Setting goals for AAHEFA Namibia 2023
The Each One, Teach One concept is all about paying it forward. Passing on what you’ve learned to others and spreading knowledge for the betterment of your community. This is the message that Kennedy Kandume, chief executive of the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) will be taking away from the Association of African Higher Education Financing Agencies’ event in Cape Town last week.
“We can learn so much from the experiences of other countries. Looking at what they do and where they succeed and taking this information home to help us improve our work, strengthen policy and boost operational efficiency.”
As the host of next year’s AAHEFA conference and general meeting, Kandume plans to do a comprehensive “post mortem” of the 2022 event to assess what went well, what went wrong and how to improve on what the event offers to attendees.
While he hopes to continue the tradition of having representatives from different AAHEFA member countries speaking at the event, Kandume is also keen to invite speakers from outside of Africa to share their insight around student-funding challenges.
In some countries across Europe, there are no tuition fees for local students. Meanwhile in the US, almost three quarters of universities are facing financial hurdles.
“We are thinking of reaching out to speakers from outside the continent and inviting them to bring fresh insight to the table. While it is important for us to share our experiences with each other as Africans and to develop African solutions to African problems, there is a lot we can
learn from other countries around the world.”
Keen to ensure that AAHEFA members gain something tangible from their membership, Kandume asserted that the appointment of an
AAHEFA secretariat, a permanent administrative office or department, is imperative. He believes that AAHEFA needs a proactive secretariat in place that will regularly visit the member countries
to engage with them on what they are doing and share best practices. In this way, AAHEFA will continuously add value to member countries beyond the annual debates and dialogue.