Maria Baryamujura 

Protecting rural tourism through awareness and behaviour change

As a result of reduced tourism in-flow due to COVID-19, rural communities in high tourism zones in Uganda have seen a significant drop in income which is why COBATI is facilitate a programme that will enable the affected communities to cope with the livelihood, health and food security challenges arising from the COVID pandemic. 

Entrepreneur Name: Maria Baryamujura, Ashoka Fellow  

Organization: COBATI – Community Based Tourism Initiative

Country: Uganda 

Website: www.cobatiuganda.org 

Field of action: Raising Awareness

Needs support to achieve greater impact in: Fundraising, Marketing and Communications 

The mission of the social enterprise before and after the Coronavirus:

COBATI developed a community-based tourism approach that allows people to use their culture and livelihoods to benefit from tourism, create sustainable rural lifestyles and expand tourism offerings to capitalize on the growing sector in Uganda.   

They are combating rural-urban migration by helping rural households and communities in Uganda to reap economic rewards from tourism. This allows for the locals living near potential tourist areas to develop a myriad of tourism-related attractions which they can showcase to visitors seeking experiential tourism products. COBATI focuses on training communities and individuals to establish businesses with top-notch services that would attract travellers, including investors and make them want to experience the cultures, interact with the people and visit historical sites and wildlife. This generates an income that is not solely for the government but also for the locals in their community. 

COVID-19 has crippled the tourism industry globally and continues to make it impossible for tourists to avail the market for which women were mobilized. Markets where women could dance and showcase their rich culture and sell their crafts have closed. Business enterprises have become digital and virtual tourism and online selling of products presents the communities an opportunity to evolve. 

In order for tourism to resume in the community, it is important that standard operating procedures are adhered to. Therefore, COBATI will support and enhance community adherence to the safety and hygiene guidelines issued through awareness campaigns. This involves:

  • Rural hygiene education to underprivileged communities targeting women groups, vulnerable households, places of worship, trading centres, schools motorcycle rider groups youth groups among others.
  • Encouraging locals to wear masks, use sanitizers, wash hands frequently and practice social distancing. This creates room for them to keep safe interactions and share with potential investors /visitors.
  • Orienting locals on rural income generation stream through diversified livelihood skills like training them to produce masks, develop backyard gardens and to slowly resume hosting domestic tourist.

COBATI plans to empower 2 000 community members in four districts through participatory health and hygiene education awareness with an emphasis on handwashing with soap, wearing masks and social distancing during community meetings to influence behavioural change. They are targeting 200 women to produce 10 000 masks and 30 households to develop backyard farming and nutrition gardens through diversified livelihood skills.

Create the post-COVID world. 

Help Maria and her team develop their solution!

COBATI’s concrete needs facing Covid-19:

  • Digital expertise: to mobilize following skills: Web development, Web programming, Data analysis, Online marketing and UX designing to re-design, maintain and promote the website.
  • Marketing and communication: to design and implement the hygiene awareness campaign to drive behavioral change; Posters, Billboards, TV and radio spots; and an Audio sound system for outreach awareness campaigns.
  • Legal expertise: to draft consent forms and transfer agreements.
  • Funding and Financing: to mobilize 100 000 USD in grants to facilitate training, remunerate skilled personnel and implement a hygiene campaign to drive behavioral change. The team hopes to build a fundraising strategy focused on expanding the reach of COBATI products. The strategies to raise funds would include: 1. Purchase of materials for enhanced income generation including, garden tools, equipment, sewing machines, materials for making masks, seeds and seedlings, among other items. 2. Strategic engagements with local leaders to develop a marketing plan for the masks and the rural hospitality program. 3. Designing a market strategy for products. 4. supporting research and documentation of medicinal and herbal products to mitigate and relieve COVID symptoms using indigenous knowledge valuable to the COBATI Community members for better and beneficial access of such materials.
SUPPORT