal issues with two subthemes (regulatory blurriness and role conflict distress). ConclusionThe participants expressed mixed perceptions towards the IV injection role of radiographers, emphasising the benefits for the department and patients while raising concerns regarding standardisation of training and associated medico-legal issues. Furthermore, a large-scale evaluation is necessary to uncover the challenges and barriers to the successful adoption of this new role. Implications for practiceThe role extension for radiographers to include IV injections is a long-awaited development, but it should be accompanied by the necessary training and guidelines to fully realise its benefits.

Lived experiences of adolescents living with human immuno- deficiency virus in Namibia

Adolescents living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience stigma, ill-treatment, and many other challenges due to their health condition. Their experience with HIV is highly overlooked, yet, it shapes their decisions and influences their health outcomes. The objective of this study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of adolescents living with HIV in the Namibian context. We conducted a qualitative study of adolescents (aged 10-19 years) at five different anti-retroviral treatment (ART) clinics in Rundu district, Kavango region Namibia. We used purposive sampling and collected data through in-depth interviews with 21 adolescents from October 2020 to December 2020. We analyzed the data with content analysis. The mean age of participants was 16 years, and the age ranged between 12-19 years. Most participants (62%) have never been in a relationship or engaged in sexual activities. All the participants were in school at the time of the study. The content analysis yielded five broad categories: i) experience with HIV care and treatment, ii) finding out about HIV Status, iii) the interplay between HIV and social relationships, iv) the need for information on HIV and the treatment, v) multiple fears, worries, and means to cope. Adolescents living with HIV (ALWH) experience many challenges due to their health condition. Learning about their HIV status is one of the most challenging experiences. There is a need for continued HIV care and support for adolescents living with HIV, which is adolescent- friendly and focused.

Haunted by Denial

On a sweltering August afternoon in 2018, my uncle and I walked into a Namibian national museum mandated to narrate the long durée of the country’s history from the prehistoric to the modern present. The previous week, I had watched a handover ceremony on television in which Germany returned the skulls of genocide victims to Ovaherero community representatives for burial. I wanted to know how the museum was stewarding those sacred remains.Shortly after entering, we encountered a white man who we quickly identified as a member of the museum’s staff—one we later learned had held that post since before Namibia’s independence in 1990. My uncle introduced us, telling the staffer I was writing a dissertation about German colonization and the 1904 Ovaherero and Nama genocide. The man quickly retorted, “Don’t you know the entire genocide is a hoax!” He proceeded to candidly share with us, a pair of Black African strangers, his grand theory of how the British fabricated the “so-called genocide” as a way of discrediting Germany. He even recommended German-speaking farmer and amateur historian Hinrich R. Schneider-Waterberg’s mammoth denialist text Der Wahrheit eine Gasse: Zur Geschicte des Hererokrieges in Deutsche-Südwestafrika 1904–1907 (roughly translated to The Gap in the Truth: The Story of the Herero War in German Southwest Africa 1904–1907) as a much-needed historical correction to my work.When his denialism of the Ovaherero and Nama genocide turned into Nazi apologia—Frantz Fanon aptly articulated the intimacies between antisemitism and negrophobia—the stiff upper lip of my already flimsy scholarly resolve began to waver. My need to perform an objective sociological documentation of this staffer’s denialism crumbled as I held the implications of his words for the country and institution in which he wielded no small power over collective memory. Fighting back tears, I tersely thanked him for his time. I walked quickly out of the museum, and began to sob in the unforgiving Windhoek sun. Like Fanon, “at the crossroads between Nothingness and Infinity, I began to weep.”1This curator was neither my first brush with institutionalized genocide denialism nor with denialism(s) in the Namibian context. But I was struck by his frankness. It forced me to realize that denialism is not simply a falsehood or an incorrect knowing: it is its own epistemic condition with its own rationale and empiricisms. In the years that followed, as I became more familiar with the affected communities’ struggle for recognition by the German state, I have come to recognize the constellation of registers of denialism: Germany making reference to the “alleged genocide” and “alleged concentration camps” in court while confining genocidal responsibility solely to contemporary definitions is, unequivocally, denialism.2Marc Nichanian wrote that “genocide is not a fact” because it is “the very destruction of the fact.”3 This is not to give credence to denialisms (they would persevere regardless), but to emphasize how denialism represents a matrix of competing geopolitical, ethno-racial, cultural, religious, and other regimes of facticity and memory that comprise the event-process-structure of genocide. As a recurrent feature of genocide, denialism is an epistemicidal form, a recursive murder of knowledge and destructible evidential truth that supplements and reiterates the physical act of killing.I am haunted by denialism, and denialism itself is a haunting. After my run-in with the denier in the museum, and after visiting Armenia and learning about genocide denial at the level of the nation-state, my archival engagement hovers somewhere between séance and exorcism.4 Investigating these spectral traces, whether the arrogant noise of imperial might or the indigenous African metaphysics that erupt normative space-time and scientific empirics, means following a sociogenic path that “lead[s] to that dense site where history and subjectivity make social life.”5Competition between recognition and denial is necessarily zero-sum, and the stakes of remembering are the stakes of Black life itself. Jackie Sibblies Drury wrote that “the most tragic death is the death that is elided over as history is canonized”; this elision is “if not a fate worse than death, perhaps a death worse than death.”6 Denialist confabulations haunts victim-survivor communities as a trauma that re-kills the dead and re-wounds the living who are engaged in a perpetual struggle for recognition and reparations. Against this, insurgent haunting by various ancestor-ghosts offers “its own form of resolving.”7 It is toward this resolution with those ancestors that my own historical engagement is aimed.

