Shephard, Ntoaesele Mashongoane, 32 years old, calls his sheep as he stands in front of the controversial Katse dam, which only provides water to South Africa on July 13, 2016 in Katse. Farmers in southern African countries, such as Lesotho and Namibia, are having a hard time amid sustained drought. (AFP/ JOHN WESSELS)

WINDHOEK, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has embarked on a National Water Saving Campaign targeting public institutions such as government offices, schools, hospital and correctional services centres starting in the capital Windhoek and later to be rolled out throughout the country.

Namibia's Ministry of Agriculture together with its partners, City of Windhoek, NamWater, supported by SABMiller as well German organization GIZ, joined forces and launched the campaign on Friday, which will run for a period of two years.

The campaign is a result of a Cabinet Directive issued to the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the Ministry, the water saving campaign started earlier this year with the planning, conceptuality and launch organizing.

Namibia's Deputy Permanent Secretary for Water Affairs and Forestry, Abraham Nehemia at the launching said, "the water Saving Campaign aims at implementing Water Demand Management, as a means to provide an immediate to medium term alternative by augmenting water supply."

He added that Water Demand Management is an easy, quick and cheap measure to implement and offers long term benefits.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that the performance analysis of water saving methods will be conducted through the implementation of Water Marshals.

"The Marshals have the responsibility of reading and evaluating water consumption, conduction leak tests, inspecting water equipment and coordinating the repair of leaks," the ministry added.

Currently Namibia is facing a severe water shortage due to the sustained drought over the past three years and the major dams in the central areas of the country are nearly empty.