ENGAGE AFRICA
Tell us how you’re collaborating with the local population to support, train and transform the community in the endeavour to build a more united Africa.
Winner 2020
Shortlist 2020
Find out more about the Engage Africa SHORTLIST HERE
Desert and Delta Safaris
#ResponsibleTravelTour
Our goal was to bring the products of Responsible Tourism development to the overseas market.
Escape+Explore
Uplifting Experiences
Escape+Explore Uplifting Experiences focuses on projects and people that are doing great things to uplift their environment and communities in the Western Cape.
Nature Discovery
Sustainable Projects in Tanzania
Our initiatives are not a single project – they are a collection of projects and commitments using a broad-based approach, putting sustainability at the front of every decision we make.
Nomad Tanzania
Beds for Meds
We created “Beds for Meds” and put safaris to work, firm in the belief that in order to keep our wild places safe, we need to invest in our people and ensure it’s them that feel the benefit of conserving wildlife and habitat.
Time+Tide
Body stress release for children with special needs
In rural Zambian communities, children with disabilities are often overlooked as members of society. There is still a strong belief in witchcraft and that it is responsible for anything different, either physical or mental, at birth.
SUPPORT YOUR TRIBE, VOTE HERE:
PREVIOUS WINNERS
AFRICA ALBIDA – VICTORIA FALLS RECYCLING
OBJECTIVE
Hospitality group Africa Albida Tourism started Victoria Falls Recycling to help protect the environment around one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It is the only recycling project in the region, recycling plastics, paper, beverage cans and glass. The initiative aims to reduce the amount of litter on the streets and the volume of waste going to the local dumpsite. By recycling and reusing what would otherwise have been waste will also ultimately reduce the amount of plastic, paper, aluminium and glass produced, thereby having a hugely positive impact on the environment. The waste is collected and baled at the Victoria Falls site before being sent to large recycling plants in Harare and South Africa where it is made into the likes of plastic bags,
clothing and even diesel! Victoria Falls Recycling was initially funded by Africa Albida Tourism, but the plan is for it to become fully self-sustainable. It has created jobs for a small team of youth, and also provides the most disadvantaged people who deliver waste with an income
RESULTS
When Victoria Falls Recycling launched, it started recycling plastics and paper. In its ten months of operation it has so far produced 35 tonnes of paper for recycling; 10.5 tonnes of plastics and nearly 1 tonne of tetra pak. It has only very recently expanded to include beverage cans and glass, so it is still too early to quantify results for these.
SHORTLISTED
- Escape & Explore – Brave Leaders Programme for Rock Girls
- Grootbos Private Nature Reserve – Rock the Boat, Canoeing Development Programme
- Hideaways – Project Penya
- Kensington Tours – Kensington Hall Oloosinon Secondary School for Girls
GROOTBOS FOUNDATION – MASAKHANE COMMUNITY FARM
OBJECTIVE
A staggering 97% of South African households experience anxiety and uncertainty about sufficient household food supply. The residents of Masakhane face these challenges and this was the impetus to create the Masakhane Community Farm hub. A household food production scheme serving to supplement households finances and nutrition was created and since inception has provided training to 91 women from the community. The centre has developed into a training and support hub addressing all sorts of frustrations and dialogue needs and has created a direct correlation between growing produce and this being used to supplement the household nutritional requirements and supplement the household income by selling on to other households.
RESULTS
91 of the local community, largely women, have been through a Department of Agriculture endorsed urban agriculture training programme. 17 of these have gone through additional employability training and of these a number are being supported in the setup of their own home gardens. To the programme participants the link between growing produce and supplementing their households nutritional needs and income has been created. Recently an indigenous foods workshop was held with 55 participants to retain the importance of indigenous plants and it’s uses in the community. The project is establishing itself as a hub for self-development and training.
SHORTLISTED
- Asilia Africa – Dunia Camp, Serengeti
- Elevate Destinations – Buy a Trip, Give a Trip
- Saruni – Saruni Rhino & Black Rhino Tracking in Sera Community Conservancy in Northern Kenya
- Volcanoes Safaris – Gahinga Batwa Village
TIME + TIDE – HOME-BASED EDUCATION PROGRAMME
OBJECTIVE: In rural Zambia, there is little awareness and knowledge about disabilities, which is why they are often attributed to witchcraft. After initial research in December 2015, Time + Tide discovered that in Mfuwe, the community adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park, over 100 children were living with handicaps, most of whom were left alone in locked houses as parents did not know how to interact with or help their children. Consequently, in March 2016 Time + Tide launched a home-based education programme for families with special needs infants, toddlers and young adolescents. Partnering with experts from Lusaka, we recruited and trained 33 caregivers who now offer these children and their families the guidance and social support they have lacked. At Time + Tide we are committed to learning how communities define their gravest challenges and we develop projects accordingly, equipping local leaders with the skills to manage sustainable interventions.
