The contribution of the European Commission to the Rural Poverty Reduction Programme will amount to € 53 million (about N$410 million) and the programme will run for four and a half years. The major thrust of Namibia’s development policies is poverty reduction, aiming at improving the living conditions of the rural population, thus also countering rural-urban drift.

In order to achieve these goals, the Programme includes institutional support to the Namibian government and selected non-governmental stakeholders, including substantial capacity building for land reform community-based management.

A second component of the EU support will be the development of infrastructure focusing on rural roads and rural water supply.