About Ujamaa Center

Ujamaa Centre works with impoverished communities in the tourist rich coastal province of Kenya, to enable them to harness and utilize local natural resources for income generation and improvement of their livelihoods. The centre works in the entire coastal region and has been involved in advocacy for the poor, business development support and participatory community development initiatives. The centre is well established in the coastal province with an extensive network of community based partners and corporate sector supporters. These communities have resources and skills but lack a decent market for their products. They are being exploited by the middlemen who pay minimal amounts and make great profits in the main markets. The communities are unable to access these markets due to lack of knowledge, market information and business skills. The Center in its strategic plan for 2006-2010 aims to entrench ownership and enhance sustainability in development programs within its focus communities by adopting two key strategies:

Strategy 1:

Develop economic alternatives in eco-tourism, Community Based Marine Resources and Environmental Conservation in select focus communities where such organic processes already exist or potential is evident. The process will follow existing initiatives like the Fikirini crocodile conservation and caves. The process envisages the ownership and self-generation of local resources and entrepreneurship in areas where the economic skills gaps have been identified.

Strategy 2:

Develop business plans for select income generating initiatives in the region. Ujamaa has consolidated its programs into three areas namely Social Justice and Advocacy; Entrepreneurship and Development; Research and Education all managed by Program Officers. 30 field staff conducts the capacity building progamme in the communities.

Summary of Project

The project aims to enable coastal communities to benefit economically and socially from tourism through a market venture that is developed collaboratively with the visitors through their organisations (tour operators) locally and externally. It will encompass a professional business idea that will see the emergence of a weekly market channel for communities. Training for producers, product quality and variety, market access, professional packaging, marketing support, promotion and a limited storage facility will be offered to the communities. Tourists will interact with communities/producers when this market develops fully as an excursion in its own right or as part of a Mombasa day tour excursion operated by tour operators in the Mombasa area. Where it will be possible to have excursions to the community, this will also be explored with tour operators. Ujamaa, which has already provided space and opportunities for producers’ network, will work closely with existing producer/marketing organizations in Mombasa on product development/design and ensure that communities develop high quality products that will be fit for the target market. Such products will include crafts, gifts, soaps, natural cures, cosmetics etc.

Some of the artisans

Ujamaa has already established and provides marketing services to the micro and small enterprise sector at the coast of Kenya and its immediate priority lies in expanded trading where improved and innovative products are the driving force behind the endeavor, which entirely seeks out new markets. Through a capacity building programme within this project Ujamaa will ensure that communities are trained so that their products fulfill the standards of target markets, basing this on information, which will be gathered through extensive market research. All the products developed will be from sustainable sources and shall be environmentally friendly, notable is the fact that diversity of the products will range from hand made paper to crafts using natural resources that are renewable, and still be able to create a mixture of products that will include traditional furniture and other souvenirs made out of recyclables. This initiative will then be launched officially at the market access center and shall be graced by visitors from the UK, local hotels, tour operators and members of the private sector. 

Problem to be addressed by the Project

The problem in its broadest sense is entrenched poverty amongst the people of the tourist rich coastal province of Kenya. Specifically, the problem is that poor people lack the organisations, skills and information, access to markets, and investment to enable them properly exploit and benefit from the (mostly natural) assets available to them. In order to transform livelihoods, a step-change is needed in the level of investment in technical and managerial capacity, appropriate organisations, and market outlets: this is what our initiative will provide. Further small craft persons in the coastal province of Kenya are faced by two major challenges. Firstly, they are unable to access the in-bound tourist market. Even worse, they have become the target of exploitative middlemen, who pay minimal amounts for their products only to reap great profits in the main markets including the tourist markets.

Business Activities

It is proposed that in collaboration with First Choice Kenya a visitor survey is carried out to find out what types of products visiting tourists really want to buy rather than speculating on their needs. From the survey it will also be possible to find out visitor views on current prices for craft products in the market, quality, variety and extra services offered by other outlets etc. It is in the process of this survey that negotiations between Ujamaa Center and tourism stakeholders to make the case for the producers market, and the link between the formal tourist sector with the informal sector will also be taking place.  A ground breaking meeting has already happened between main tour operators and Ujamaa Director on which the project team will build on to have the tour operators buy in to this market either as a part of the existing Mombasa day excursion that they conduct, or a tour operator marketed excursion that is independent to this. Once this is complete the project team will mobilize all the community groups that Ujamaa works with that are engaged in small scale touristic businesses/local producers and provide them with training on product quality, product diversity, ethos of the weekly market in line with the findings of the visitor survey. This will also be an opportunity at forging links with each other and developing a common networking understanding.