Interrogating the contemporary english language needs for the ICT industry in the namibian context

New digital technology advances throughout the globe are principally responsible for the impetus behind the modern information and communications technology (ICT) industry’s requirement for English language skills. There is a steady increase in highly computerized new machinery, each with more complex, difficult-to-understandinstruction manuals that demand a correspondingly high degree of linguistic proficiency. Thus, students studying computer science need access to subject-specific English for both immediate usage and long-term career development. Due to these constant changes and rapid advancements in the technology sector, it was essential to conduct research on the current needs of the ICT industry. It is essential for graduates and professionals in the ICT industry to be able to communicate fluently with teams working in the same field but located in different parts of the world. This can be in the form of written manuals or conversation. The purpose of this study was to interrogate the contemporary English language demands for the ICT industry and the necessary proficiency required of undergraduate ICT majors. The theoretical underpinning of this research was the Material Design Model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1). A mixed-methods research approach was used. The total number of participants that took part were 170 (N= 170), thus that is what the sample size was based on. Using convenience sampling, a sample size of 118 was drawn. The results indicated that ICT students often lacked skills in essay writing. The students’ lack of technical language skills seriously weakens the strength of their scientific argument. Studentsare recommended to attend subject-specific language courses in order to prepare for their present academic and future professional language demands. The study indicated that the existing curriculum for computer science students does not adequately prepare them for the kinds of work that would be available to them in the ICT sector. The study recommends utilizing education support professionals (ESP) professionals to teach English in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses, with a focus on using examples from specialized journals, magazines, and blog channels. The study concludes by suggesting that instructors of computer science language be incentivized to increase their usage of specialized scholarly terminology in their classrooms.

