The Strategic Plan of the Erongo Regional Council (ERC) provides the strategic direction towards performance improvement through actions to carry out the organization’s Mandate and achieve its Vision.
According to this the ERC is committing itself to delivering quality services to the communities and thereby contributing towards achieving Vision 2030.
The ERC is fully committed to implement its Strategic Plan thereby ensuring that its fulfulls the requiremens of its mandate.
The Erongo Regional Council Strategic plan for the period 2012/13- 2016/17 came to an end and a need arose to develop the next five years Strategic Plan (2017/18-2021/22). This Strategic Plan is aligned to the national planning initiatives contained in the Vision 2030, NDP5, Harambee Prosperity Plan, SWAPO Party Election Manifesto, Decentralization Policy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The second reason for developing a new Strategic Plan is to develop strategic objectives that link the operational planning with ERC in order to accelerate the implementation of the high level goals and ensure desired outcomes.
The process of preparing a Strategic Plan for ERC was consultative with the involvement of all stakeholders in different sectors in the Region, where various expectations were obtained which formed part of the strategies used to respond to stakeholder’s needs. The Strategic Plan outlines responsibilities to determine on how the strategic objectives and programmes will be achieved. Once the Strategic Plan is endorsed annual operational plans will be developed to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Strategic Plan on a regular basis.
Strategic issue 1. Infrastructure in Settlement
Erongo Regional Council consist of four (4) Settlement areas, three (3) of them are the oldest settlements in the country with the least population statistics. The population in these areas are characterized by high-level of poverty, high level of unemployment as there is not much of economic activities going on in these settlements. Most of the infrastructure in these settlements are ailing and in deplorable conditions, therefore the Regional Council envisage to refurbish and establish modern infrastructure in these settlements in order to render services to the needy and attract possible investment that will create employment for the betterment of the living standard of the inhabitants.
Strategic issue 2: Access of sewerage and water resources
Many communities in the rural areas of Erongo lack essential infrastructure mainly water and sewerage network. The community water system contains old pipelines that is used as community drinking water pipes. In some settlements, the distribution lines are leaky and corroded, as the result constant major leaks and pressure problems are experienced in the system. This is not only a problem to the community but is a major challenge to the Regional Council with regards to revenue collection as most of the water is lost in leaks and the water bill is escalating monthly and revenue collected cannot make up for the lost water.
Strategic issue 3: Financial management (Inadequate Budget)
The financial resources play a vital role in successful operation of an organization. As a sub national government the Council heavily depend on the budget from central government. However, the Council realizes that the funds allocated for the Regional Development projects are not enough, nevertheless, the Council take note of the fact that there is equally competing needs in the country.
Strategic issue 4: Fleet and machinery
The Erongo Regional Council’s successful implementation of the strategic plan and achieving of its goals depend on the functionality of its fleet and machinery. The Council is mandated to lender waste removal services therefore it needs specialized machinery for that purpose.
Strategic issue 5: Revenue Collection in Settlement areas
Revenue collection is done through the implementation of regular update of tariff structure. It indicates the amounts to be charged for the services rendered to community members in Settlement areas. Revenue collected are used as source of income during the respective financial year.
Strategic issue 6: Storage facilities
Erongo Regional Council as a custodian of disaster risk management at the regional level does not have its own storage facility which is part of their preparedness and readiness to respond to disasters. Currently, the Council rent property to store items for drought relief distributions and other humanitarians’ assistance at high price.
Strategic issue 7: Sanitation facilities in rural areas
Provision of basic improved sanitation facilities remains a challenge in Namibia especially in rural areas. Poor sanitation affects the well-being of the community. Therefore, ERC will complement the government efforts under the Harambe Prosperity Plan to address sanitation challenges in the region.
Strategic issue 8: Poverty
Poverty can be viewed as a state of deprivation and can be defined in both absolute and relative terms: