In 2008 and 2009, Omitara and Otjivero were the site of a basic income grant test project.

The follow-up study, published in October 2008, reported that poverty-related crime, malnutrition rates among children and school drop outs had decreased since the inception of the project.

The coalition advocating for a BIG in Namibia was led by labour and church organisations,[2][3] hoping for a nationwide implementation of this grant to alleviate the worst effects of poverty in the country.

[4] After the last payment was scheduled for December 2009, a bridging allowance of 80 N$ per month was introduced in order not to "let residents slide back into the dehumanising levels of poverty that they experienced before".

[5] This bridging allowance was paid until the end of 2011 when the BIG coalition ran out of money.