GIPF opens satellite office at Nkurenkuru
RUNDU – The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has allocated N$24.5 million in the areas of housing finance and renewable microfinance loans in the Kavango West region, particularly in Nkurenkuru, GIPF board chairperson Nillian Mulemi said.Mulemi during the official opening of a satellite office for GIPF at Nkurenkuru on Thursday said as part of GIPF’s value creation strategy, the fund’s investment made a social economic impact in investing N$11.5 million on housing finance and N$13 million on renewable microfinance loans in Kavango West.
“In an effort to attain our goal of being member-centric, we made a conscious decision to increase our national footprint to ensure our active members as well as annuitants can access our services conveniently.”
With the satellite office in the region she said clients will now access services conveniently without having to travel daunting kilometres of which the nearest GIPF office is 140 kilometres away in Rundu.
The Nkurenkuru office is equipped to offer services such as pension enquiries, pension advice, biometric registration and verification, benefit and income statements and submission of supporting documents.
The satellite office will be operated by client service consultants two weeks per month.
“To further augment our efforts, we have also introduced an outreach programme using our Pension On Wheels mobile van and truck to reach our members especially those residing in remote areas of the country,” Mulemi said.
GIPF had further undertaken to implement a new and modern biometrics enrolment and verification solution for its various annuitants.
The new biometrics solution has capabilities to provide enrolment and verification services on different devices and platforms, she explained.
This will enable members to verify remotely without having to physically visit the office.
Meanwhile, the fund has developed a whistleblower policy which is intended to provide an enabling environment for GIPF employees and other stakeholders to blow the whistle safely and anonymously without fear of reprisal.
On his part Nkurenkuru Councillor Fillipus Tenga applauded the opening of the satellite office and thanked the fund for bringing services closer to the people. - Nampa