Building Block 2- Youth Engagement as Future Restoration Champions
Youth taking a lead in restoration efforts
Future4All Malawi
Youth engagement as future restoration champions
Future4All Malawi
Youth engagement as future restoration champions
Future4All Malawi
The youths who constitute about half the population of Malawi mobilise themselves and get into youth clubs. They plan to address environmental issues that affect them directly and indirectly in their communities. This is an energetic and innovative category of people that focuses on shaping a better future through awareness raising in the community by use of arts such as drama, music, poems and community meetings. They work very collaboratively with traditional leaders who support them by giving them access to land for restoration, calling community members for community meetings and enforcement of community norms.
Half of Malawi’s 17.6 million inhabitants who are youth aged 10-35 years should be organized in youth clubs to actively participate in the program. Youth clubs should identify degraded forests and land that need to be restored in collaboration with traditional leaders. The youths will raise tree seedlings, and plant and take care of them by protecting them from harmful bushfires, encroachment, and wanton cutting. School youths learn the restoration skills and practice them within the school with support from the school authorities.
Understanding the huge future benefits of forest and land restoration motivates youths to actively participate and own the program. For example, apart from natural regeneration, Chibwana Youth Club plans to plant over 4000 pine trees every year in the Kirk Range Mountains that will help them when sold to build school blocks, provide them with capital to start small businesses, and pay school fees for needy students. That means the youths feel that they are not only program participants but also beneficiaries.
The program is community-driven which means the youths in schools and youth clubs, as well as community members, especially women in natural resource management committees, are both participants in, and beneficiaries of, restoration efforts. The program enjoys great support from the Traditional Leaders. The community decides where restoration should be done, and how and when it should be done. This approach ensures community ownership and sustainability of the program.
The community should be leading the process and be a key part of the activities throughout the program.
Engaging early with the Traditional Leaders in the community, allows buy-in and has enabled the youth club’s to be successful. For example the Traditional Leaders allocated pieces of land in the mountains to youth’s within the community, for them to protect and manage.
Active participation of women, allows the effective establishment of the tree nurseries which the women in the community manage and sustain, this enables them to apply their knowledge on natural regeneration and agro-forestry practically, which enabled these practices to be used them in their own land.
Directly involving the schools in the local area has enabled access to the youths, where we have been able to help support the young people in growing and managing tree nurseries and woodlots.
Local knowledge and participation is crucial. They bring a sense of ownership, the communities feel part of the solution and more invested in its success, which makes the program impact more sustainable.
The program is community-driven which means the youths in schools and youth clubs as well as community members especially women in natural resource management committees are both participants in and beneficiaries of restoration efforts. The program enjoys great support from the traditional leaders. The community decides where restoration should be done, and how and when it should be done.
The community should be leading the process and be a key part of the activities throughout the program.
Engaging early with the Traditional leaders in the community, this allows buy-in and has enabled the youth club’s to be successful. For example the traditional leaders allocated these pieces of land in the mountains to youth’s within the community, for them to protect and manage.
Active participation of women, allows the effective establishment of the tree nurseries which the women in the community manage and sustain, this enables them to apply their knowledge on natural regeneration and agro-forestry practically and allows them to go on to use in their own land
Directly involving the schools in the local area has enabled access to the youths and also we have implemented tree nurseries and woodlots that the children can support the establishment of.
Local knowledge and participation is crucial. They bring a sense of ownership, the communities feel part of the solution and more invested in its success, which makes the program impact more sustainable.
Trust gained as profits are reinvested into the local economy
Employment in providing information during festivals
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Employment as actors in re-creating village traditions
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Cookies sharing service
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Lunch sharing service
Haenggung Village Cooperative
There was an increased demand for employment came from diverse people, not only limited to the older generation, who also wanted the chance to contribute to the local community. This was connected with addressing the welfare issues raised by the local social security consultative group. The community members began engaging in the World Heritage festivals as an implementation partner, and the profits gained from these activities could be reinvested into local welfare support and activities focused on local residents.
The Village Cooperative Association was established to create job opportunities based on tourism and festivities, which provided enhanced social welfare. Continued trust between the community members was based on equitable and transparent sharing of job opportunities and benefits gained.
The needs and demands of the local community members became the focus of work and contributed to creating valued employment opportunities. The profits gained were reverted back to the local community and built communal trust, including those residents who were not part of the association. The association must increase representativity and ensure public benefit through wider participation and equitable distribution.
The profits gained from the work of the association could be reinvested in local welfare support and volunteer work such as providing joint birthday parties for senior members of the community who lived alone.
Capacity building as the basis for a sustainable tourism partnership
The Suwon Cultural Foundation established an objective of increasing local community participation in tourism initiatives, in order to build a sustainable tourism environment. Starting from 2013, local residents were consulted and engaged in various activities such as Sotdae making (village folk poles), Suwon Love Lantern Festivals, King Jeongjo Royal Tomb Procession events, which slowly built the knowledge of how local resident collaboration could happen.
