exploring EMPLOYMENT avenues in TOURISM + ART

To empower a forest hunter-gatherer tribe for sustainable employment

Angella KyomuishaMwebaze John Baptist

Asiimwe Francis Xavier

CHALLENGE background + basic info

• The Batwa are an African hunter-gatherer forest-dwelling tribe who were evicted from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest when the government of Uganda gazetted it as a National Park and world heritage site

• Until the mid 90’s, Batwa had lived a low-impact, environmentally-sustainable lifestyle inside the Bwindi forest as hunters, deriving all their livelihood from there

• Following the eviction, no targeted program to equip Batwa young people with formal or life skills has been undertaken by government, civil society or the private sector

• Illiteracy and an acute lack of vocational skills, therefore, hinder their chances of gaining employment in their new communities

• Batwa are also generally considered an inferior tribe, subordinate to their neighbours

• Therefore, the over 5300 Batwa youths are disproportionately marginalized by unemployment compared to other youth in Uganda

OPPORTUNITYmethod + metrics

• South western Uganda has a huge need for tourism professionals with a deep cultural knowledge to engage the thousands of tourists who visit the park every year

• Briefly, our solution involves 1,000 Batwa youth receiving targeted hospitality training from youth volunteers who already have (or are receiving) a university (post-secondary) education

• Thanks to a strong oral tradition, Batwa youths already have immense knowledge of impenetrable forest, it’s plants and animals, accumulated over 2 centuries

• We are, therefore, leveraging these new skills and the traditional knowledge to create employment for the youth in the tourism space

• The initiative will produce well groomed tour guides, interpreters, marketing and booking agents, website developers as well as hospitality staff

OPPORTUNITYmethod + metrics

• Enrolled student volunteers were first oriented on the language and traditions of the Batwa people by selected Batwa youths and community leaders

• Teams of 3-5 Students from different tertiary institutions were then matched to a needs group to provide at least 100 hours of practical training using a curriculum developed by the project team in consultation with Batwa key informers and leaders

• During the training period, each needs group also, simultaneously, prepared a tour, crafts or cultural performance package for the volunteer teams, deliverable at the end of the training

• At the end of the 1 year project lifetime, we expect that a total of 200 volunteers will have completed training at least 1,500 Batwa youths

• Youth groups which will have successfully completed training will be supported using seed funding to establish tourism bureaus, while the rest become trainers of trainers

IMPACToutcomes + sustainability

OutcomesAccess to an 18-computer resource center has already been granted by our partner organization for all computer-based skills

By the end of the 1 year project period, we expect that at least:• 200 student volunteers recruited, oriented and deployed

• 1,500 Batwa youths trained  • 5 formally registered companies, with 1 operating in each of the 5 thematic areas

formed. Batwa youth groups must have a controlling stake in these companies

• 8,000 hours of training, skills and knowledge delivered

• 50 new jobs will be created if each youth-led company employs a minimum of 10 youths

Sustainability• Since the entities created will be for-profit businesses, proper management

should ensure continuity of benefits to the Batwa tribe and surrounding communities

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