British Council’s ‘Cultural Protection Fund’ has awarded support to our Sustainable Preservation of ‘Ik Community’ Cultural Heritage Initiative. The funding supports the ongoing documentation of their oral history and co-creation of engaging tourist activities which we started in January this year with the support from LASER PULSE.
The project
“Ik Cultural Heritage Preservation in Karamoja” – The Ik community in North East Uganda have a unique language and culture that is under threat due to marginalisation and displacement through conflict and climate change.
Their oral history and knowledge of cultural customs and traditions isn’t carried on to the next generation. Simultaneously there is an increasing demand for engaging cultural tourism experiences and off-the-beaten path destinations.
This initiative aims at bridging this gap by documenting this cultural heritage with elders, visualising them in illustrations for education purposes and co-creating cultural tourist activities with youth.
The British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund
To be eligible for support from the Cultural Protection Fund, projects must include activities that safeguard cultural heritage for future generations, protect heritage from risks relating to conflict, instability and/or climate change (and related disasters) and include meaningful involvement of the communities closest to the heritage. Learn more…
Previous activities
From an ethnolinguistic perspective, the Ik in northern Karamoja form a unique community, yet marginalized community. Their current existence is characterized by poverty and a lack of economic opportunities. In addition, their language is disappearing, their self-esteem as a group is low and alcoholism and domestic violence are widespread.
In order to intervene and tackle the challenges above, Kara-Tunga Foundation (KTF) will collaborate with the Ik Agenda Development Initiative (IADI) and EyeOpener Initiative (EOI) within the Kaabong Region to improve the livelihoods of the Ik community through successful community-based tourism activities. KTF and its stakeholders will jointly invest in relevant skilling opportunities for the Ik community, and provide youth with the required training for a career in sustainable tourism & hospitality.
The proposed intervention builds on the open-source Ukarimu training curriculum that has been successfully piloted in 4 regions throughout Uganda. The combination of relatively short and practical training with extensive work-based learning gave young Ugandans a foundation for a career in tourism & hospitality with more than 75% finding a job within 3 months of graduation.
This project intends to scale on this success by utilizing the already established Tourism Product Development curriculum and implementing it within a local context.
At Kara-Tunga Foundation, we are proud to be working alongside the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund to protect the unique language and culture of the Ik community in North-East Uganda.
Today we officially launched the ‘Boost the Employability of Tourism staff in Elgon and Karamoja‘ project! The project is part of a larger initiative to enable sustainable and decent income-generating employability for Ugandan youth.
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British Council supports Ik cultural heritage preservation in Karamoja
British Council’s ‘Cultural Protection Fund’ has awarded support to our Sustainable Preservation of ‘Ik Community’ Cultural Heritage Initiative. The funding supports the ongoing documentation of their oral history and co-creation of engaging tourist activities which we started in January this year with the support from LASER PULSE.
The project
“Ik Cultural Heritage Preservation in Karamoja” – The Ik community in North East Uganda have a unique language and culture that is under threat due to marginalisation and displacement through conflict and climate change.
Their oral history and knowledge of cultural customs and traditions isn’t carried on to the next generation. Simultaneously there is an increasing demand for engaging cultural tourism experiences and off-the-beaten path destinations.
This initiative aims at bridging this gap by documenting this cultural heritage with elders, visualising them in illustrations for education purposes and co-creating cultural tourist activities with youth.
The British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund
To be eligible for support from the Cultural Protection Fund, projects must include activities that safeguard cultural heritage for future generations, protect heritage from risks relating to conflict, instability and/or climate change (and related disasters) and include meaningful involvement of the communities closest to the heritage. Learn more…
Previous activities
From an ethnolinguistic perspective, the Ik in northern Karamoja form a unique community, yet marginalized community. Their current existence is characterized by poverty and a lack of economic opportunities. In addition, their language is disappearing, their self-esteem as a group is low and alcoholism and domestic violence are widespread.
In order to intervene and tackle the challenges above, Kara-Tunga Foundation (KTF) will collaborate with the Ik Agenda Development Initiative (IADI) and EyeOpener Initiative (EOI) within the Kaabong Region to improve the livelihoods of the Ik community through successful community-based tourism activities. KTF and its stakeholders will jointly invest in relevant skilling opportunities for the Ik community, and provide youth with the required training for a career in sustainable tourism & hospitality.
The proposed intervention builds on the open-source Ukarimu training curriculum that has been successfully piloted in 4 regions throughout Uganda. The combination of relatively short and practical training with extensive work-based learning gave young Ugandans a foundation for a career in tourism & hospitality with more than 75% finding a job within 3 months of graduation.
This project intends to scale on this success by utilizing the already established Tourism Product Development curriculum and implementing it within a local context.
Related Posts
Update Ik Community Cultural Heritage Project
At Kara-Tunga Foundation, we are proud to be working alongside the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund to protect the unique language and culture of the Ik community in North-East Uganda.
Official launch ‘Boost employability Karamoja tourism staff’
Today we officially launched the ‘Boost the Employability of Tourism staff in Elgon and Karamoja‘ project! The project is part of a larger initiative to enable sustainable and decent income-generating employability for Ugandan youth.
Ik Community Training in Cultural Tourism Development
We are looking back at a successful training in community-based tourism of site guides and cultural groups of the Ik community in Uganda.
Video: Introducing Ik Community Cultural Heritage Project
This project empowers the Ik community to preserve their cultural heritage and build a brighter future through cultural tourism.