The study examines the level of public participation in the Malealea Lodge and the Pony Trekking Center and whether the public participation procedures in the center support the livelihood strategies of the Malealea community. The investigation into participation levels is driven by the idea that the center presents itself as a “best community engagement program.”
Background to the study
The focus of the current study is on tourism projects that are community development oriented and involve the host communities in planning, implementation and management of all activities that take place. In this study, the investigation into the level of participation is based on the Malealea Lodge and Pony Trekking Center in Lesotho, one of the developing countries that uses tourism for national development.
Lesotho tourism development background and strategies
Lesotho tourism assets
It also has beautiful landscapes, such as Mount Thabana-Ntlenyana, which rises 3,482 meters and is the highest in southern Africa. Lesotho also boasts the highest waterfall in southern Africa, Maletsunyane, at 192 meters and the highest abseiling cliff in the world at 204 metres.
Objectives of the project
The country is positioned in the heart of Africa's most developed economy, that of South Africa. It is home to the largest and most ambitious civil engineering project in all of Africa, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project which harnessed and commercialized upstream surplus water resources, which is often referred to.
Research Questions
Motivation and purpose of the study
Investigations should be made into the level of public participation and its impact on the sustainable livelihoods of host communities. The researcher aims to investigate the public participation strategies used in Malealea, as most private and public-private tourism projects practice one-sided development strategies.
Conceptual framework of the study
The question of the right procedure for people's involvement in development projects is presented by different scholars. Implementation of the model of community ownership has not achieved its goals due to unequal distribution of benefits.
Participation in development projects in Lesotho
Decentralization and development projects in Lesotho
Fifth, in some cases, as in the case of the Law on City Administration, the implementation of the law was delayed for various reasons. Since most people did not know how the members of the supervisory board were chosen, they questioned their right to play a central role in the area's development process.
An Overview of Malealea: Case study Region
The rest were probably appointed by the chiefs, sometimes with the consent of the community, which attended "pitso" (public meetings) on the occasion. This study presents Malealea's experiences in this regard, and the next section provides an overview of the Malealea community.
Malealea Development Trust
Initially, the creation of the craft cooperative was open to anyone interested in improving their craft skills. When renting the cabins, half of the occupancy tax is paid to the cabin owner and the balance is kept in a fund reserved for the purchase of equipment for old cabins.
The outline of the dissertation
Cabins are equipped with mattresses on the floor, a gas stove, basic pots and pans, and a bucket of water. Attwood (2003) describes how the Malealea Development Fund promotes community involvement in tourism and provides a list of assets tourists have added to the community.
Conclusion
Introduction
Research methodology
Research design
Research methods
The choice of process was made to enable the researcher to collect data that elicited information from different members of the community about their benefits for participating in the project and to observe the techniques used to engage them. involve the development process.
Population
- Sampling procedure
- Instruments
- Interviews
- Observations
- Documentation
Various members of the community were interviewed and observed and field notes were taken to achieve the research objectives. harvest season; they worked in the fields. Community members were interviewed in a hall that was specially designated for the researcher for those days.
Data Analysis
Ethical consideration
It is the researcher's responsibility to ensure that the research does not cause harm to the participants. During data collection, some respondents did not feel free to talk and the researcher had to convince them that the results of the study would not harm them.
Conclusion
The researcher also had to wait for the harvest season to be over to conduct interviews with the community members. Fourth, the researcher was sometimes expected to answer some questions where the respondents expected her to act as a facilitator, especially to gain access to some resources.
Introduction
Transition to Sustainable Development
In general terms, Dlamini (2004) Harris critiques modernization as follows; "the theory ignored the historical and natural reality of the underdeveloped countries". The 1970s era is characterized by a threshold to include the 'basic needs' approach, especially the needs of the developing poor.
Conceptual overview: Sustainable Development
Principles of Sustainable Development
In support of this proposal, Oelofse (2000) presents four general and sustainable principles of development such as: future, environmental integrity, equity or social justice and public participation. This brings us to the second principle of sustainable development which is Environmental Integrity; this principle refers to the multifunctionality of natural resources.
Sustainable development as a people-centred approach
The participatory approach is therefore based on the recognition of the reality of the development situation. It is therefore necessary to follow the right principle of sustainable development that focuses on the elements of society's economic, social and political systems to achieve sustainable results.
Community Development through public participation
- Freedom for public participation
- Power for Public Participation
- The motive for knowledge and power in community development
- Public participation techniques
This is one of the methods clearly stated and recommended in the tourism literature as valuable in community tourism planning. The relationship between the two concepts, tourism and community development, shows the link between strategy and outcome of the development process.