The foregoing activities should happen within the first three months of the project year. As this happens the market ground will also be prepared to have the right amenity for the open air market with a simple parking facility limited to a cut-out lay-by at the front of the property for tour operator mini-buses to drop off clients, market stalls for producers, simple out-door tables and thatched umbrellas for tourists to rest and have a drink, a lockable container so producers can store their produce at the Centre, and a simple make-over of the reception area of the Centre as an Interpretation area – to expose the Centre and its work, information on the Travel Foundation, the ethos and reason for the market, sustainability issues for the curios and craft markets, conservation/environmental issues in Kenya connected to the traditional curios market, etc. An area outside will be set aside for some producers to run participatory sessions on how they make their produce – particular emphasis will be placed on getting visitor’s children ‘hands on’ e.g. in making paper etc. so that the market projects the Centre’s ‘People Coming Together’ or ‘Ujamaa’ ethos.

The project team will engage with the hotels, tour operators and the media to publicise the project and its goals. However it will be crucial that a tourism consultant (Ujamaa has already forged a link with Dr Cheryl Mvula of Tribal Voice Communications) who is more familiar with the tourism sector be engaged to build and follow on these linkages between the formal (tour operators and hotels), the informal (producers) and the consumers in the UK to ensure sustainability of this project.  By month six the weekly local market will be up and running in the peaceful, leafy, safe and controlled Ujamaa environment. The project will provide business development support through training to producers on aspects such as product development, design, business management and will engage in sustainable tourism awareness campaigns by providing information and material that encourage good practice among companies that cater for tourists.

Purpose of Project

Goal

The main goal of the initiative is to develop a Market Access Centre that will link producer communities on the coast, to local, regional and UK outbound tourism thus stimulating sustainable social and economic development at destination Kenya. The initiative will stimulate the development and growth of qualitative diverse natural resource-based enterprises in the coast region and create the conditions (organizations, access to market, information and finance) that can sustain the enterprises and

Artisans working on furniture made from the bark of the mathege tree

Objectives

• Provide a market access to micro-craft producers in the coast of Kenya.
• Provide a learning forum for tourists on the local culture and history.
• Provide a market for tourists to the coast selling home-made, high quality, environmentally-friendly, local products.
• Advocate for sustainable and responsible business practices among tourist-centered companies.
• Improve on the quality of the existing products made by the communities, and develop new products tailored to the needs of the western tourist market to Kenya.
• Produce a range of sustainable products targeted at the hotels on the coast (for bedrooms, public spaces and for the conference and incentives market).
• Work with the communities on improving their Quality Assurance Systems and communication skills.
• Conduct marketing and promotion for the weekly market.
• Develop a brand for the environmentally friendly produce produced by coastal communities linked to the Ujamaa Centre.
• Promote fair trade through the market access center.

Business Approach

First the businesses will promote and rely on high quality products, full of innovation, creativity and unique designs thus focusing on product development as a strategy to stay ahead in dynamic markets. The products will be subjected to quality assurance systems where training will be central for the communities. The business will seek to add value to already existing products in terms of quality, packaging and superiority, in the process setting a pricing format that recognizes skills, uniqueness, design, and quality and still manages to circumvent the logistical issues of wrapping (packing) as appropriate. Apart from quality products the business will assume a very professional approach where production processes and management will be a key component and time allocation and use paramount to market satisfaction to ensure high timely margins with little wastage. Ujamaa will provide a market, which will result into enhanced community development, increased employment and higher incomes. Communities will therefore be expected to apply and practice business principles that include production, product, selling and societal marketing concepts. The marketing center will provide linkages with formal sector (private companies, hotels, tour operators etc). This will be strengthened by the umbrella producer network that Ujamaa has been playing host to.

The business whose catch line will be the clientele participation, intends to provide an amiable working environment that shall allow tourists and their children to get emotionally involved in the production of their souvenirs in the marketplace. All products displayed in the market will be subject to Ujamaa’s policy of using only resources from sustainable sources i.e. soft woods (e.g. jacaranda), banana bark, coconut fibre, recycled materials etc. –products will be hand-made, locally produced and environmentally friendly. Ujamaa Center having been part of the fair trade movement has experience in this area. The Center will engage a designer to work with the local producers to a) improve the quality and sustainability of existing products, develop new products suitable for the tourist market and for the hotel market (for rooms and public areas e.g. tissue boxes, ash trays, furniture, etc. and for the hotel conference and incentives market (a very important local market for many hotels during the low tourist season) e.g. delegate packs, cloth covered note pads, etc.). The needs of the hotels will be evaluated by consultation and the idea is to use traditional skills in a more contemporary way to make new products that suit the western market.

