Women in Tourism: Bwindi Community Projects.

Women-Led Tourism Projects Around Bwindi: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site that is located in the southwestern part of Uganda. Community tourism in Bwindi is the process where local communities engage, manage, and develop tourism activities. The park hosts half of the world’s endangered species that attract tourists for gorilla trekking, gorilla habituation, birding, and cultural experiences, among others. Women-led tourism projects were established to focus on empowering local women and girl children to reduce poverty and promote sustainable tourism. Women play a crucial role in sustainable tourism projects through offering tailoring services, weaving, accommodation, and others. They also provide community-based experiences like preparing food locally and storytelling, and women have also established projects that provide training in skills like cooking, among others.

Understanding women-led tourism

Women-led projects in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are community-based projects that are owned and managed by the local women. These may include artisans, lodge staff, and women’s groups that are focused on empowering the women and promoting conservation.

These women-led tourism projects provide training services in sewing, weaving, and craft making, among others. The local women also actively participate in conservation measures, ensuring that the mountain gorillas are protected. They work in groups to collaborate and work together, hence promoting social cohesion.

Women-led initiatives in rural areas matter because they provide training to local women to enable them to start up small businesses. They also enable women to gain interest in education through investing in their education programs. Some initiatives empower women with the skills of saving and how they can manage finances.

Key women led tourism projects around Bwindi

Among the women-led projects in Bwindi national park include

• Ride 4 a woman

This is a non-governmental project that emphasized empowering and supporting women facing different challenges like poverty, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and school dropouts, among others. This project was established in 2009 by Evelyne Habasa and her husband, Denis Rubalema. The lady grew up around the local community where the project was established. The organization was first started by renting bicycles to the different tourists who preferred bicycle riding. The funds that were gotten went directly to supporting the local women with the various issues like poverty, domestic violence, among others. This is how this women-led project got its name, “Ride 4 a Woman.”

In 2011, Evelyn met a tourist who had visited Bwindi for gorilla trekking but was also inquiring about the different fabrics that they sell in Uganda. These fabrics that Patricia wanted to purchase were for stitching, and Evelyn had to help her out to translate the language. When Patricia returned to her home country, she forwarded the different styles and ideas that she wanted to make from the fabrics. This gave Evelyn an idea for the local women to start up a sewing project that would support the women financially.

In 2012, the sewing lessons started with only 12 women who were trained by Patricia how to sew, stitch, and embroider fabric. These 12 women also taught the joining learners to learn the various skills that were being taught to them. Right now the Ride 4 a Woman has more than 100 members from the different villages, which has improved their standards of living, and the project has also helped women sponsor their kids’ education. The project has also promoted community development through constructing safe water projects, providing solar panels, among others.

• Change a Life Bwindi

This is a non-government organization that helps in supporting both the Bakiga and the Batwa local people who are living at the park’s boundaries. This project partners with Go2 Africa, where their efforts and work aim at promoting conservation enterprises like mushroom growing, beekeeping, and craft making to reduce the pressure imposed on the forest biodiversity. This project is led by Tina Katushabe, who started up the project to provide employment opportunities to the local people, strengthening the link between the natural forest and the local communities, promoting conservation, and also improving people’s livelihoods, among others.

It focuses on empowering local communities by providing them with equipment and knowledge that help them improve on their standards of living. The projects provide income sources that prevent the local people from depending on the natural forest and implement strategies that mitigate the impacts of climate change. It also provides educational services through training children in the various skills and acquiring knowledge and enabling people to have direct access to clean water.

• Nkuringo Women’s Group

This is a women’s handicraft group that teaches women how to sew the different craft materials. It was established to provide the training skills of knitting, sewing, and tailoring to promote women’s empowerment and enable financial stability among the people in the local communities. The funds generated from the works of the women help in funding their children for school fees, providing basic requirements, among others.

Activities offered by women-led projects in Bwindi.

Women-led projects in Bwindi while on a Uganda safari offer various activities and services to the local people and communities, which may include forming financial associations that provide funds to the local people to prevent poverty. Training the youth in vocational skills like tailoring, catering, and computer literacy, among others. Promoting climate-resilient farming practices, offering support for small businesses, and promoting business planning.

Challenges facing women-led projects.

Various problems associated with women-led projects include

• Financial instability where women lack sufficient initial capital to start up businesses.
• Animal destruction: Mountain gorillas destroy people’s property, hence causing a threat to the lives of the women.
• Limited consistency since women are not motivated with their small businesses since they lack a market for their goods since they depend on only tourists that visit the park.
• High rates of illiteracy, making it different to balance and manage financial books.

How tourists can support women-led projects.

Tourists can support women-led projects by:

• Booking eco-lodges that are owned by the local communities and community-based lodges that ensure funds that are obtained help in supporting the community and women-led projects.
• Purchasing handmade crafts and materials that are made by the local women.
• Participating in community projects like workshops, sewing classes, and others that help tourists learn about the traditional skills of the local people.

In conclusion

Women-led projects help in providing household incomes that improve the standards of living of the local women. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park also plays a crucial role in supporting these projects, hence ensuring better livelihoods for the people.