TOCaDI - Shakawe, Botswana
For my 8-month placement beginning in September, I will be leaving my home in Toronto and traveling 12,500 km across the globe to the small and friendly town of Shakawe in northwestern Botswana, on the beautiful Okavango Delta!
There, my fellow INDEVOUR Bailey and I will be working as interns with an organization called the Trust for Okavango Cultural and Development Initiatives (TOCaDI), taking over from the work done in the past year by two other INDEV students. TOCaDI falls under the Kuru Family of Organisations, which was developed in 1998 to empower the marginalized San people of Southern Africa through holistic development approaches. Their mission is to develop a network of modern and professional organisations with competent and responsible San leadership, facilitating a development process with marginalised communities to independently make informed decisions and to implement their own viable response to their situation. TOCaDI serves the Okavango sub-district in northwestern Botswana, promoting cultural and rural community development initiatives with the aim of increasing capacity of remote area dwellers. Bailey and I will be working jointly on two community projects - creating and implementing a sustainable business plan for the Shakawe Craft Centre, and establishing a forestry management plan for the Shaikarawe Forestry Reserve. For more information, visit the TOCaDI website, the Kuru Family of Organisations website or read their Annual Report. |
*DISCLAIMER* This blog and the views expressed within it are entirely my own and do not reflect the views of the University of Waterloo, St. Paul's University College or INDEVOURS.