The Embassy of Finland and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) signed an agreement for the Middle Management Development Programme Plan (MMDP) 26 March 2009. The project is coordinated by Namibia Institute of Public Administration & Management (NIPAM) and the main Finnish partner of the project is HAUS Finnish Institute for Public Management. The Embassy of Finland in Namibia supports this ten-month project with the total amount of €163 500. The aim of the project is to create a development program Middle Management Development Programme (MMDP), which increases the competency of the middle management and develops the managerial skills in the public sector. MMDP is includes a general part, catering to the common learning needs of middle managers across the central, regional and local governments; and specific modules to cater to the learning needs of specific groups/categories of middle managers keeping in view their job competencies. In addition to this, the aim of the project is to educate Master Trainers and enhance the capacity building of NIPAM, for sustaining the project interventions and facilitating public sector management capacity building.
According to the Finnish Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. Mr. Asko Luukkainen, it is a priority to the Embassy of Finland to promote increased linkages between Finland an Namibia. Projects that aim at institutional linkages and capacity building between public institutions in Namibia and Finland (institutional collaboration) are encouraged.
The Finnish Fund for Local Cooperation is a fund administered by the Embassy of Finland in Windhoek, and it supprots the local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), as well as public and other Namibian institutions. The overall purpose of the grant is the reduction of poverty through economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable development. The priority areas of the fund are the initiatives strengthening the development of the civil society by supporting social and gender equality, open participation of the civil society and human rights. Activities that aim at strengthening and diversifying the relations between Finnish and Namibian organisations and institutions can also be supported.
