Rundu and Vetlanda strengthen ties

THE Municipality of Vetlanda in Sweden has donated a fire truck to the Rundu Municipality, thanks to the twinning programme between the two towns that was initiated by ‘Every River Has Its People’ project.

The Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) through this project has expanded its activities on the sustainable utilisation of the Kavango River Basin. The twinning programme was initiated by the project’s co-ordinator Dorothy Wamunyima when she was in Sweden last year.Recently, Wamunyima, the Mayor of Rundu Gosberth Mandema and town engineer Fanie van der Westhuizen took a trip to the town of Vetlanda to look at areas of prioritising for future development.During their stay, said Wamunyima, the Municipality of Vetlanda told them it would donate a fire truck to the town of Rundu as a token of appreciation.”This was really a blessing for us as a developing town and Namibia as a whole,” said Wamunyima.She told The Namibian they brought Vetlanda executives and the Executive Director for the EMAN River Basin Catchment to familiarise themselves with the town of Rundu and with activities of the ‘Every River Has Its People’ project in the region.She said EMAN would focus on capacity building and training people from Kavango on the integrated approach to utilise the river basin in a sustainable manner for the future generation, while the Vetlanda municipality would help the town with capacity building, water treatment, waste disposal, rescue services, education and effective service delivery.The Okavango Basin Management Association (OBMA) was recently formed and according to Wamunyima, some people from the region would soon be sent to Sweden to go for training.The association, amongst others, consists of the Kavango Regional Council, line Ministries, NGO’s and traditional authorities.Last year, Wamunyima was given an award for her good work in co-ordinating efforts toward the sustainable utilisation of the Okavango River Basin as a shared basin for three countries (Angola, Botswana and Namibia).She was awarded the International Water Resources Management Award by the EMAN River Basin Catchment in Stockholm, Sweden.The twinning programme was initiated by the project’s co-ordinator Dorothy Wamunyima when she was in Sweden last year.Recently, Wamunyima, the Mayor of Rundu Gosberth Mandema and town engineer Fanie van der Westhuizen took a trip to the town of Vetlanda to look at areas of prioritising for future development.During their stay, said Wamunyima, the Municipality of Vetlanda told them it would donate a fire truck to the town of Rundu as a token of appreciation.”This was really a blessing for us as a developing town and Namibia as a whole,” said Wamunyima.She told The Namibian they brought Vetlanda executives and the Executive Director for the EMAN River Basin Catchment to familiarise themselves with the town of Rundu and with activities of the ‘Every River Has Its People’ project in the region.She said EMAN would focus on capacity building and training people from Kavango on the integrated approach to utilise the river basin in a sustainable manner for the future generation, while the Vetlanda municipality would help the town with capacity building, water treatment, waste disposal, rescue services, education and effective service delivery.The Okavango Basin Management Association (OBMA) was recently formed and according to Wamunyima, some people from the region would soon be sent to Sweden to go for training.The association, amongst others, consists of the Kavango Regional Council, line Ministries, NGO’s and traditional authorities.Last year, Wamunyima was given an award for her good work in co-ordinating efforts toward the sustainable utilisation of the Okavango River Basin as a shared basin for three countries (Angola, Botswana and Namibia).She was awarded the International Water Resources Management Award by the EMAN River Basin Catchment in Stockholm, Sweden.