Science for All: Boosting knowledge through communication

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation* - Aristotle The need for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to spearhead development has increased steadily, while communication and dissemination fall behind. In a world continuously influenced by scientific development, STEM communication grows ever more important to enable active engagement and participation of citizens in society. The intention is to engage society to increasingly recognize and illustrate the important of STEM for daily life, while boosting science motivation among students to learn STEM subjects, thus creating a critical mass of scientists, engineers and technologists for the world's tomorrow. This need is even more of a challenge in developing countries, like Namibia, where there is limited funding towards STEM. Since 2015, the National Commission for Research, Science and Technology, in Namibia, has engaged in science fairs, public talks, or participatory projects, including publications as channels on reaching and engaging underserved audiences of STEM. One such publication is this journal. Now in its fourth volume, a special collection of articles on applications of statistics is showcased in this journal issue. The articles, edited by Dr Opeoluwa Oyedele, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computing, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences - formerly Department of Statistics and Population Studies, in the School of Science, are drawn from a selection of research done by postgraduate students and staff in that department. The collection tries to showcase the breath to which statistical techniques and methods are applied in a real world. All case studies are drawn from the Namibian context. The list of the articles is: • Statistics: an intrinsic part of everyday life - commentary • Modelling state preferences among airline travellers in Namibia: a case study at Eros airport and Hosea Kutako international airport • Zero-augmented models for exploring the factors affecting the pass rate of 2016 grade 10 learners in Khomas region, Namibia • Assessing the impact of proximate and non-proximate determinants of fertility in Namibia: a structural equation modelling approach • Household poverty levels in Namibia and their associated sociodemographic factors: An empirical investigation of the 2015/16 Namibia household income and expenditure survey • An application of survival analysis on the determinants of employment longevity in Namibia: evidence from 2018 Labour Force Survey • Customer relationship management (CRM) and passenger loyalty in delivering high quality service at Air Namibia: A structural equations approach • Application of longitudinal analysis to crime Data: Windhoek case study {2011-2016) • Socio-demographic variations on age-sex mortality in Namibia: an analysis of the 2016 civil registration and vital statistics data • A logistic regression model to assess factors influencing schizophrenia symptoms in Namibia • An ecological adjusted random effect model for property crime in Windhoek, Namibia {2011-2016) This collection is the first of its kind, and we look forward to many more, in line with the four main goals of NJRST, which is to inform, innovate, educate and debate, hence boosting scientific communication. We invite our readers to appreciate the beauty of statistics as presented here.

The Impact of Quality Service on Customer Satisfaction in the Banking Sector amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review for the State of Current Knowledge

The relationship between quality service and customer satisfaction has gained remarkable recognition since the 1980s. To date, researchers are still determined to find out how quality service in terms of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, impact customer satisfaction. This study provides a review of the literature on the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction in the banking sector amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to determine the existing research gap. Evidence from the literature review shows mixed results where some of the dimensions of quality service positively influence customer satisfaction while others impact it negatively. However, while evidence from the African context reveals positive relationships between the variables, the phenomenon remains inadequately researched, mainly in the Namibian context. Furthermore, empirical evidence covered under this study has examined the matter from the quantitative perspective, leaving no evidence from a qualitative standpoint. Thus, a call for further investigation to delve deeper into the issue to constrict the gap. In so doing, the study developed a conceptual framework that future studies can employ. The conceptual framework consolidates the moderation role of the COVID-19 pandemic to the relationship between quality service and customer satisfaction based on the amendments made to the services which come with variations in customer satisfaction.

Interrogating the contemporary english language needsfor the ICT industry in the namibian context

New digital technology advances throughout the globe are principally responsible for the impetus behind themodern information and communications technology (ICT) industry’s requirement for English language skills. Thereis a steady increase in highly computerized new machinery, each with more complex, difficult-to-understandinstruction manuals that demand a correspondingly high degree of linguistic proficiency. Thus, students studyingcomputer science need access to subject-specific English for both immediate usage and long-term careerdevelopment. Due to these constant changes and rapid advancements in the technology sector, it was essential toconduct research on the current needs of the ICT industry. It is essential for graduates and professionals in the ICTindustry to be able to communicate fluently with teams working in the same field but located in different parts ofthe world. This can be in the form of written manuals or conversation. The purpose of this study was to interrogatethe contemporary English language demands for the ICT industry and the necessary proficiency required ofundergraduate ICT majors. The theoretical underpinning of this research was the Material Design Model proposedby Hutchinson and Waters (1). A mixed-methods research approach was used. The total number of participantsthat took part were 170 (N= 170), thus that is what the sample size was based on. Using convenience sampling,a sample size of 118 was drawn. The results indicated that ICT students often lacked skills in essay writing. Thestudents’ lack of technical language skills seriously weakens the strength of their scientific argument. Studentsare recommended to attend subject-specific language courses in order to prepare for their present academicand future professional language demands. The study indicated that the existing curriculum for computer sciencestudents does not adequately prepare them for the kinds of work that would be available to them in the ICT sector.The study recommends utilizing education support professionals (ESP) professionals to teach English in Science,Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses, with a focus on using examples from specializedjournals, magazines, and blog channels. The study concludes by suggesting that instructors of computer sciencelanguage be incentivized to increase their usage of specialized scholarly terminology in their classrooms.

