The Public Dialogue Centre (PDC) aims to stimulate public debate on a range of pertinent issues for Namibia’s democracy. The PDC does this by organising public lectures, panel discussions and conferences as well as through a series of publications. The PDC publishes the Guide to Namibian Politics, which gives a comprehensive overview of Namibia’s political system and includes profiles of almost 200 leading political personalities. In addition, the PDC publishes Analyses & Views, a series of public discussion papers on issues relevant to the development of Namibia’s democracy. Other recent publications have included books on the land issue, political parties and corruption in Namibia.

Many of the PDC’s activities are conducted in partnership with local, regional and international organisations. The PDC also commissions and publishes research on pressing socio-economic and political issues, as well as undertaking survey work such as taking part in the World Governance Assessment. Each year the PDC runs a Mentorship Programme aimed at building academic research capacity in Namibia. Through this programme, young students are selected to undertake research programmes in collaboration with tertiary institutions and their findings are published by the PDC.

Mentorship Program

In an attempt to contribute to capacity-building among students at the University of Namibia (Unam) and the Polytechnic of Namibia, the NID initiated a Mentorship Program which aims at encouraging students to conduct research on contemporary social and political issues, and to compile reports on findings determined for publication as an issue of the NID’s occasional paper series Analyses & Views.   Students that are selected for the program are assigned a mentor, who assists them in conducting research on a topic of their choice and helps them to compile an academic article on research findings that is subsequently published by the NID.   Students are subsequently also required to conduct a public presentation on their findings.

Students at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, the Department of Sociology, the Department of Information Studies, and the Department of Religion and Theology are invited to participate. Postgraduate students who are already conducting research on issues which could be of interest to a wider audience are especially encouraged to apply.

Applications should include:

· Project Proposal (approximately 2,000 words) in typed format
· Curriculum Vitae (CV)
· Contact details
· Academic records
· Letter of reference and intend by a qualified lecturer in the field

Interested candidates can contact the PDCentre