About>

Mossel Bay, George and Oudtshoorn
‘Meet The People ’ Skills Development and Tourism Project

Background

‘Meet The People’ was the initiative of Jauckie Viljoen, the Director of a small family-run tourism business.  The original basis of this not-for-profit initiative was a guided tour around the homes and workplaces of local partners, each of whom had a particular craft or professional skill.  The success of this project has led to several volunteers, both local and international, giving their support to the project. 

During the last 30 months, ‘Meet The People ’ volunteers have been actively involved in developing the skills of over 50 local men, women and children in the Mossel Bay-George-Oudtshoorn Tourism Development Area (MBGO TDA) in order to involve them in sustainable tourism.  This has generated both economic and social development for those individuals, their families and wider communities. 

To ensure sustainability the project does not create salaried jobs; local partners retain 100% ownership of their small businesses, which enables them to sell the end-products of their craft or skill to tourists.

‘Meet The People ’ actively supports the development of local partners to ensure they sufficiently enhance their skills and business capabilities to produce a quality product that tourists will purchase, in order to generate income.  The provision of this support is entirely voluntary and in the own time of both Jauckie Viljoen and the volunteers.

Many environmentally-friendly and/or traditional industries have been included, such as: leather work; the production of jams and preserves; clay brick-making; needlework, clothing design and production; traditional furniture manufacturing; tea and coffee shops; bed and breakfast; shop-keeping, growing organic vegetables; keeping hens and the sale of their eggs; and sustainable oyster harvesting.

A dance group of young women aged between 10 and 14 has been formed and trained by one of the volunteers, Loveliness.  Other volunteers have helped with the provision of costumes and two tourists provided sponsorship for an orphaned member of the dance group.  The income generated by the dance group is used to provide education and essentials such as shoes for its members.   It is also a diversionary tactic from more inappropriate, and potentially harmful or illegal, activities.

Examples of income generation following the skills development of local partners

Janneman Draai, a carpenter, was forced to retire after a serious accident resulted in him becoming a wheelchair user. His newly acquired leatherwork skills has caused a growth from R750 p.m. to R 980, 00 p.m. over the last 12 months.  He is now a volunteer for the project in order to train others and cascade the knowledge and skills he has gained from his experiences.	Baruch states that the ‘Meet the People’ project has markedly  increased his coffee sales.
	Millie Uithaler has added a constant R 300 – R 350 p.m. through the sale of her jams. Loveliness has many more visitors to her non-alcoholic shabeen (bar) and children’s playground, which has resulted in audiences and sponsorship for her traditional dance group.
Tante Pop has markedly increased the sale of eggs, which has enabled her to stock her small Spaza shop with items that local people can buy at cost.	Rather than subsistence farming, local market gardens are pooling their products to offer a wider variety of  goods for sale to tourists, and the tourism industry.
Rafel, a furniture maker has increased his income in 2006 by at least R10,000. Alfred, a brick-maker and Meet The People volunteer, has sold 1,000s of bricks to tourists in support of the Meet The People sub-project. The first international contract for a group of local seamstresses and an increase in local orders. In addition, ‘Meet The People ’ has now created a full-time driver/guide job and is close to duplicating this by employing a second driver/guide.   As ‘Meet The People ’ grows so will these tourism sector employment opportunities.

Meet the People Cares

It is important that as many professions as possible are developed through tourism, not just those who are traditionally associated with the industry.  Therefore Jauckie, the local partners and volunteers have initiated creative ideas to involve tourism in all aspects of local life from fish-farming to brick-making.

For example, ‘Meet the People Cares’ is a sub-project that has resulted from the sale of clay bricks to tourists, who then donate them to the construction of the ‘Safe Haven Centre for Battered Women and Homeless Children’.  In return, the tourist receives a certificate of appreciation.  As a result of the sale of many bricks, approximately fifty contractor jobs will be created and, once constructed, the Centre will employ at least five full time staff. 

Future projects

There are many planned projects, both long and short term, which are unlikely to go ahead without professional and financial support, despite the efforts of the volunteers and small sponsors.  These include:

Supporting the establishment of an environmentally-friendly fish farm on land donated by a local business.

Felling Black Wattle trees, which are causing environmental damage; then using the wood and other products for environmentally-sound skills development activities, such as carpentry and construction projects. 

The development of a training centre on land donated by a local business.

Collecting Springbok skins from reputable farmers, treating them using processes that protect the environment and offering them to tourists for sale.

Supporting the development of local tour operators in preparation for the World Cup in 2010.

Expected impact if professional and financial support is available

This project will have a greater and more positive impact on the wider agenda of the Western Cape Province White Paper ‘Sustainable Tourism Development and Promotion’ and the equity targets of the South African National Skills Development Strategy.   In relation to the equity targets the current ‘Meet the People’ Project has already supported the livelihood of:
 

Women and girls:     40
Black:                          55
Disabled:                    2

In relation to the White Paper ‘Meet the People’ will impact on the following Western Cape Vision Indicators.

The Vision: By the year 2010 the Western Cape is renowned as a premium world tourism area and the vision indicators:
We will know we have achieved this vision when:
♦ Tourism is regarded as a priority sector within the provincial economic strategy and is supported and valued by the community at large.
Many communities in the MBGO TDA already support and value this tourism initiative.
♦ Tourism provides the bulk of new jobs and increasing numbers share directly and indirectly in the benefits derived from the industry.
Over 45 jobs have already been created and others, such as: families; the battered wives and homeless children who will use the Save Haven Centre; and the dance group, directly and indirectly benefit from the industry.
♦ Visitors from South Africa and across the globe flock to the province and tourism is growing at rates well above the national and international averages.
The success of this small scale project is an indicator of the interest that tourists have in this activity.
♦ The province prides itself on offering visitors a unique, Cape-‘flavoured’ combination of nature, culture, entertainment and top-class convention opportunities in a safe, well-maintained and hospitable setting.
Meet the People style tours offer nature, culture and entertainment opportunities in a safe, well-maintained and very hospitable setting.
♦ A network of exciting tourism attractions in the metropolitan area and hinterland combines the attractiveness of the globally renowned Cape Town brand and icons with a variety of innovative travel experiences.
Meet the People volunteers are keen net-workers and believe this is the best way forward.
♦ Tourism facilities and services are of the highest quality and offer some of the best value for money in the world.
The activities are extremely good value - even when the situation of the local partners prevents them from providing top quality environments, they still provide top quality products.

Expected Outputs if professional and financial support is available

1. Raising the awareness of Local Municipalities, their Mayor’s committees and local communities regarding the value of sustainable tourism for economic and social development as well as environmental protection, through the establishment of Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) that outline the necessary activities to achieve such awareness.
2. Support Municipal representatives in the implementation of best practice (see Output 4)
3. The establishment of guidelines and best practice methodology for sustainable tourism in the MBGO TDA, within the overall framework of the Western Cape Province White Paper on Sustainable Tourism Development and Promotion.
 4. The implementation of best practice methodology in the pilot area of Kwanonqaba, based on the current success of the ‘Meet the People’ project in this township.  With the long-term goal of rolling-out the methodology to other areas in the MBGO TDA and the Western Cape Province.

Conclusion

‘Meet the People’ is an extraordinary initiative that has attracted extraordinary people, resulting in unprecedented successes for such a small project with no funds.

However, funding and professional support is required to: formalise the ‘Meet the People’ project, and support the sustained growth of its practices and philosophy.  Anyone who wishes to support the project or any of its sub-projects in any way, should contact Mr Jauckie Viljoen and Dr Debra Willoughby on

Thank you for your support!