Igniting the potential within KZN’s rural communities
AFRICA! Ignite, which regards itself as one of KwaZulu-Natal’s leading rural development agencies, has been nominated in the KZN Exporter of the Year awards.
The agency, which is nominated in the Creative Industries category, is a registered non-profit company.
It was established in 2004 by MiET Africa, a leading African education development agency based in KwaZulu-Natal, to pursue rural community development work complementary to MiET Africa’s rural education development focus.
It focuses on holistic rural enterprise development and support for women’s and youth development.
“Our purpose is to create opportunities for people in rural areas to reach their full potential so that they can improve their lives and those of their families and communities,” the agency said.
The agency does this by helping them to establish viable enterprises.
Also, to earn a fair income, acquire useful information,
knowledge and skills; protect their rights; and tell their stories.
It has an extensive footprint of rural development nodes and a network of trained youths and adults across the province.
It also published KZN’s only province-wide, free rural newspaper, iThubalethu, which gathers news and views from, and was distributed to, rural communities across the province.
The newspaper is now distributed as an online tool accessible from cellphones and trained youths from eight districts are the newspaper’s correspondents/photographers and district story-tellers.
The agency also provides holistic support to about 1 000 women crafters across the province.
“These women are predominantly mothers and grandmothers who supplement their families’ income by doing craft work.
“We support them through capacity building; design and production support.
“Also, proactive marketing and sales of their products; and by helping to tell their stories and make their voices heard,” the agency said.
In 2010, Africa!Ignite and its partners established vibrant “WOWZULU Marketplaces” in recognised tourist destinations across KwaZulu-Natal.
The colourful “WOWZULU Marketplaces” combine craft sales with vibrant cultural experiences and attractions such as coffee shops, story-telling, rural home stays and opportunities to learn craft techniques.
Each WOWZULU Marketplace is a community owned tourism initiative from where tourists can experience living communities, participate in adventure activities, discover history and culture and actively participate in community life.
“The role of Africa!Ignite is to incubate small businesses and tourism entrepreneurs who are enabled to generate profit through this partnership.
Incubation occurs through training, mentorship and access to a sustainable market. WOWZULU Marketplaces are part of a strategy for rural development using tourism as a mechanism for growth,” the agency said.