Creative Estonia continues to develop cultural heritage-based digital skills in Namibia

It aims to assist with updating the curricula of Namibian higher education institutions in order to increase awareness of the creative economy and heritage-based entrepreneurship.

A conference titled “Creative Entrepreneurship Academy: Hack the Heritage — Growing Digital” kicks off the project this week in Windhoek. It focuses on the role of education in preserving and digitalising cultural heritage. This conference is a continuation of last year's conference and student hackathon, which looked for ways to preserve heritage using digital tools.

"From last year's project, it became clear to us that in order to promote digitalisation, it is necessary to start sharing knowledge at the university level. That is why this year, we convened representatives of the digital and educational fields to think about how curricula could be developed together. The conference is the first step in this direction. The project plan also includes teacher training, webinars and a hackathon for students, where teachers can apply what they have learned. The importance of the topic in Namibia was shown by the high rate of participation and Namibia's digital minister and deputy minister’s active engagement,” said Creative Estonia’s CEO Eva Leemet.

''We must examine our educational curricula, reconsider how we train our educators and rethink how we package and present cultural components within our education systems. These conversations are not merely academic - they are essential to ensuring that education plays a central role in preserving and digitizing our cultural heritage,'' encouraged Hon. Dr. Itah Kandjii-Murangi, the Minister of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation of Namibia, to have these new conversations.

Program participants will learn about product development, entrepreneurship, the circular economy and digital technologies. The project aims to modernise the curricula of higher education institutions in Namibia, focusing on connecting local cultural heritage, such as art, handicrafts, music and food, with modern design, digital solutions and creative entrepreneurship. Employing digital technologies and involving the country’s youth will increase the general awareness of the possibilities of heritage-based entrepreneurship and the creative economy.

“Developing entrepreneurial skills is crucial to improving young people’s competitiveness in the labour market. It is exciting to see innovative solutions for the digitisation of cultural heritage being developed by our Estonian partners and the young people of Namibia,” said Kristel Rillo, ESTDEV’s advisor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The project will run until March 31, 2025, under the leadership of Creative Estonia and with support from the UNESCO national commissions from Estonia and Namibia, UNESCO’s Windhoek office, the Viljandi Academy of Culture of the University of Tartu and the University of Namibia.