Tour guides appeal to government for support

Every culture has nascent or indigenous crafts. In the different cultures in Uganda, the drum is a symbolic craft. The different types of drums have a symbolic background.

The craftsmanship involved in drum making and in the making of the other cultural craft items is something to marvel about, thanks to heritage.

Different cultural crafts are sold at different spots, some on the popular tourist destination highways.
However, partial findings in an ongoing survey by the Uganda Tourism Association (UTA), the apex umbrella body of the tourism private sector, reveal that majority of the cultural crafts need a push to grow beyond use of rudimentary tools.

The general observation is that the crafts industry in Uganda and East Africa is facing challenges such as lost linkages and use of rudimentary tools and limitation of equipment and resources to improve their products and workplaces.

That would mean that with better tools, the producers can improve the making process as well as the product. What is more, a tourism production be built out of the process by the producers as they let visitors appreciate the traditional stories behind some of the items they buy in craft shops.

As such, in the wider scope of travel, tourists interested in cultural tourism will have an integrated itinerary where the production and origins of the products.

With a mandate to coordinate and advocate for good business environment as well as capacity building, UTA is steering efforts to improve the skill set and build capacity among craft producers.

It is undertaking a survey geared toward galvanizing information around different cultural crafts with an aim of availing details for online and physical buyers of items from different points if purchase, for example the cultural villages along Buganda Road and at Uganda National Cultural Village.

They are looking at benchmarking lessons from Eco Tourism Kenya. UTA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Richard Kawere says that Kenyan craft makers have minimal in-house standards so they are expected to pass on some knowledge and mentorship in production capacity building and digital marketing skills.

Different players have been brought together under a project dubbed ‘Marketability of East Africa Cultural Crafts’ that is linking UTA to craft makers. One of the expectation is that during the process of passing on skills, unemployed graduates will be trained along with the producers to bring in digital knowledge to support the crafts producers.

Government is in full support of the new efforts and according to the state minister of tourism, Godfrey Kiwanda, craft producers need to embrace digital marketing and adequately brand their products.
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS)has been contacted and brought on board to supervise and support the process in collaboration with Kenyan crafts makers.

The key objective is to build a marketing platform to solve some of the bottlenecks that come with accessibility by building portfolios online where an international or regional buyer can access and be able to transact from a range of products madelocally.

Nicholas Najuna and Joseph Taremwa welcome such a gesture. They are directors of Agro Tourism are working with 70 craft producers in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest tourism circuit and another 50 in Kasese.

They have linked them to market of potential buyers. One of their target buyers is Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi, a visual artist who runs Nnyanzi Arts Studio.
His is one of 40 shops in the National Arts and Crafts Association of Uganda situated next to Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC), commonly known as National Theatre.

Nnyanzi is optimistic about combining traditional and online marketing to create a portal which will be a one stop centre for those interested in selling and buying arts and crafts especially those that are culturally based and inspired by ‘our’ cultural values.

“It is a project that’s going to help many people. The value chain involves producers, those who buy and sell, those who transport them and the landlords,” Nnyanzi explains.

UTA has received an approved grant US$47, 000 from GiZ Uganda to benefit 100 craft producers in Uganda over a period of one year. Nnyanzi observes that the arts and culture industry offers employment to the not so well-educated and notso well placed in society.

“Craft making is majorly based on the talent of person and their passion so we have the people who have been making these crafts and bring them here for selling but we need to widen the market and accessibility to buyers and make the crafts bankable and dependable as opposed to being seasonal,” he further explains.

Like many sectors, the arts and craft sector has been hit by the lockdown as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. To emphasise the issue of seasonality, Nnyanzi says that even when the pandemic has been ease, many shops remain closed because of challenges of transport.

Transport fares have been doubled with reduction of capacity in matatus and buses. The seasoned artist adds, “Since we re-opened, we receive an average of 5 to 10 clients. Before, we used to have them in hundreds so we are depending on online sales. The airports are closed and foreign tourists cannot come in. we depend on Ugandan who buy items to send abroad. To solve the problem, we have to market our items online.”

Kawere says that their study reveals the challenges at hand and therefore the need to lend a helping hand to the crafts makers and producers to enable them survive and thrive.

The online Uganda Travel Guide observes that art and craft are part of Ugandan culture. “Crafts have been developed through the traditions of the people. Art and craft are a result of the feelings of the people responding to a verity of historical events and influences and the environment in a most spontaneous manner.”

It adds, “Art is the creation of works of beauty through the application of skill resulting from knowledge and regular practice. Craft on the other hand is taken as an occupation, especially one in which skills or techniques in the use of the hands are needed.”

Some of the tours and travel companies include a visit to art and craft for tourists. Kabiza Wilderness Safaris recommends the ‘best places to buy souvenirs-gifts’, adding that Kampala is filled with many places where you can buy African arts, crafts and souvenirs- whenever you go, you will find a place where carvings can be bought, baskets, weaving, fabrics, t-shirts and much more.

At the end of the projects, there are expectations in improvement of access to markets by the crafts’ producers, standards, linkages between localregional producer and ultimately improvement of income for craft producers.

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