15 Oct 2024

Cooperatives in the Chobe Enclave villages have lauded the ecotourism project as a tool to drive conservation and cultural heritage.

The ecotourism pilot project, an initiative by the Japan International Cooperation (JICA) in collaboration with Department of Forestry and Range Resources in the Chobe Enclave, incorporates capacity building for cooperatives that utilise veld products in Mabele, Kavimba, Kachikau, Satau and Parakarungu and the development of interpretive and informative sign boards for the cooperatives.

In an interview, a member of Lwaavo Art and Culture Cooperative in Mabele, Ms Emily Simarta, lauded the ecotourism project for having capacitated them to serve visitors better.

She said Lwaavo was established in 2004 as a society with 10 women and three men and  the organisation  converted to a cooperative last year to expand their products and services in order to attract more customers.

She stated that they had gathered raw materials for years to make baskets, carvings and crafts from the forest but members possessed limited knowledge on responsible and sustainable sourcing of veld products.

She said through ecotourism capacity building, they learnt the importance of conserving environment as they gathered raw materials for the crafts.

Ms Simarta indicated that there was great potential for their cooperative to grow as today’s tourists were in search for diversity from the traditional game viewing and boat cruise and were also  interested in interacting local communities at the destinations they visited.

She remarked that members of the cooperatives had mastered their craft in basket weaving, storytelling, dance and song, but lacked knowledge on how to tell their stories and commercialise their craft so as to reach a wider audience.

The weaver thanked the forestry department and JICA for stepping in to capacitate them to be knowledgeable custodians of natural resources and to commercialise their craft in order to sustain their livelihoods.

However, Ms Simarta indicated that their craft was threatened by mushrooming of crafts shops and markets in Kasane which imported baskets and other crafts from Zambia and Zimbabwe and sold them to tourists.

Such shops, she said kept tourists from visiting communities in the Chobe Enclave. She implored the private sector, government ministries and departments to support the cooperatives by taking excursions to the five villages to appreciate their culture and food.

Furthermore, she encouraged schools and youth clubs to visit them for skills sharing so that the cooperatives members could pass the crafts skills to the younger generation.

She encouraged fellow weavers to nurture and safeguard the knowledge and skills acquired from the capacity building workshops. ENDS