The access center will engage in aggressive promotion of the market both locally and through the tour operators and international partners (Travel Foundation), word of mouth, and the Ujamaa website but at the same time put in place mechanisms that will channel back customer information, preferences, foreign trends and fashion trends as a positive response to market needs, fulfillment and customer choices as integration towards profitability.

Project Activities

Visitor Survey

Ujamaa Center in conjunction with First Choice in Kenya will develop a visitor questionnaire to be implemented over a period of three months to document visitor preferences in terms of what they were willing to buy upon visiting Kenya.

Consultative meetings

Ujamaa center will engage in several consultative pre-project meetings with stakeholders to serve four purposes;( 1) to create rapport with formal tourism sector players and make them aware of the project and its benefits to communities; (2) to negotiate for the appropriate days and excursion schedule with tour operators for the once a week market at the access center (3) to mobilize communities who extend from south coast (Kwale District) to the northern shoreline (Kilifi District) in preparation for the market launch, training and formation of common network of producers; (4) to engage the formal sector players (the media, hotels) in Kenya as a step towards creating linkages between communities and them as equal stakeholders. Meetings with the hotels will identify products that they may require to service their hotels and the conference/incentive meetings part of their business e.g. furniture, lamp shades, ash trays, delegate packs, cloth covered note pads, etc.

Weekly Market

There will be a market at Ujamaa grounds once a week where the communities will sell their products. Products that are of high quality and fit in the target market but that are not bought during the market day will be put on display at the Center. Visitors and their children if any will have opportunity on the market day to participate in the production process, learn how to make paper, weave and do craft creations of various kinds. It will be possible to enjoy traditional meals, folklore or story telling. Ujamaa will work with the coastal communities to improve on their products e.g. soap, coconut oil, spices etc for them to be of such quality that they can fit in Ujamaa target market. All products displayed in the market will be in line with Ujamaa’s policy of using only resources from sustainable sources i.e. soft woods (e.g. jacaranda), banana bark, coconut fibre, Juliflora Proposis (locally known as Mathenge a tree whose harmful effects are being felt by pastoralists in semi arid Kenya but whose value in craft production Ujamaa is exploiting), recycled materials etc–all products will be hand-made, locally produced and environmentally friendly. Ujamaa will build on such existing assets, resources and producer networks in order to grow the weekly market. A modest transport allowance for travel to the weekly market will be provided to the producers for the first six months following which the market will have grown big enough to enable them to cover their own transport costs. An independent consultant will be engaged to prepare the market’s business plan.

Ujamaa Market Site Preparation

The grounds will have to be artistically landscaped to fit with the concept of tourist visits. The plan is to put up simple but artistic semi permanent structures using containers and makuti roofing. These participatory session areas will be used to showcase the process of making different products e.g. paper making or massage oils and the consumers will participate in the process if they so wish. Products will also be displayed and sold in one of the Ujamaa structures set as the interpretation area. The expansive Ujamaa grounds will be used by the communities to sell their products once a week and in anticipation of visitors a tourist drop-off zone will be created. A Storage facility will be available for the communities participating in the market, which will be constructed from an old shipping container. The uniqueness of the market will be in its natural nature.

A tree nursery built around the concept of high value fast growing trees has already been set up to sensitize the communities on the need to conserve the environment (and not use hard woods for curios) and provide opportunity for tourist stakeholders in the destination to access for actual planting in their facilities. Garden products will be displayed on the garden and the visitors will have an opportunity to learn about the local culture through dances and fairy tales.

Ujamaa Offices and Interpretation Area

The front part of the office has been reserved as a dissemination/interpretation area with a variety of products on display a combination that will feature for visitors’ interpretation of the community development concept as practiced by Travel Foundation and Ujamaa center. The rooms will be the ground link between visitors, Ujamaa center and Travel foundation therefore within this precinct the concept of community development at the coast will also be unveiled to the visitors.

Business and Product Development Support

Communities are currently selling products such as soaps, lotions, and perfumes from the Neem tree; seeds and seedlings, coconut leave brooms, oranges, cashew nuts, coconut oils, honey and spices. The quality, packaging and designs of these products must be improved if they can be expected to compete in the markets (tourist and hotels) proposed. This calls for specialized training in business skills and product development. Ujamaa will focus on Products made out of Natural resources. The main focus will be food, crafts and textile.

