South Africa: Conserving Nature and Heritage for Livelihoods

Just north of Cape Town, South Africa, a non-profit organisation established a centre to promote and preserve this heritage. The !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre functions as both a museum about the San culture and a tourism destination, offering accommodation, guided tours, a restaurant serving locally sourced traditional food, and a gift shop featuring handcrafted products. The centre creates job opportunities and provides training for community members. It also supports small, San led businesses, including crafters, as well as initiatives like traditional dance groups. Ultimately, the centre aims to become a self-sustaining social enterprise. It also functions as a community hub, particularly for young San people.

For Hendreas Vaalbooi, who leads the restoration team at !Khwa ttu, protecting nature is essential to the San people.

The centre, locally referred to as the "embassy" of the San people, is situated within a Biosphere Reserve, a biodiversity hotspot that hosts globally unique but endangered species. To address habitat loss, the initiative supported by IKI Small Grants established conditions for the Centre’s 850-hectare farm to be legally-zoned as a conservation area. This initiative enables endemic and indigenous vegetation to recover naturally. Active measures to restore the local ecosystem, known as "Fynbos", included the removal of invasive species and the establishment of plant nurseries.

The project leveraged the indigenous San people's knowledge about plants and their uses, with young San individuals being trained as biodiversity ambassadors. More than half of the staff on the reserve are women. One of them is Nunke Khadimo, who works as a Nature Guide. She educates visitors about the precious nature reserve surrounding the Centre, which is rich in biodiversity.

During the project supported by IKI Small Grants, the centre welcomed over 40,000 visitors, including 2,400 students. The centre's successful integration of biodiversity conservation with income-generating activities such as environmental and cultural education and tourism serves as a model for others. It has already received several national and international awards, recognising its impactful approach and work.