RESULTS: At the start of the home-based education programme, 51% of guardians and caregivers ascribed disabilities to witchcraft; now, only 5% believe witchcraft is still an influencing factor. After only 9 months of the programme, 81% of parents report that they feel better able to nurture their children, and 92% of parents believe their children will one day attend school, as opposed to the start of the programme when 0% of parents thought formal education would ever be possible. Of the 30 children in the programme, 81% have shown improvements with basic motor skills, self-care and/or their ability to communicate.
UTHANDO (LOVE) SOUTH AFRICA – SPREADING SEEDS OF LOVE
OBJECTIVE
UTHANDO in English means LOVE. Our programme of action linking tourism and community development is fundamentally founded on the principles of love, compassion and heart. Uthando is shining a bright light on the thousands of inspiring people engaged in a broad variety of innovative community development projects and charitable organizations in South Africa, whilst connecting them to the tourism industry globally in a myriad of unique, interesting and enormously beneficial ways. Uthando was founded in 2007 on the principle of making a significant contribution to local communities who were already empowering themselves through a broad range of truly amazing initiatives. Amidst the grinding poverty in South Africa there is remarkable resiliance and inspiration.
RESULTS
Uthando has inspired thousands of people and tourism companies through awareness creation and the philanthropic cultural tours which we run. Our Trip Advisor and social media pages are testament to the philosophy of shared humanity that we propogate. We have built two educare centres catering for hundreds of pre-school children annually. Construction on the 3rd R1.2 million educare / community centre will be completed in 2017. Uthando has published two books generating significant funding for Abalimi Bezekhaya (an urban agricultural project) and the three senior citizens projects with which we work. We have distributed more than R13 million to a broad range of community development projects. Thoughtful introductions have led to mutually beneficial relationships between tourism companies and community projects, for example the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel purchasing fresh organic vegetables from the townships through Abalimi Bezekhaya.
SHORTLISTED
- Lazy Lizard Travel – The Zimbabwe Eye Project
- Ol Jogi – Ol Jogi Wildlife Rescue Centre
- Simien Lodge – Simien Lodge School Projects
TIME + TIDE – GIRLS’ CLUB: ENCOURAGING YOUNG FEMALE EXPRESSION
In a forty-degree, humid classroom, packed with over 100 students, one teacher, and relentless chatter, the potential for a serious academic future feels intangible. For girls in rural Mfuwe, Zambia, this school day coupled with afternoons of fetching water, chopping firewood, and caring for younger siblings leaves little time for daydreams. This is why in 2015 Norman Carr Safaris, the Time + Tide property in South Luangwa, founded the Girls’ Club: to encourage imagination, to harness youthful enthusiasm, and to motivate young girls beyond domestic expectations. Norman Carr insisted on empowering the local community as part of tourism development, and in 1986 he created the Kapani School Project, an academic sponsorship programme. Today we continue his legacy with 60 students sponsored annually and community outreach projects, with special concentration on local girls. We host Zambian female leaders to visit the Girls’ Club and share their personal histories and how they transcended traditional outlooks on women. In so doing, we emphasize that with enough determination, ambitious and exceptional futures are possible. Over the course of each term, we watch the girls discover their self-confidence, from quietly note-taking during the introductory meeting, to boldly demonstrating how a female condom is applied in the sex-ed workshop. These girls are vivacious, spirited, intelligent; and while we cannot prepare the fires for them in the evening, we can offer them a safe space to inhabit their imagined futures, and we can reiterate the message that dreams matter, they are real, and they are within reach.
SHORTLISTED
- !Khwa ttu San Centre – ||Kabbo Academy
- Campi ya Kanzi – Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust REED+ Carbon Project
- Uthando (Love) South Africa – Uthando (Love) South Africa
- Wilderness Safaris – Children in the Wilderness Eco-Clubs
GROOTBOS NATURE RESERVE
Grootbos Nature Reserve’s latest offering is an Employability & Enterprise Creation Initiative to encourage youths aged 15–20 at local high schools to remain in school. It teaches professional skills, employment readiness and confidence to succeed in the workplace whilst focusing on establishing individual aptitudes and researching different study fields and career options, learnerships and bursaries. A select group of young entrepreneurs will complete a business development programme and receive support to kick-start their own businesses. This groundbreaking initiative, delivered in partnership with ABSA, is endorsed by the Department of Education. Another need was met in 2014 with an innovative food security project, Food4Sport: a 12-week training programme engaging 60 children from marginalised communities through sport, nutritional training and organic food production. Job creation for the local community is a top priority and microenterprises established last year include our Siyakhula Candle Making Initiative, Water Bottling Plant and Fynbos Honey Production, which entails on-the-job training, enterprise development skills and teaches on-site waste management. Each of these currently employs two people but projections for these businesses portray an escalating expansion and retail marketing to outlets in the region.
