Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has launched a National Skills Census to identify skilled and qualified Namibians across all occupations.
The initiative is designed to build a comprehensive database to guide training programmes, address skills shortages, and highlight underutilised local talent.
Martin Wilkinson, Senior Economic Development Manager for Training and Development at Hyphen, said the census would provide the evidence base needed to shape future training efforts.
“We seek to find all sorts of trained or skilled or qualified Namibians across Namibia in all sorts of occupations to make sure that we’ve got enough data to know where to design training programmes, where there are skills shortages, and where we don’t need to import skills but we’ve got a lot of them here that may be underemployed or underutilised,” Wilkinson said.
He emphasised that the census is not limited to technical and vocational fields.
“It’s not just a TVET and it’s not just a technical census; it’s also people who can cook because we need to feed workers, also people who are in hospitality, also people in occupational health and safety, and also people in leisure because we have to entertain our workers in downtime,” he explained.
The initiative comes as Namibia’s emerging green hydrogen sector is expected to create a wide range of jobs, though the country still lacks a detailed understanding of its workforce capabilities.
Dino Ballotti, Deputy Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture, said the census would help build a people-centred database to inform education and training institutions.
“The aim of this national skills census is simple: to create a comprehensive, people-centred database of skills and potential. It will allow us to understand where skills exist, identify critical gaps, and enable TVET and other higher learning institutions to respond more effectively,” Ballotti said.
The census will collect information on age, gender, region, and cultural background, with a focus on ensuring that rural communities, women, and youth are included.
Data will be drawn from partner institutions such as the Namibia Training Authority (NTA), Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), and the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation.
“All Namibians, across a wide spectrum of occupations, are encouraged to participate. The initiative will help identify underutilised local talent, guide training programmes, and align the workforce with Namibia’s green hydrogen industrialisation plans,” Ballotti said.
He added: “We are calling on every Namibian, especially our young people, to register themselves. Let us take this Skills Census into our regions, schools, training centres, and communities.”
The Skills Census forms part of a wider effort by Hyphen to develop a Workforce Competency and Planning Model, supporting job creation, skills development, and inclusive participation in Namibia’s green hydrogen economy.
