by Karl Widerquist | Mar 25, 2011 | Research
Journal of Political Science and Sociology, No. 14
ABSTRACT: This paper charts the impact research conducted in the Namibia Basic Income Pilot Project 2008-2009 and draws a complementary report on the success of BI schemes, particularly highlighting the issues of human capital development. The discussion goes on as follows. First, a profile of current Namibia is reviewed. Second, the paper follows how the civil society of Namibia produced Namibia BIG Coalition and its pilot project initiative. The rest of this paper looks in to the results of the project on the basis of impact research conducted by the Coalition. In conclusion, the problem of sustainability of BI is addressed. The possibilities of social cooperation mediated by BI schemes will also be explored.
by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 16, 2010 | News
The National Union for Namibian Workers (NUNW) had announced in early July that it would withdraw from the Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition (see NewsFlash 62). USBIG now reports that the 600 delegates at the annual congress of NUNW elected a new Executive Committee and voted to rejoin the BIG Coalition. With the reversal of the NUNW’s decision, the entire incident has become a BIG victory (so to speak) for basic income supporters. Instead of marginalizing the issue, the (former) union leadership’s decision demonstrated how broad the support for basic income is in Namibia and how out of touch that group of leaders was. Basic income was not the only issue in the decision to change leadership, but it was an important one. According to Herbert Jauch of the Windhoek Observer, “The congress decision on the BIG will not only redirect the NUNW leadership but will also increase the pressure on the Namibian government to seriously consider the introduction of a national BIG as a tool to fight poverty.”
For more information about the NUNW Congress, a see, “The NUNW Congress: A turn-around?” by Herbert Jauch, published in the Windhoek Observer, September 10-16, 2010. A PDF of this article is online at:
https://www.archiv-grundeinkommen.de/namibia/20100910-The-NUNW-Congress-A-turn-around.pdf
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 23, 2010 | News
Only two months after the Central Executive Committee of the National Union of Namibian Workers’ (NUNW) decided to drop out of the Namibian BIG Coalition, the 600 delegates at the annual congress of NUNW elected a new Executive Committee and voted to rejoin the BIG Coalition.
The CEC’s decision to drop out of the BIG Coalition could have been a major political blow for the BIG movement. Instead the announcement was followed almost immediately by an outpouring of support for BIG in public forums in Namibia. Now, with the reversal of the NUNW’s decision, the entire incident has become a BIG victory (so to speak). Instead of marginalizing the issue, the (former) union leadership’s decision demonstrated how broad the support for BIG is in Namibia and how out of touch that group of leaders was. BIG was not the only issue in the decision to change leadership, but it was an important one. According to Herbert Jauch of the Windhoek Observer, “The congress decision on the BIG will not only redirect the NUNW leadership but will also increase the pressure on the Namibian government to seriously consider the introduction of a national BIG as a tool to fight poverty.”
For more information about the NUNW Congress, a see, “The NUNW Congress: A turn-around?”
By Herbert Jauch, published in the Windhoek Observer, September 10-16, 2010. A PDF of this article is online at:
https://www.archiv-grundeinkommen.de/namibia/20100910-The-NUNW-Congress-A-turn-around.pdf
by Karl Widerquist | Aug 12, 2010 | News
The National Union for Namibian Workers (NUNW) announced in early July that it would withdraw from the Basic Income Grant Coalition. The Union’s Secretary General said that NUNW did not see income distribution, as per the BIG model, as a viable way to address poverty in the country. Many editorials followed with renewed support for BIG. For example, the Windhoek Observer, a Namibian Weekly, devoted a recent editorial to the current BIG debate in Namibia. It compares President Pohamba’s remarks that BIG would encourage laziness to the famous apocryphal saying of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, “Let them eat cake.” Evidence from the recent BIG pilot project in Namibia is consistent with the contrary hypothesis that in places with deep poverty, cash grants stimulate people to work more by relieving them from the immediate needs that often keep them from engaging in productive activity.
Links to recent articles about BIG in Namibia are below.
“NUNW withdraws from BIG Coalition,” Richard Swartbooi, Namibian Broadcasting Company:
https://www.nbc.com.na/article.php?id=2404
“Let them Eat Cake,” Editorial, The Windhoek Observer:
https://basisinkomen.nl/wp/buitenlands-nieuws/president-namibia-laat-ze-maar-cake-eten/
“The NUNW and the Basic Income Grant,” Herbert Jauch, the Namibian:
https://www.namibian.com.na/news/full-story/archive/2010/july/article/labour-in-crisis-the-nunw-and-the-basic-income-grant/
“BIG: Time to separate fact from fiction,” by Lucy Edwards, May 28, New Era Online, 2010:
https://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=11177
“Namibia: Social justice and solidarity – think ‘BIG,’” Henning Melber, Pambazuka News, Issue 485, June 10, 2010:
https://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/65081
“Academic justifies BIG,” Irene !Hoaës, New Era Online, June 4, 2010:
https://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=11293
