Women’s Action for Development  (WAD) is a Namibian NGO founded in 1994. Their objective is to improve the social, economic and political situation of people living in rural areas in Namibia, mainly by empowering women. They work in all the regions of the country. This is a recent article in The Economist Namibia highlighting the latest developments within the organisation.

The teachers!

We visited their Training Centre in Rehoboth, 85 km south of  Windhoek on the B1. Here in this training centre people come everyday to learn very different skills. It really is an eye opener, the training effort done from the WAD is wonderful, and well worth a visit in order to see how the real Namibia goes forward. If you want to visit, the best thing is to let them know in advance preferably by calling them.
They run several training projects:

Sexual Education for women:
A central part of the strategy of WAD is the sexual education of women. This is an extremely important step in order to empower them. In the following video, you can see the typical explanation made by one WAD worker on how to use the Female Condom or Femidom:

Computer Skills Training:
In their computer room people learn computer skills. Talking to the teachers, they told us about a problem with the software becoming outdated. They suggested that one way for tourists to help would be to simply bring CDs with more up to date versions of software. Should you want to bring something, ask them first what they need on wad@mweb.com.na.

Computer room

Bakery:
The Bakery has a double purpose: On the one hand, they produce real bread that they sell, among other tasty products (yes, we ate a lot). On the other hand, it serves as a school for young people who want to learn the art or making good bread. One of the suggestions of the manager was that the tourists could bring maybe new recipes. Again, if you want to bring something contact them to ask what they need.

Bread ready to eat!

Kindergarten:
Up to 20 children come here everyday, allowing their parents to go to work.
Kindergarten timetable

Kindergarteners

Crafts and Tapestry:
Training centre for learning crafts and tapestry

Tapestry in the making

Tailor and Sewing:
Young people learn how to sew, fix and create new clothes. For example it is quite common to receive orders for school uniforms. They are always in need of materials and new equipment.

Expert tailor

Furniture fixing:
Old furniture gets fixed and can be reused again. They’ve got the skills, but the equipment in the training centre is ageing, for instance nail guns.

Fixing sofas



Contact: Wilma Maasdorp
Post: Coordinator
Address:
P.O. BOX 3072
Rehoboth
Namibia
Tel: +26462524329
Email: wad@mweb.com.na