0
0
40.4% Complete
 

Regenerative Project

Regenerative 2030

  • Transform the lives of female farmers and their families by empowering them to access the Kilimanjaro tourism supply chain

Central to the mission of Equality in Tourism is empowering local female farmers with knowledge and skills to increase their contribution to the local hospitality and tourism value chain, as well as equipping them with new skills to bring community-based tourism into their village.

The community farm excursions will share the women’s lives in the Chagga communities and demonstrate how the Wamboma Co-op has enabled them to widen their skills and horizons. Transforming the lives of the most impoverished and marginalised women in the community into active and successful tourism providers.

This project will benefit the women of Kimushuku village. The village of Kimushuku is on the main road between Kilimanjaro and Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. It is the most visited region of Tanzania, Kimushuku is easily accessed by tourists. It is a very large village; so, for the purpose of this project it has been split into two groups (group A and B). The funding for this project will benefit group A.

Project elements

1. AUD150 – facilitate ''How to Host Tourists'' training for 30 women.

2. AUD750 – facilitate ''Story Telling Workshops'' for 30 women. These workshops will provide a platform for the women to share their authentic empowerment stories. A skilled facilitator will guide discussions, encouraging participants to reveal their personal journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and the impact that the farm and tourism linkages and the Wamboma Co-Op have had on their lives. These stories will also serve as the foundation for a promotional video highlighting women's success story in rural farm-based tourism.

3. AUD1500 - produce a promotional WAMBOMA Farm Tour Video. The video will capture the essence of the farm experience through visual storytelling, showcasing the scenic beauty, cultural richness, and unique farm activities. The video will be used to promote the tourism experience to local tour operators and also directly to tourists via YouTube.

4. AUD7600- construct a building to be used to welcome tourists to the village, provide food and refreshments as well as western style toilet facilities.

Objectives

> Train 30 women - How to Host and Story Telling

> Partner with a minimum of 2 tour operators who will bring visitors to the village.

> Foster dialogue and co-create innovative tour experiences that showcase sustainable farming and women’s empowerment.

> Earn sufficient income from tours for the project to become self-sustaining: the profits being approximately $25 per visitor per half day excursion. This will provide a higher profit margin for the 30 trained women (accessed on a rotating roster) than they can currently earn from their co-op sales to the Wamboma Co-op. On average the women are responsible for 4 family beneficiaries.

> Profits to be shared among women hosts and an agreed percentage for community benefit. After paying the women involved, a yet to be agreed amount will go to a community fund to benefit the whole village: for example, creating a nursery for pre-school children or building a well.

> Feedback from visitors will inform the development of the project. Lessons learned will strengthen the project and will be critical for taking the learning to a second Wamboma village.

Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals

No Poverty:  Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.

Zero Hunger:  The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.

Good Health And Well-being:  Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development.

Quality Education:  Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.

Gender Equality:  Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Reduced Inequalities:  To reduce inequalities, policies should be universal in principle, paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations.

Decent Work And Economic Growth:  Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs.

Sustainable Cities And Communities:  There needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more.

Responsible Production and Consumption:  Responsible Production and Consumption

Peace Justice And Strong Institutions:  Access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.

Partnerships For The Goals:  Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Make a Donation

Impacts

  • Sustainable improvement in the living situation of the participating woman and their families
  • Supports gender equality in Tourism sector, enriches cultural experiences
  • Create authentic cultural exchanges, allowing tourists to connect with the region's history, traditions, and daily life; where they will gain insights into farming and cultural festivities and forge meaningful connections with the women and their local community.

Background

A partnership between Equality in Tourism International and KWIECO (Kilimanjaro Women Information Exchange and Community Organisation) has created a women’s empowerment social enterprise pilot in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, that is transformative and successful. It has proven to bring impoverished, marginalised farming women out of poverty by linking them to the lucrative tourism and hospitality supply chain. It is an enterprise that opens up an unexpectedly hidden, lucrative market which can be reproduced in many communities in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa where women are farming close to tourism hubs. Good, ethical, sustainable tourism requires a step change in backward linkages: the food produced for tourists should be locally produced with the shortest possible supply chain to minimize leakages and maximize linkages into the local community. This will also maximize support for the tourism and hospitality sector and ensure the economic benefits from tourism remain within the target community. Kilimanjaro is a key destination on the Northern Tourism Circuit. It is the best developed tourism route in the country according to the Tanzanian Tourism Board, but it is surrounded by impoverished communities that do not benefit from the sector.

This unique enterprise provides a direct link from the farmers to the hotels through a micro-financed coop the women control. The enterprise, Wamboma Co-operative, has successfully survived climate change, which destroyed three harvests, as well as the global pandemic which brought tourism to a halt in Tanzania. The co-op members and their families had food security for the first time in their lives. It has brought transformative change both to the 120 women farmers who have been trained by the project and who form the co-op and who were living in poverty side by side with the tourism industry, and to the hospitality sector by providing them with quality produce direct from the farms.

The women chosen for the enterprise are the poorest and most marginalized in their villages. Their farms are on average half an acre in size. They are subsistence farmers, sometimes unable to save half a dollar a week. The enterprise offers them training in how to farm well, farming as a business, entrepreneurship, micro-finance management, their rights as women and women’s empowerment and working together cooperatively. The regular monitoring and evaluation that is key to the development records the impressive change in their livelihoods as they farm well, save regularly, begin to plan their futures, ensure their children go to school and build brick homes. The Wamboma Co-op is the hub of the enterprise. It is where food is delivered to by its members, and delivered on to the participating hotels, bypassing the middlemen. The members have a microfinance scheme. Hotels benefit by purchasing cheaper, fresher produce that provides the quality, quantity and consistency that they need, and that is delivered directly to them. The enterprise ensures a sustainable supply chain management process.

Impact Report

This Regenerative Project has been completed.
View the Community Based Tourism Impact Report

Multi Award Winning Adventures

Responsible Travel

Adventure Experts Since 1975