The Namibia Standard Institute (NSI) is undertaking a workshop on informal settlement profiles validation with some local authorities.

The three-day meeting in Otjiwarongo is to validate the report to be a practical planning tool aimed at upgrading or reducing informal settlements and improving the quality of life of residents.

Speaking at the workshop, Urban and Rural Development Deputy Executive Director Christella Mwenyo said the profile report is part of building a comprehensive national housing data infrastructure to support planning, policy formulation, and informed decision-making. 

"We have key priority key areas in the national development plan, and of course one of them is for us to halve the number of informal settlements that are in the country by 2030. So as a ministry we cannot achieve that alone, so collaborations of development partners and all stakeholders are really, really key. From this side of the ministry we are really committed together to reduce the number of settlements within Namibia."

The current profile report was developed for seven local authorities of Rundu, Opuwo, Windhoek, Keetmanshoop, Oshakati, Helao Nafidi and Rehoboth.

It is a collaboration between the Namibia Statistics Agency, the Namibia Housing Information System Project, UN-Habitat's Data and Analytics Unit and the United Nations Accelerator for Cities.

It draws data from the 2023 Population and Housing Census and the Namibia Informal Settlement Baseline Report (2026).