The Namibian Institute of Public Administration and Management has announced plans to introduce structured three- to five-day courses to teach civil servants how to use artificial intelligence, in an intentional push to modernize the country’s bureaucratic infrastructure.
The initiative was unveiled during an AI executive leadership seminar in Windhoek. Rather than rolling out a sweeping, agency-wide deployment, NIPAM is opting for a top-down strategy that targets executive directors, chief executives and senior management before introducing the tools to frontline operational staff. By educating management first, NIPAM aims to clarify what AI can achieve, identify compliance risks and establish ethical boundaries before new software is integrated into daily workflows.
“AI is no longer a concept of the future,” said NIPAM executive director Helordt Murangi. “It is already shaping how institutions operate, how decisions are made, how services are delivered and how communication and information are managed across the world.”
The move comes as regional peers move rapidly to draft national AI policies and establish regulatory frameworks. For Namibia, the risk of lagging behind carries economic and administrative consequences ranging from sluggish public service delivery to systemic inefficiencies.
NIPAM director of strategy and corporate services Sankwasa Mubita closed the seminar by urging officials to look past bureaucratic inertia. “Many countries have already embraced AI and established policies to regulate its use,” he said. “The easiest thing to do is to do nothing, but that is also the quickest way for a nation to fall behind. The country needs us to act, because if we do nothing, we achieve nothing.”
While the strategy is promising on paper, a short course is rarely a complete fix for deep-seated institutional challenges. Turning a brief seminar into lasting administrative capability will require ongoing technical support, upgraded IT infrastructure across ministries and a clear national policy on data sovereignty and security. As NIPAM finalizes the curriculum, the broader public sector will be watching to see whether the leadership-first strategy can filter down to deliver faster, more transparent services for the average Namibian citizen.
