This project will provide one month of sustainable income for 15 women in Hoedspruit, South Africa for their work creating artisan crafts and restoring native habitats, in a community where 30-50% of people have no income and elephants are highly threatened by human-wildlife conflict and poaching.
Each year in Africa, up to 30,000 African savanna elephants (EN) are killed by poaching and human-elephant conflict, orphaning thousands of calves. South Africa also has unemployment levels of 30-50%, & higher among women; unemployment and poverty being primary drivers of elephant poaching. HERD, our partner organization in South Africa, helps 15 local women access sustainable livelihoods caring for young orphaned elephants and making handcrafts, earning a living wage & decreasing need to poach.
HERD tackles both issues by creating jobs in ecotourism and caring for orphaned elephants who need protection. Their project, JabuLadies, combines ecotourism, ecosystem restoration, and livelihoods for 15 local women. The women make products to be sold at HERD's tourist lodge, such as embroidered placemats and elephant dung paper. They also work on habitat restoration, removing invasive plants and planting native ones.
This project supports gender equity and healthy families by providing 15 women with economic opportunity in a place where most women don't have income. Women receive valuable training in artisan crafting, giving them skills they can carry forward, and can work from home. Their work supports long-term habitat restoration and elephant rehabilitation, and reduces pressure on families and their community to rely on poaching for income, thereby reducing the number of elephants that are left orphaned.
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