We reduce poverty among refugees through the world's first and only international festival within a refugee camp. Tumaini Festival is a free global celebration featuring Arts and cultural performances by refugee and international artists. It promotes entrepreneurship and brings vital economic activity into the camp, creating a market space where refugees are given a chance to sell their products. It also creates employment for refugees and offer them opportunities to connect visitors.
There are over 56,000 refugees living at Dzaleka Refugee Camp. In Malawi, refugees do not have the freedom of movement, the right to education, employment, or to run businesses outside of the Camp. This policy creates conditions of perpetual poverty and exposes refugees to psycho-social issues, feelings of despair, and loss of hope. Additionally, refugees face different forms of discrimination due to prejudices and negative public perception, which has the potential to fuel xenophobic attacks.
Tumaini Festival supports the economic, social, and cultural inclusion of refugees in Malawi through business opportunities, job creation, advocacy and awareness, workshops and exchanges, community-based tourism, and artistic and cultural expression. It attracts thousands of visitors to Dzaleka Refugee Camp, amplifying the voices of refugees and promoting intercultural harmony, mutual understanding, and peaceful co-existence between refugees and host communities through art and culture.
The Festival attracts over 30,000 visitors to Dzalaka Refugee Camp annually. It also reaches an additional 5 million people through national and international media campaigns, positively changing the refugee narrative in Malawi. Tumaini helps the refugee generate over $250,000 and creates over 600 jobs opportunities annually. The festival creates business opportunities for approximately 750 refugees, and 200 refugee families (1000 individuals) benefit financially a Homestay Program.
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