One of the challenges of education for sustainable development in Namibian higher education institutions concerns the practice and linkage thereof to other initiatives in education and learning. This paper reports on research into barriers to the implementation of the interdisciplinary model of education for sustainable development in Namibian higher education institutions. The collected data were analysed by means of Microsoft Excel spread sheets and consistent observation of qualitative data. The results show the main barriers to be dispositional, situational and institutional. The members of management in Namibian higher education institutions must be convinced about the importance of education for sustainable development and urged to develop a policy that can be used as an extension for on-the-job training of lecturers. It is necessary to learn from other higher education institutions around the world how they implemented education for sustainable development in their respective institutions. Lecturers should be urged to use this experience to develop resources for implementing education for sustainable development in Namibian higher education institutions.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants for treating common illnesses among the Ovahimba of Oukongo village in the Kunene region of Namibia. The coevolutionary theory of sustainable development informed this study as it promotes the anti-hegemonic ecology of knowledge and synchronises traditional knowledge with the modern world. The interview data were analysed using the inductive approach and content analysis. The results show that the Ovahimba community of Oukongo village use plant-based remedies such as roots, leaves, bark, fruits and flowers for the treatment of ailments such as headaches and diarrhoea, high blood pressure, chest pain and syphilis. The remedy preparation follows the process of harvesting parts of a plant, cleaning and breaking it into small pieces or crushing it into powder and then mixing with water or some form of liquid. The process also includes chewing roots, leaves and burning flowers into ashes. The study recommends further research to document indigenous health care practices of the Ovahimba. It also recommends the adoption of the co-evolutionary theory of sustainable development as the basis for the synchronisation of indigenous knowledge with modern health care and thus promote future generations’ access to the rich heritage of ancestral knowledge on health care.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the methods that Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions use to communicate and share health related information, issues and solutions. The socio-cultural theory informed this study as its main idea states that although solitude provide opportunity for learning, the social occasions of conversation, discussion, question and answer, demonstration and joint work play a critical role in teaching and learning. The collected interview data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and content analysis. The results show the Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions came to know through flexible and simple methods of Show and Tell, Demonstration, Observation, Imitation, Experience and Practice, Trial and Error or Experimentation, and Questioning. The study recommends more research on the documentation of Namibian indigenous health knowledge to afford future generation access to the rich knowledge their ancestors originally had a claim on. The study further recommends for these methods to be considered by stakeholders in education sector so that they can be integrated in educational policies and programmes and applied at the classroom level.