As the content and festivities based on Hwaseong as World Heritage expanded, such as the Suwon Heritage Night Walks and World Heritage Festival, the level of community participation widened in its scope and depth. A local destination management organization has been established that could provide capacity building to showcase the example of creating a sustainable tourism ecosystem.
The increased engagement of local residents in World Heritage festivals was crucial so that they could start benefitting from World Heritage. In the past local residents had to continuously endure all the negative impacts from tourism but did not receive any benefits. In this partnership, local residents are active participants creating content, managing events and actively participating in the management and utilization of World Heritage.
As the city government tried to change its way of operation in an attempt to build a sustainable tourism ecosystem, the local residents trusted the governance and started the collaboration in good faith and effort. The local government placed importance on the process of engaging the local community rather than only focusing on the immediate results and supported on a long-term basis to enhance the capacities of the residents in their role as the content creators of the local festivities.
The engagement of the local community was pursued to create a sustainable tourism environment. The relationship was built on mutual trust as the city government focused on a cumulative build-up of local capacity, rather than arbitrarily contracting them for certain tasks that could be posed as a testbed. The local government provided continued technical assistance in building up the capacities of the local residents and advised them to formulate a legal entity to become independent partners to the destination management organization.
Capacity building as the basis for a sustainable tourism partnership
Capacity building for members of the village association
Haenggung Village Cooperative
The Suwon Cultural Foundation established an objective of increasing local community participation in tourism initiatives, in order to build a sustainable tourism environment. Starting from 2013, local residents were consulted and engaged in various activities such as Sotdae making (village folk poles), Suwon Love Lantern Festivals, King Jeongjo Royal Tomb Procession events, which slowly built the knowledge of how local resident collaboration could happen.
As the content and festivities based on Hwaseong as World Heritage expanded, such as the Suwon Heritage Night Walks and World Heritage Festival, the level of community participation widened in its scope and depth. A local destination management organization has been established that could provide capacity building to showcase the example of creating a sustainable tourism ecosystem.
The increased engagement of local residents in World Heritage festivals was crucial so that they could start benefitting from World Heritage. In the past local residents had to continuously endure all the negative impacts from tourism but did not receive any benefits. In this partnership, local residents are active participants creating content, managing events and actively participating in the management and utilization of World Heritage.
As the city government tried to change its way of operation in an attempt to build a sustainable tourism ecosystem, the local residents trusted the governance and started the collaboration in good faith and effort. The local government placed importance on the process of engaging the local community rather than only focusing on the immediate results and supported on a long-term basis to enhance the capacities of the residents in their role as the content creators of the local festivities.
The engagement of the local community was pursued to create a sustainable tourism environment. The relationship was built on mutual trust as the city government focused on a cumulative build-up of local capacity, rather than arbitrarily contracting them for certain tasks that could be posed as a testbed. The local government provided continued technical assistance in building up the capacities of the local residents and advised them to formulate a legal entity to become independent partners to the destination management organization.
Haenggung Village Cooperative Founders’ General Assembly
Haenggung Village Cooperative
The local residents who were previously excluded from the various cultural tourism activities and festivals centering on the World Heritage property started to independently host village activities and built up their capacities for delivering and managing events.
The initial residents group started to participate in the operations of the Suwon Heritage Night Walks in 2017 as traffic control staff. As the number of festivals that were hosted to celebrate Suwon Hwaseong as World Heritage increased, such as the Hwaseong by Night, World Heritage Festival, and Media Art Shows, the number of jobs available for the residents also increased.
The Haenggung Village Cooperative Association was established on 31 May 2021 and it consists of 46 members. The main line of work is creating content and activities for visitors. The association is composed of 4 sub-groups each named “jigi”, which in the Korean language means friends:
Haenggungjigi, who focuses on providing event support, information, sanitation and the operation of activities;
Donghaengjigi, a group that creates the content and stories of the village tours;
Surajigi that promotes and shares research and education on food;
Cheongnyeonjigi, the group that monitors and conducts evaluations of activities.
It was key to create jobs that could best optimize the capacities of the local residents. The division of work between members of Haenggungjigi, Donghaengjigi, Surajigi and Cheongnyeonjigi was fundamental to organize the work.
Lastly, all residents participating in these activities had to complete a mandatory training.
Through the cooperative association that based itself on the experience of creating village activities, diverse jobs that could be directly linked to the capacities of the local residents were set up. These included positions such as event operation staff, information officers, cooks, and conducting baseline research. This made a big transition as the residents who were previously neither part of nor benefitting from the festivals could now directly be involved and be paid for their contributions.
The mandatory training for the residents who wanted to participate increased the overall capacities of the local residents and boosted their understanding of World Heritage, local values and the importance of local participation.