Conclusion
Introduction
Challenges in tourism development projects
Partnership as a remedy for globalization
In most cases, local communities are a vulnerable group, but they are target groups for development, especially in community tourism. Wang argues that the goals of tourism development and community development are necessary and complementary for community-based tourism.
Decentralization as a remedy for the globalization effect in tourism
The Sisen Craft is the result of a community-NGO partnership and helps willing community members develop the skills needed to run their own formal craft business (Wang, 2002). Botswana's community-based tourism serves as an example of local communities taking the future into their own hands.
The benefits of public participation in tourism projects
Economic benefits
The importance of linking community-based tourism to local economic development objectives is emphasized with the added explanation that community-based tourism should offer some form of benefit to local people who are not directly involved. The net loss of local population in the creation of a national park in this study is high.
Social and political benefits
The emphasis on environmental education must be demonstrated and applied by local authorities. The community members must also be taught the importance of proper environmental use from an economic point of view. Given the opportunity through legal basis to exercise their power, the local authorities fully involved in tourism projects have a chance to improve their coordination and facilitation of development activities.
Conclusion
Apart from that, local authorities and also the local people benefit as the procedure of including local authorities and consulting community members improves and creates local democracy and political stability in the state.
Introduction
Overview of the Malealea Development Trust Activities
Some of the projects done by learning circle members are community gardening and building small village dams. These are some of the natural assets that are valuable to other communities outside of Malealea.
Characteristics of the community participants Age
In the craft and learning circle groups, a small number of respondents have completed primary education and the majority have secondary education. The gender of the respondent in table 5.3 below shows that all tour guides are male.
Community involvement procedures
- Pony Trekker' involvement
- Tour guides' involvement
- Handicraft Centre involvement
- Learning Circle group involvement
- Summary of Malealea Development activities
- The perception of Tour guides on project impact
- Handicraft observation of project impact
- Learning Circle Groups' Views on Project Impact
- Perceptions of the Malealea panel members
All of the sample pony walkers mentioned that they learned about pony riding tasks offered by the lodge from community members. All three members mentioned that the development fund aimed to help the community engage in the project's development activities.
Conclusion
A staff member in this corporation was interviewed and he suggested the role of the corporation as tourism advertising and mediation between community members and tourism investors. Rather, the L TDC talks about community members' treatment of tourists and they train some community members in catering and hospitality skills so that the project is known for good services and participating community members learn the best hospitality skills that they can even use in other tourism projects. can get involved.
Introduction
Population description
This does not mean that lodge owners choose men over women for pony trekking employment. Boys practiced activities related to pony riding when riding at an early age while herding cattle.
Participation Procedure
Accessibility of resources
Based on the findings of this study, the majority of community members indicated that they do not have the opportunity to participate in planning and managing development activities. If community members do not participate in the entire process, the approach is not people-centered.
Access to knowledge and information
As the tour guides and pony pullers mention, they have no control over the activities in the project. If members of society do not understand or know the procedural way to benefit from their skills, they will remain ignorant and their knowledge will not sustain their livelihood.
Participation techniques
It appears that the panel members report the needs of the community members to the lodge owners. It would be easy for community members to admit they don't have the skills and the lodge owners would simply facilitate a way out.
Community perception on participation benefits
Job Creation
This means that those who are not indentured (such as pony travelers and tour guides) are not safe and feel vulnerable to being sacked at any time. This may affect the project in the sense that it prepares training for newly hired personnel and temporary staff members throughout.
The small businesses
This promotes further dependence instead of the independence encouraged in the human-centered approach. It also involves empowering community members to be competent human resources in the development process.
The role of the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation
In the case of the Malealea community, community members are part of the development process only in the implementation phase; they are excluded in the stages of planning, management monitoring and evaluation. The community is trained for the proper treatment and handling of tourists, not a proper approach to all tourism projects because the community is not involved in planning the development activities of the project.
Conclusion
This observation partially supports the general argument that the introduction of empowerment raises many doubts about those already in power, that their positions are threatened by grassroots members of the community. The past experience of MRDP, presented in section 1.7.1 of this study, shows that VDCs, WDCs, SCs and DDCs did not know their roles in development activities.
Introduction
Conclusion
This is indicated by a number of issues, such as inadequate procedures used to involve groups in the development process; lack of support from tourism departments in their failure to implement tourism policies relevant to public participation, lack of resources such as knowledge and citizenship, poor service delivery and unclear perception of public participation and community development. Swanepoel (1990:2) argues that a critical feature of community development is that it is a learning process that is successful.
Recommendations
Kibirige, R.2003. Socio-economic impacts of tourism on poor rural communities: Mpembeni community, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, KwaZulu-Natal. What is the role of the community in the development, management and tourism project according to your strategy?
KWAZULU-NATAL
Map of Southern Africa
