The News This Week

We profile an individual or organisation every month making great strides for environmental protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation or sustainable development in Namibia.

Ester Hango is an Environmental Educator at the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Services. She has a passion for the environment and is committed to create awareness for sustainable utilization of natural resources. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the Okatyali Youth Project, a Regional Representative for the Namibian Environmental Education Network (NEEN), a Co-founder and Coordinator of Ohangwena Environmental Youth Club and a member of Cuvelai Etosha Basin Environmental Working Group (CEB-EWG). All the initiatives strive to encourage Namibian youth to become productive by creating environmental awareness both in their schools and communities. Ester walks the talk by bringing youth to work together in different projects and activities that include sustainable gardening, waste management, water resource management and forest management, just to mention a few.

Ester obtained her National Diploma in Agriculture from the University of Namibia in 2007 and her Bachelor of Technology in Agriculture Management from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in 2010. She previously worked as a communication officer for the Communal Land Registration Project with the Omusati Region’s Ministry of Land Reform.

Progress Namibia is a company that works as a social enterprise. Through its consulting services, it provides resources to be able to conduct research and implementation towards improved quality of life for all. The consulting wing focuses on supporting sustainable development in Africa, including capacity building, mentorship, facilitation, communication and education, and project development, implementation and evaluation. These services fall under the umbrella of sustainability, including climate change, sustainable land management, integrated water resource management, biodiversity and ecosystems, alternative economics and paradigm shifts.

Recent social impact work that Progress Namibia is engaged in include pioneering new indicators for measuring progress in Namibia through the ‘For Progress Namibia Project’. It is also working with several partners on ‘Games for the SDGs’ which aims to build citizen engagement and capacity around the Sustainable Development Goals through games education. Every Friday, Progress Namibia does voluntary teaching at the Physically Active Youth Centre in Katutura, where young Namibians learn about sustainability issues as part of their curriculum at the centre. These are just a few examples of some of the work that Progress Namibia has been active in lately.

For more information, visit: http://www.progress-namibia.com