About Kyela Envirocare 

(EnviCulture)Kyela Envirocare and Cultural Tourism is a Registered Non-Governmental Organization, registered on December 13, 2006, reg.#11NGO/1852.

(EnviCulture)Kyela Envirocare is a member-based organization, whose aim is to change the economic situation of its members first, and through them, that of Kyela and the country as a whole.

(EnviCulture)Kyela Envirocare was founded by Newton Weston, a native of Kyela, who, amongst other activities, has been in the tourism industry for more than fifteen years:  as an employee of a tour company, as a freelance tour guide, and later on as the founder of a tour company, Newton Safaris.

(EnviCulture)Kyela Envirocare began as a fruit of the experience of the tourism industry, with a desire to expose to the outside world the virgin land of Kyela, both for tourism purposes, as well as to guarantee its conservation.  Kyela Envirocare has as an underlying principle that these two goals are inseparable.

(EnviCulture) is a non-religious, non-partisan, and gender-inclusive organization.

The people targeted through our projects are 30% children and 70% youth women and adults.  They include both males and females, the disabled, and the homeless.

MISSION STATEMENT: 

To increase income by 100% to villagers by 2015 through improved environmental and cultural activities.

VISION:  

To strengthening the capacity of villagers on Environmental Conservation, Cultural Tourism, gender mainstreaming, HIV Aids awareness and economic development

OBJECTIVES:

         1.Introduce and implement the concepts of Environmental Conservation and Cultural Tourism to the community livelihood.

 

     2.Make Environmental Conservation and Cultural Tourism sustainable to the community livelihood.

STRATEGIES:

1.To build a framework that will enable people to use the human and natural resources surrounding them to make the shift from economic dependence to sustainability. 

2.Participatory theatre through Cultural Tourism,the community hosting tourists in villages surrounding the tourist attractions, with the aim of increasing their income. 

3.Tours, exhibitions,festivals (eg. Arts & Crafts), and cultural events (eg. Traditional Dances),organised by the villages with an emphasis on environmental conservation. 

The main strategy has five components:

 

1) Identify potential tourist attractions. 

 

2) Develop the areas to international standards (eg. building hygienic beach huts for tourists to rest or spend the night)

 

3) Market tourist areas at a national and international level.

 

4) Work continually with local people and tourists to protect and develop:

 

a) Kyela’s towns eg. Kyela itself, Ipinda, Border, Usale, and Stamico, a coal mining industrial area

b) Kyela’s geographical features eg. Lake Nyasa and the rivers flowing into it:  Kiwira, Mbaka, Lufilyo, and Songwe, which borders Kyela and Malawi; the Livingstone Mountains, an area protected internationally for its biodiversity; and many others

 

c) Kyela’s villages and the natural resources and agricultural activities that play such an integral role in the livelihood of its current inhabitants and those of future generations.

 

Through projects for cleaning and beautifying homes, institutions (eg. schools, mosques, churches, government offices and environs, etc.), villages, townships, and conservation areas within the Kyela District, we hope to promote a long-lasting concern for the environment.  For an example of one of our projects, see Tree Planting.

5) Train:

 

a) Tour Guides

 

b) Instructors and Facilitators, who will themselves educate local people on Cultural Tourism, environmental conservation, as well as the promotion of good cultural traditions and the elimination of bad ones.  Instructors can be from within the area or country, or even from abroad – Volunteers are welcome!