From Minnesota to Namibia: A data-driven model for systemic child welfare reform
Photo above by Yathin Krishnappa
Inspired by CEHD, the CRIT Center for Excellence is transforming policy and practice nationwide
Many countries in Africa are working diligently to further develop their human services, particularly for children and families who live in crisis and with complex social circumstances. This is especially true in Namibia, which has developed a research and training center modeled after CEHD’s Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW).
The Child Research Initiative and Training (CRIT) Center for Excellence is housed at the University of Namibia (UNAM) in the capital city of Windhoek. CRIT is focused on strengthening child welfare research and training in Namibia through data analysis, research translation, and building local capacity for training and interventions.
CRIT comes together
CRIT is the brainchild of Johanna C. Ndilimeke Nashandi, a social worker from Namibia who came to CEHD to earn her PhD, which she did in 2022. While at CEHD, she got to know CASCW, which is part of the Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare, of which Traci LaLiberte is executive director.
When Nashandi returned to Namibia and became a faculty member at UNAM, she realized that her university was in need of a center to help itself, the government, and community focus and prioritize the work, training, and research needed to support children and families.
“I serve on the National Permanent Taskforce on Children in Namibia where a gap in available child-centered data and data-driven policies was identified,” Nashandi says. “Although UNAM offers a master’s in social work program, there is no child-centered specialization that can support national programs.”
Thinking how CASCW could be a good model, Nashandi reached out to LaLiberte. “She contacted me to see if I could give her some technical assistance to create a center that was in line with what we do here,” LaLiberte says.
LaLiberte and her team worked with Nashandi for about 18 months conducting technical assistance calls while Nashandi partnered with the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (now the Ministry of Gender Equality & Child Welfare), as well as UNICEF and civil society. She also brought in a multidisciplinary team of six UNAM professors to conceptualize CRIT. A CEHD Global Signature Grant helped LaLiberte fund a portion of CEHD’s involvement.
“The culmination of that work was to do a big kickoff meeting and bring people from all the regions—they don’t have states in Namibia, they have regions—into the capital to have a three-day summit,” LaLiberte says. “Talking about what the priorities are, what are the biggest challenges they are facing, as well as child safety and well-being in Namibia.”
CEHD’s delegation to the summit, which took place in 2024, included School of Social Work Director and Professor Joan Blakey, CASCW Director Kristine Piescher, and Institute on Community Integration (ICI) Director Amy Hewitt.
Hewitt had done a lot of work in the African country of Zambia with various special educators, families, community members, and government officials over the last several decades. “Traci had been involved in some of that work, and she knew that connection might be useful when they were pulling together this big summit," she says. "So, I agreed to go and asked that a colleague of mine from Zambia come over too.”
Hewitt and her colleague, Mikala Mukongolwa, presented a home-based education model that evolved in Zambia. Since the conference, Mukongolwa has been an ongoing presence in Namibia, working with staff to replicate some of the training she’s done in Zambia.
Blakey was invited to the conference because of her background and expertise in child welfare. “I was excited by the opportunity to contribute to an initiative that aligns with my lifelong commitment to advancing equity, strengthening family systems, and building global collaborations rooted in justice and care,” she says. “Working alongside colleagues from the University of Minnesota; the University of Namibia; and the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication, and Social Welfare has been both inspiring and deeply meaningful.”
During the summit, Blakey co-led training sessions, facilitated group discussions, and helped synthesize input from stakeholders representing government, academia, and community-based organizations. “Much of my work centered on helping participants identify workforce development needs, data priorities, and opportunities for cross-sector collaboration—all with the shared goal of improving outcomes for children and families across Namibia,” she says.
Piescher has managed the Minnesota Linking Information for Kids (MinnLInK) project—an integrated data initiative at CASCW—for the past 15 years. “This work has positioned me as a resource for addressing complex, cross-system data challenges,” she says. Recognizing this expertise and its relevance to Namibia’s child welfare priorities, LaLiberte invited her to contribute to CRIT’s strategic planning and share insights at the multi-day summit. Her involvement included two key components. “First, I participated in collaborative planning sessions to gain a more thorough understanding of Namibia’s child welfare data systems and identify opportunities for integration and improvement,” she says. “Second, I delivered a two-part presentation focusing on strategies for building robust, cross-system data infrastructures and lessons learned from the Minn-LInK project.”
People knew that they had a rare and important opportunity to impact the well-being of Namibia’s children and families
At the end of the three-day summit, participants had created a research agenda, as well as a priority list for training and professional development for child welfare in Namibia. “It took on a life of its own,” LaLiberte says. “People knew that they had a rare and important opportunity to impact the well-being of Namibia’s children and families. Through this collaboration, research and practice with Namibia’s most vulnerable citizens could be positively impacted.”
A three-day summit in 2024 which established CRIT brought together representatives from all regions of Namibia as well as a delegation from CEHD. Photo courtesy of University of Namibia.
To cement the importance of CRIT, Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah incorporated it into the country’s national strategic plan, even calling it out by name. “That is phenomenal,” LaLiberte says. Blakey agrees. “This level of endorsement underscores not only the importance of the initiative but also its potential to shape national policy and redefine how Namibia supports its children and families for generations to come,” she says.
Since the establishment of CRIT, CEHD’s involvement has continued. “ICI has a very well-known and highly regarded online training curriculum called DirectCourse which people utilize to deliver training for the people who work directly with children and youth who have disabilities,” LaLiberte says. “There are many kids with disabilities in Namibia and their government and community people need training on how to empower people with disabilities, how to support people with disabilities, and how to identify child maltreatment when it comes to kids with disabilities. And Amy Hewitt very generously provided access to the entire country to that online curriculum. It’s wildly popular.”
Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are disproportionately involved in child welfare. “In many countries on the continent of Africa, there are not well-established comprehensive special education programs and not a lot of training, especially for children with complex disabilities,” Hewitt says. “So, any initiative that’s about uplifting and improving the lives of children needs to have, as a component of it, a focus on children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Students coming out of the social work program at the University of Namibia are going to be much better exposed and trained. And then, as a result of that, more children and youth who have significant disabilities will be included in schools and communities.”
While these initial efforts are focused on leveraging the expertise of ICI, Piescher says subsequent data integration will strengthen service delivery through data-driven decision-making, with the potential to directly support frontline practices and improve outcomes for children and families.
“CRIT’s data integration efforts are unique because they are attempting to bring together a vast array of data already being collected in Namibia and leverage a critical public–NGO partnership that underpins child welfare service delivery,” she says. “This combination allows for a multi-faceted approach to data integration—one that reflects both governmental priorities and the realities of service provision on the ground. The potential payoff for successfully integrating Namibia’s data is profound.”
Beyond technical integration, this approach also prioritizes actionable insights that inform how services are designed and delivered.“CRIT’s legacy could be a sustainable framework for collaboration between government and NGOs, creating a model for how data can transform child welfare systems globally,” Piescher says. “Over time, this program could catalyze broader regional and international efforts to align data, policy, and practice for lasting impact.”
Nashandi agrees that data needs to inform programming. “It is for this reason that the CRIT project centers child wellbeing in Namibia by enhancing the capacity of child protection workers across government, civil society, and the community level,” she says. “I foresee that CRIT will strengthen multidisciplinary child-centered research, policy, and practice information by child protection data.”
CRIT stands out for its courage to innovate, Blakey says. “Rather than replicating Western frameworks, it invites Namibia to chart its own path—one that blends evidence-based practices with the cultural traditions, communal values, and storytelling that already sustain families,” she says. “In doing so, Namibia has the opportunity to lead globally by modeling how a child welfare system can be both effective and deeply rooted in cultural relevance and compassion.”
Blakey believes CRIT’s legacy will be a stronger, more connected network of people and systems working on behalf of children and families. “It will serve as a model for how collaboration, research, and cultural humility can come together to create meaningful and lasting change,” she says. “The structures and relationships built through this initiative will help ensure that research informs policy, policy supports practice, and practice reflects the lived realities of families.”
Traci LaLiberte presents the CRIT initiative at CEHD’s Annual Global Signature Grant Showcase. Photo courtesy of Traci LaLiberte.
Johanna C. Ndilimeke Nashandi and colleague at the CRIT kick-off event. Photo courtesy of University of Namibia.
A shared effort
Blakey believes the collaborative spirit of CRIT is what makes it truly unique. “It brings together universities, government ministries, and community-based organizations in a shared effort to improve child and family well-being,” she says. “This partnership model ensures that no single entity holds all the answers—instead, each partner contributes expertise, perspective, and lived experience toward a common vision.”
She says being part of CRIT has reminded her that real change happens through partnership—when people come together across borders and systems with humility, curiosity, and shared purpose. “This initiative has the potential not only to transform child welfare in Namibia but also to reshape how we think about caring for children and families around the world,” she says. “The leadership and vision demonstrated by UNAM embodies what true collaboration looks like: grounded in respect, driven by shared values, and focused on creating a better future for all children.”
Hewitt says when we open our doors to people, learners, and students from other countries, we make lifelong connections that not only benefit the University of Minnesota but other universities across the world.
“This basically happened because a doctorate student at the University of Minnesota in the School of Social Work made a connection,” Hewitt says. “And then when this need happened, it was a connection that was useful to make a difference.”
–Kevin Moe
Dr. Emma Kantema and Dr. Johanna Nashandi at a high-level engagement with a delegation from the University of Namibia.
Photos courtesy of University of Namibia.
About the Child Research Initiative and Training Center for Excellence
The Child Research Initiative and Training (CRIT) Center for Excellence is housed at the University of Namibia (UNAM) in Windhoek.
The project lead is Johanna C. Ndilimeke Nashandi (PhD ’22). She is a faculty member in social work at UNAM, teaching research and casework-related courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her role in CRIT is to provide strategic direction and leadership and train students in the master’s in social work program.
As project lead, Nashandi works with two technical committees and reports quarterly to the National Permanent Taskforce, an oversight body for child rights, protection, and welfare programs. One team consists of professors from social work, psychology, special education, biochemistry, statistics, and computer studies. This team advises, identifies resources, and implements program activities. The other team consists of ministerial child protection social workers who bridge the gap between research and practice, creating an enabling environment for the operationalization of CRIT and mobilization of resources.
Since 2024, CRIT has:
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Taken part in online child disability training developed and maintained by the Institute on Community Integration. More than 100 child protection staff, including social workers, disability coordinators, and community-based caregivers have completed the training
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Trained 25 home-based caregivers of children with disabilities from government-owned residential childcare facilities and communitybased organizations by partnering with Mikala Mukongolwa from Zambia
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Co-authored a Namibia Child Protection Statistics Report
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Co-developed the Namibia National Agenda for Children Strategy 2025–30
“The CRIT project is critical to respond to questions about the efficacy of childcare and protection programs, policy, and practice on the wellbeing of children and families,” Nashandi says. “The project is unique because it establishes a center that leverages local expertise to solve local challenges.”