Christmas decorations; Office Accessories; Greeting Cards/Paper products; Kitchen Accessories; Jewellery; House Interiors; Furniture; Accessories for conference/incentive meeting market; Fabrics; Garden; Food; Oils;

The products will be produced from:

Plant fibres such as coconut, palm, papyrus, water hyacinth, sisal, baobab, grasses; Hand made paper; Tin/sheet metal; Good wood e.g. Neem, Mango, Jacaranda, prosopis juliflora (mathenge) and recycled wood from the sea; Cowrie shells; Certified Eláter; Old drifted wood

Ujamaa will work closely with existing producer/ marketing organizations in the region e.g. Gower Funzi furniture on product development/design and develop high quality products that will be fit for the target market. Gower Funzi Furniture works with the Mombasa communities on crafting furniture for home, office, learning institutions and hotels. They use old drifted wood from the Ocean, which is environmentally friendly. There is an opportunity to combine materials from the coast with those from the Lake Victoria region to come up with a unique range of products. Ujamaa, apart from securing products from a wide range of its 400 plus villages will also source products from other regions in Kenya.

A consultant Designer, Anne Nzilani will work with the communities on improving their current designs, while still discovering original creations, without copying or styling the old products. The product designer will keep on studying the market trends for both local and international customers to keep up with the ever changing trends. This will be enhanced by creative packaging and gift wrapping for the various products, an aspect that training will take care of by equipping communities with skills and knowledge in the use of environmentally sensitive packaging material and also application of recyclables.  Another aspect of this business that will bring closer ties with formal sector is the selling of conference products using local materials found at the community level, some of these may include delegate packs, paper trays, pen holders, conference bags

Marketing and Promotion

Tourists purchase large amounts of local crafts and products as mementoes of their visit. This disposable income can make a great difference if directed to the poor and vulnerable in tourist destinations. For tourists, getting products of the same quality and style, while touching lives is an added bonus for the visit. This goes beyond charity by encouraging local enterprise and craft-making to provide tourist with high quality products. Yet, it makes a world of a difference in the lives of the local community business persons especially when the business persons are those who are vulnerable in society. This ideal of responsible tourism will guide the publicity and promotion of the market centre. The marketing will be done through the media, hotels, tour companies, local and trade fairs, exhibitions, word of mouth, Internet, etc. The Access Center will also engage in value addition services like gift wrapping, international bank transfers, use of credit cards and transportation by courier to destination(s) that will allow the communities/ groups a public relations mileage with customers and will also endeavor fulfill customer needs such as High quality products; new product ranges; good prices; decorative yet functional items and environmentally friendly items. Dr. Cheryl Mvula of Tribal Voice Communications Ltd. will be contracted to offer consultancy support in developing the relationship between the formal and informal tourism sectors in Kenya.

   Work Undertaken Prior to Application

Ujamaa contracted a specialist to carry out a survey of the potential of this project and to develop a business plan before making submission to the Travel Foundation. Following a one-week field survey, visits to the stakeholders, competitors among others and interviews with Ujamaa staff the following facts were established with regard to target markets. This study was undertaken with a view to ensuring that the project responds to risks whether real or perceived, project continues beyond Travel Foundation Funding if successful and that the project builds on work that already exists to maximise on collaboration and comparative advantage. Intricately

Local Market

Gift shops in Mombasa all sell the same products as each other that are of average quality and highly priced. The reception is not very friendly and there is a general lack of a professional approach. The presentations/ displays are not attractive and lack enough lighting, which makes it impossible for the products to sell.  The local market is large and it can only be tapped by offering unique products that are attractive and of high quality. There is an opportunity for Ujamaa to exploit these markets by meeting all the customer requirements, and competitively priced products. During the low season, which is between February and August, Ujamaa will focus on the local customers by offering unique products and competitive prices compared to their competitors.

Tourist Market

The peak season is between September and January; the market is still very large. Ujamaa will compete in this market by meeting all the customer requirements and showing the production process, which will allow the customers to participate in the process and interact with the producers. Ujamaa will provide accountable, efficient and effective personal services. Gift-wrapping will be an extended service. An attractive display espousing certain thematic issues and lifestyle of the coastal people will result to more sales. Ujamaa will accept the major currencies i.e. sterling pounds, euros, dollars, local currency and credit cards. Credit card equipment is available from local banks to facilitate this.