Transforming African education systems throughthe application of IoT

The project sought to provide a paradigm for improving African education systems through the use of theInternet of Things (IoT). The created IoT model for Africa will enable African countries, notably Namibia, toexchange educational content and resources with other African countries. The objective behind the IoT paradigmin Africa’s education sector is to provide open access to knowledge and information. The study revealed that thereare no recognized platforms in African education systems that are utilized by African governments to interact,communicate, and share educational materials directly with African institutions. As a result, the current researchdeveloped a model for transforming African education systems using the IoT in the Namibian context, which willserve as a centralized online platform for self-study, new skill acquisition, and self-improvement using materialsprovided by African institutions of higher learning. Everyone is welcome to use the platform, including students,instructors, and members of the general public.

The role of work engagement and work meaningfulness on turnover of nurses in Rundu, Namibia

Turnover, in the nursing profession seems to be problematic and this jeopardized the mandate of delivering safe and effective care. The nursing sector has one of the highest in employee turnover around the world. Looking into work engagement and work meaningfulness can be used as mitigating factors which organisations can consider to curb turnover. In the Namibian context literature on nurses’ engagement and work meaningfulness is inadequate. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of n=168 nurses from Rundu hospitals and clinics, participated in the study. Findings revealed that there is no statistically significant relationship between turnover and work-engagement (r=0.095; p=0.222) of nurses in Rundu, Namibia. Findings also revealed that there is no statistically significant relationship between turnover and work-meaningfulness (r=-0.003; p=0.966) of nurses in Rundu, Namibia. A positive and statistically significant relationship between work-engagement and work-meaningfulness (r=0.587**; p=<.0001) was confirmed. Additionally, work meaningfulness was statistically found to moderate the relationship between turnover and work engagement (F = 43.589; df = 2; P = <.000; R2 = 0.589). Stakeholders concerned (.i.e. Ministry of Health and Social Services) should devise strategies to enhance employee level of engagement and work meaningfulness which inevitably will foster positive work outcomes for the health sector.

Normalizing necessity? Support networks and racial inequality in Namibia

• This article presents a novel approach to measure economic inequality within the space of personal support relationships. • It shows how interpersonal support practices respond to and can contribute to systemic inequalities. • Support to notably worse-off others occurs within the extended family for black and toward acquaintances for white Namibians. • Support practices show a narrative of necessity for black but not white Namibians within families and across generations. • A stronger obligation to share one’s merits with others can contribute to continued intra- and interracial inequality. Community or interpersonal support is a critical source to sustain livelihoods in the Global South. At the same time, these practices can exhibit unequal dynamics such as disincentives, hierarchies, or adverse inclusion of individuals. However, an understanding of such is primarily tied to the conceptual space of poverty or small communities. Less is known about how social support systems might respond to structural inequalities within a society. This paper explores how support practices might be shaped by or respond to structurally inherited inequalities in the Namibian context. More precisely, I estimate the probability of supporting others that are notably worse off by comparing support practices of black and white Namibians across various age groups, gender, and socioeconomic standing. By drawing on primary network data, I assess racial inequality as a social dynamic within the space of practising solidarity towards others and further evaluate whether providing worse off others corresponds to consequences of former discriminatory practices under the apartheid regime. My results suggest that racial inequality shapes support practices and meaning. For black Namibians, this can entail that support among family members is a necessary act to redress economic imbalances stemming from former discriminatory policies. For white Namibians, support to worse off others seems to be an act of choice that primarily involves socially distanced contacts. I propose that racial inequality has normalized a sense of support as a necessity for black but not white Namibians. This can lead to sharing one’s merits with members of the extended family for black Namibians, rather than accumulating, saving, or re-investing its outcomes. More broadly, by recognizing differences in group practices, I evidence that exploring support practices across structural inequalities can enhance insights on the social replication of inter- and intragroup-based inequalities.

Thinking globally and acting locally. Can research and science help?

