In January 2017, Namibia joined the APRM as its 36th African Union member state, and the APRM has grown since then to include 40 African Union countries, with the accession of The Gambia in January 2018, Botswana in February 2019, and Seychelles and Zimbabwe on 08 February 2020.

Since inception in March 2003, APRM has completed 23 full first governance reviews, three full second governance reviews as well as, in February 2020, a targeted peer review by the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government on Youth Unemployment in Namibia. As such, Namibia is central to the APRM good governance process.

In preparation for a first review on all four areas of governance, Namibia is scheduled to welcome a review mission comprising of governance experts from across the Continent in early 2021. Consequently, the National APRM structures are now undertaking training on completing Namibia’s country self-assessment process. One set of training for the Namibia APRM National Governing Council (NGC) and National Secretariat took place on 22-23 July 2020, to be followed by training of the Namibia Technical Research Institutes on 31 August 2020. The training covers administration of the APRM Questionnaire, including a focus on the research methods to be used, the methodology for carrying out desk research, focus groups, expert interviews, household and other surveys and other research methods. The training sessions include an exchange of experiences with members of other APRM Secretariats and NGCs, who share good research phase practices. The Namibia team is also being trained on virtual tools introduced by the APRM Continental Secretariat for use by the APRM Community during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as training on the use of the APRM e-questionnaire to complete and gather research.

In his opening remarks at the training session held from 22-23 July, Prof. Eddy Maloka, CEO of the APRM Continental Secretariat, urged participants to take full advantage of the training to equip themselves on the tools and processes required to domesticate the APRM Questionnaire and complete the Country Self-Assessment Report. He also thanked the Government of Namibia for its unstinting support to the APRM Process. The meeting was also addressed by the Lead Panellist for Namibia and Vice Chairperson of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons,  Ambassador  Ombeni Sefue who observed in his opening remarks that “the Namibia NGC is well equipped and ready to produce a stellar country self-assessment report that will include commendable practices unearthed by the technical research teams that Namibia can share with its 39 peer countries in the Mechanism, as well as solid recommendations that will assist Namibia to improve its governance processes”.  In his opening remarks, the Focal Point for Namibia and Head of the National Secretariat, Ambassador Lineekela Mboti, underlined that Namibia was happy to commence the process of completing its country self-assessment, while the Chairperson of the National Governing Council of Namibia, Ambassador. Wilfried Emvula, conveyed his sincere appreciation for the training, on behalf of all Namibia national structures.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was created in 2003 as a voluntary instrument acceded to by African Union Member States for self–assessment and governance. The APRM’s primary purpose is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration in Africa. This is achieved through the sharing of good governance practices and identification of challenges through comprehensive reviews in democracy and good political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.