Competition

Ujamaa carried out a research in this regard and managed to establish that competition could only emerge from three local tourist Markets mainly Bombolulu, Ngomongo and Kwetu center. Further consultation however clarified that both Ngomongo and Kwetu were selling a different concept while Bombolulu gave space to the needs of the disabled community. Therefore fears of conflicts were allayed because Ujamaa is to provide market opportunities to the mainstream communities that extend from south to the northern coast of Kenya. In addition to this it was also ascertained that the Director of Ujamaa center had already discussed the prospects of this project with the management of Bombolulu and consensus struck as a necessary attempt in poverty alleviation.  Ujamaa will offer a different range of unique products, different packaging with recycled material, create a good producer and customer relationship and wishes to work with the competitors’ in areas where their communities may not have required products e.g. with Bombolulu on selling their branded bags.

Ujamaa will build on its strength within networks to encourage local tourism but also struggle to offer pocket friendly prices for their quality products as opposed to the current, which are prohibitive to local tourism.  All the three markets are permanent markets our intention is to create a weekly non-permanent market to promote community products and crafts as a measure to cut out the middle person by allowing the community business persons and producers from the over 400 Ujamaa villages to access the market. Products like aloe vera gels and soaps made by communities, honey produced by communities, jams made from banana and other fruits; coconut fibre products and the many coconut tree products, and hand made paper etc. as listed in the table previously will add what the other markets have missed out. Having a chance to learn with the producer will give the market its niche.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Ujamaa and a Travel Foundation representative/consultant will institute interpretive approach to monitoring and evaluation. However, both institutions will also focus on outputs and will set project level indicators (number of producer groups, orders secured, products developed, incomes earned etc). Of more concern though is to assess the outcome (effectiveness – relates to purpose) and impact (change – relates to goal) of the work. The degree to which the outputs lead to a positive outcome will be determined by the willingness of people to make use of the opportunities of the project. In turn, the extent to which activities and benefits generated by the project have an impact will depend on a range of contingent factors most of which are beyond our control. In other words, we cannot predict a linear progression from cause to effect, inputs to impact. The project will identify real changes in the livelihood of communities involved by examining post involvement lifestyle indicators – food, water, habitation, children welfare etc. and compare with changes on an annual basis. The baseline indicators collated at start will inform these tracked changes.

Stakeholder Consultation/Partnerships

There has been consultation with Ufadhili Trust, a local non-profit engaged in encouraging sustainable and responsible business practices. Ujamaa has an existing working partnership with a group of hotels on disaster management and intends to use this platform to open further engagement with the local hotel and tour industry players, so that they can bring tourists to the market venue. Ujamaa has good contacts within the local hotel industry through the Kenya Association of Hotel Caterers (KAHC) but will also need to engage the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO). Ujamaa will also seek out specialty micro-finance institutions to provide finance and business development services where necessary. It is against this background that Ujamaa will strengthen its relations with formal sector and help bridge the gap that is always evident between communities and private sector players. Ujamaa is already in touch with the major tour operators in the Mombasa area (Thomsons, First Choice, Somak, Pollmans) following an introduction by Dr Cheryl Mvula to this idea at a Travel Foundation workshop in January 2007. All were very positive towards the project and keen to work the market into their excursion schedules.

Project viewed against destination plans

Tourism as a source of income does not come directly to communities not unless through service provision from the government, this is where this project takes a diversion and injects direct benefits to communities through tourists’ purchases, which are normally large amounts of local crafts and products as mementoes of their visit. This disposable income will make a great difference if directed to the poor and vulnerable in tourist destinations, who mostly reside in circumstances that encourage relief. Therefore this project will induce in local people the urgency to self-reliance by use of their natural resources, where earnings will discourage communities from expecting charity. This will further open up the interest of people on issues of environmental management and incite them in to putting mechanisms in place that support such endeavours, as evidenced with the tree nursery scheme already happening at the center. In essence this market access center will bring with it economically viable spin offs thus creating more gainful engagement/employment for the local people at various stages. For tourists, getting products of high quality and style, while touching lives is an added bonus for the visit. This goes beyond charity by encouraging local enterprise and craft making to provide tourist with high quality products. Yet, it makes a world of a difference in the lives of the local community businesspersons especially when the businesspersons are women.

Dissemination of lessons learnt

The project will provide lessons on a model that is easily replicable in other areas and yet highly sustainable. It will also provide the business case for sustainable tourism and a good example of what can be achieved through a simple yet well-grounded business type development model. For the details of these lessons the project intends to share information through the promotional activity associated with the project; however this will also be disseminated through the hotel associations and private sector engagements especially the media for purposes of influencing policy for the inclusion of community participation and the concept of direct benefits. Finally the publication of the project will serve this purpose and also set stage for part two of the project.