Karamoja develops Uganda’s first Travel Manifesto and Pledge

The process

After a short introduction we will start our journey by inspiring you with the newest trends in tourism. Successful projects and companies start from the ‘why’, core values are the best foundation. We’ll discover the core values of the Karamoja region.

Everybody has a dream. What are our dreams for the Karamoja region? The sustainable development goals, also known as SDGs will be your compass. We will give a short introduction and how these SDGs are relevant for the tourism sector.

We will continue our discussion on the SDGs by presenting you some inspiring examples on how you can implement the SDGs as a social entrepreneur. As well as using the core values of the Karamoja region to formulate some concrete actions you can take in your business.

Bad Tourism in Ethiopia

The Mursi tribe resides in southwest Ethiopia and Mursi women are known for placing large plates in their lower lips and wearing enormous, richly decorated earrings, which has become a subject of tourist attraction in recent years.

Each year, hundreds of Western tourists come to see the unusually adorned natives; posing for camera-toting visitors has become the main source of income for the Mursi. To make more money, they embellish their “costumes” and finery to appear more exotic to the outsiders.

Framing the Other portrays the complex relationship between tourism and indigenous communities by revealing the intimate and intriguing thoughts of a Mursi woman from Southern Ethiopia and a Dutch tourist as they prepare to meet each other. This humorous, yet simultaneously chilling film shows the destructive impact tourism has on traditional communities.

Framing the Other

On the fourth day we will focus further on regenerative tourism and how this can put the Karamoja region on the map. We shall use a holistic approach to capture the spirit of the region and think about how we want to present tourism in Karamoja to the rest of the world through a manifesto.

On our last day we will continue writing our manifesto. As well as thinking about the mission and vision this shall encompass. But we won’t stop here, as there is always a future to look forward to. So ask yourself, what are the next steps we can take as pioneers?