This issue of the Journal starts volume 3, an occasion to pause, give thanks, and reflect on the past year or so. Two major events in recent times have shed a true meaning to the saying "think globally, act locally". The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war underscored that we exist in a globalizing and “boundaryless” economy. There has been no escaping of the ripple-effects of these two events. The result has been heightened unemployment across all industrial sectors, particularly worsened in vulnerable sectors such as tourism and hospitality. The informal sector has also particularly been hit. Food insecurity has increased, and inflation has picked across the globe. Economic growth has stalled, and standards of living have plummeted in the past three years. Countries have acted differently - a true realization of acting locally - to tame the effects on the economy and population. Developed countries acted much faster, while developing countries acted laggards. In laggard countries, policies have lacked evidence. Attributed to Scots town planner and social activist Patrick Geddes (1915), and popularized in the 1970s (Heaps, 2010), the catch term think global-act local has evolved. It has been used in various contexts, including planning, environment, education, and towards business strategies. Thinking globally and acting locally, in its simplest form, is a commitment to personal change. It is a liberating journey of small, deliberate changes to dismantle inconsistencies that exist (Barash, 2002; Groom 2012). This acting is not only at country level, but also applies at a community sphere. For example, geographic proximity and local networks influence diverse practices at a local level, and it not uncommon for organizations to act differently in different settings. Having a long-term vision to offset the impacts of globalization is important for a country. But how much of these locally tailored solutions can be informed by research and science? This call for local action is increasing been made in the case of mitigating for the impacts of climate change. The emphasis has been that global warming requires local solutions. The options are many: Make buildings tighter, maximize passive solar applications, substitute higher-efficiency appliances and motors, encourage telecommunications instead of physical meeting, among others. This problem can be eradicated easily through the introduction of many county-wide regulations, such as tax breaks on households that recycle, readily-available recycling bins and trashcans among many. Africa too needs local solutions for global challenges. One can not overemphasize the power of local solutions to address global challenges. And so, in the Namibian context, we argue that local solutions should be informed through active research and scientific inquiry. However, just like everywhere around the world, local efforts to protect our planet are too often underfunded and overlooked. Nevertheless, we must not tire. There is need to develop a knowledge hub, we require a critical mass of experts, there is need to get others inspired by reaching out, that knowledge must be shared or disseminated through civic participation in advancing scientific and research discovery to support the country's development.

Re-syllabification and morphophonological nativisation of English loans in Rukwangali

We here examine and discuss the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loan words in Rukwangali. The analysis, couched within the theoretical explications of CV Phonology (Clements & Keyser, 1983) and Distinctive Features Theory (Chomsky and Halle, 1968), argues that Rukwangali evinces a high level of resyllabification of borrowed words – increasing syllable count in the nativised forms. This, we argue, is largely motivated by the desire to preserve the canonical Consonant-Vowel (CV) syllable structure. The historical contact situation between English and Rukwangali in Namibia culminated in a transference of lexical items between the languages. Being one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Rukwangali. Of course, in the Namibian context, because of the close genetic affinities between English and Afrikaans and similarities in lexicon, it is sometimes difficult to locate objectively the donor of some words in Rukwangali. The words were randomly collected from the English Rukwangali dictionary and tested through one of the authors, who is a native Rukwangali speaker and a teacher of Rukwangali for the past 11 years. The infiltration of English and Afrikaans words into the Rukwangali lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Rukwangali speakers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in Rukwangali, since Rukwangali asserts itself as an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study, therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behaviour and changes that take place in English words that enter into Rukwangali. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Rukwangali speakers handle aspects of English language such as syllabification, diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable phonemic sequences in Rukwangali.

Who Guards the Guard?

Meta-evaluations by Quality Assurance Agencies (QAAs) aim to evaluate the quality of the evaluators of quality assurance. While such evaluations are the norm, especially in Europe, they are rare in Africa. A critical literaturereview was conducted to ascertain whether meta-evaluations were conducted in Namibia. The study estab- -lished that such evaluations have yet to be practiced in the country. Drawing on Clark’s model of the organisa- -tional analysis of higher education institutions and the higher education system as an analytical lens, and based on the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance and some cases of meta-evaluation byQAAs, we argue for the need to conduct such evaluations in Namibia. The article provides an overview of QAAs’ operations and functions, as well as the current external quality assurance system for higher education inNamibia and justifies the necessity of meta-evaluation in the Namibian context in order to enhance the capacity of QAAs and the quality of higher education institutions.
 Key words: Higher Education, meta-evaluation, Namibia, quality assurance, Quality Assurance Agencies