The Namibia Community Skills Development Foundation (COSDEF) is the national umbrella body for the Community Skills Development Centres (COSDECs). It is a registered trust, governed by a Board of Trustees. The Support Unit (SU) administers and implements approved programmes. The role of the SU is to maintain quality standards, through the provision of administrative and financial assistance, as well as professional advice and guidance to the COSDECs and other training initiatives funded by the COSDEF.

COSDEF co-ordinates, supports and supervises the various COSDECs that provide competency based skills training to various communities throughout Namibia, primarily for youth and the previously disadvantaged groups to assist them in partaking in economic development activities.

COSDEF is the national umbrella body for the various COSDECs. Honourable, Nahas Angula, is the Chairman of the Board of trustees. The Board’s mandate includes:

• Providing guidance to the COSDECs in terms of their activities and management;
• Raising funds, allocating funds to COSDECs, and monitoring COSDECs expenditures;
• Developing, implementing and enforcing training and skill testing standards; and
• Receiving and assessing individual requests from other communities for the establishment of new skills training initiatives.

The vision of the COSDECs is to “provide focused, practical skills training that incorporates business skills, entrepreneurship, and life skills” and to “relate the training programs to opportunities in the local economy in terms of demand for goods and services.”

The main aim is to assist young people find employment in the local economy, either in the formal or informal sector. The training provided at the Centres is competency-based and the courses focus on the basic skills an employer expects of an entry level worker.

The COSDECs have developed processes for conducting market assessments, i.e. identifying relevant skills training opportunities and tracer studies, thereby assessing the effectiveness of existing training programs. COSDECs target and market their courses mainly to unemployed youth and other disadvantaged groups in society.

The SME Support Centre’s main objective is to provide business training courses, mentoring and coaching, and general support services to small business owners and entrepreneurs. In addition, the Centres provide Small Business Incubation Units to local SME operators as part of their business support services.

ARTS & CRAFT CENTRE

The COSDEF Arts &Craft Centre was established in 2009 in Swakopmund. The Centre serves as a selling and value-added outlet for arts & craft products produced at COSDECs and from local producers around the country

Although COSDEF is a registered Trust, the organisation still benefits from its close ties with the Ministry of Education since its inception. Currently 85% of each COSDECs funding comes directly from the Foundation. The Foundation’s budget is funded by the Ministry of Education through the Namibia Training Authority (NTA). Special projects are funded by various donor agencies, the private sector and individual sponsorships.

Each COSDEC is expected to generate 15% of their total yearly budget through own initiatives. Although the Centres may lobby for additional donor funds, the Centres are encouraged to set up “Production Units” linked to their training programs to generate own funds.