page_title: Basic income around the world
section_title: Namibia
hierarchical_section_title: Basic income around the world / Africa / Namibia
caption_attribution_description: English: Station Omitara, Namibia Deutsch: Bahnstation Omitara, Namibia Afrikaans: Stasie Omitara, Namibië Български: Oмитaрa, Намибия Čeština: Stanice Omitara, Namibie Ελληνικά: Σταθμός Omitara, Ναμίμπια Español: Estación Omitara, Namibia Français&#160;: Gare Omitara, Namibie Italiano: Stazione Omitara, Namibia Nederlands: Station Omitara, Namibië Polski: Stacja Omitara, Namibia Română: Stația de Omitara, Namibia Русский: Станция Oмитaрa, Намибия Kiswahili: Station Omitara, Namibia
context_page_description: Basic income is discussed in many countries.
context_section_description: From January 2008 to December 2009, a pilot project with basic income grant was implemented in the Namibian villages of Otjievero and Omitara. The project was organized by the Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition. It was mainly funded by a German Protestant church, by individual contributions of German and Namibian citizens and by contributions of the German Ministry for Cooperation. The amount paid out per head was N$100 (8% of the average income, around US$12).
  After the launch, the project was found to have significantly reduced child malnutrition and increased school attendance. It was also found to have increased the community's income significantly above the actual amount from the grants as it allowed citizens to partake in more productive economic activities. The project team stated that this increase in economic activity contradicts critics' claims that a basic income would lead to laziness and dependence. After the conclusion of the pilot project phase, a monthly bridging-allowance of N$80 (around US$10) was paid regularly to all who participated in the pilot until March 2012.
  One of the conclusions of the project was that, even with the restriction that only residents of the village for over a year since the pilot's start could benefit from the grant, there was a significant migration towards Otjivero-Omitara, despite the fact that the migrants wouldn't receive the grant. The project concluded that this phenomenon reveals the need to introduce such basic-income systems as a universal national grant, in order to avoid migration to particular regions, towns or households.
  Another finding of the project was that after the introduction of the pilot, overall crime rates fell by 42%, specifically stock theft, which fell by 43% and other theft by nearly 20%. These conclusions are derived from two empirical studies conducted by the Basic Income Grant Coalition. One study that covers the first 6 months of the project and a second study about the first 12 months of the project. No further empirical studies or project assessments have been published. However, there is no public access to the project database. Something the project representatives confirmed in Namibian press, including a justification of it.
  In May 2012, the community leader of Otjivero-Omitara, Ernst Gariseb, told a journalist of a Namibian newspaper: "Since two decades we are sitting here without work, development and perspectives." The journalist concluded: "Despite the support of the BIG there is not any development to be seen in Otjivero."
caption: Omitara, one of the two poor villages in Namibia where basic income was tested in 2008-2009.
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