Challenges in the Mozambican tourism sector
There is a strong need for a more sustainable and community-centred tourism curriculum in higher education in Mozambique, which stems first of all from the nature of tourism in Mozambique. To date, tourism is still largely focused on “sun sea sand” holidays along the 2,700 kms of coastline. Mozambique has enormous potential (cultural heritage, flora & fauna) however, it does not yet experience a large share of the tourist market, with the situation having become even more challenging in times of COVID-19. In addition, the sector is still dominated by foreign investment, mainly from South Africa, contributing little to the balance of payments and poverty alleviation in the country. Rural tourism thereby remains a neglected field – despite its worldwide recognised potential to deliver both tangible and intangible benefits and create new and alternative livelihoods for those experiencing poverty. This lack in rural tourism development goes hand in hand with a lack in higher education training to develop rural and sustainable tourism.
Partnership for sustainable development in Mozambique’s rural areas
CAST Mozambique seeks to target these challenges with the help of capacity building in Higher Education in Mozambique for sustainable rural tourism development. It does so through fostering a collaboration between IMC Krems (Austria) and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) Mozambique to enable the sharing of practises in regards to sustainable rural tourism education and development in order to contribute to curriculum development and skills development at UEM. Part of the project is the development of a new curriculum on sustainable tourism and the design of more practise-orientated courses on sustainable rural tourism, which empower communities and help diversity livelihoods in Mozambique´s rural areas.
Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
CAST Mozambique takes the form of an APPEAR Academic Partnership, which has emerged from a successful preparatory funding as part of the APPEAR scheme, implemented by the Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD) and funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation. The successful preparatory funding in 2021 enabled the project team first in-person meetings through visits at both the Austrian and Mozambican institutions, as well as a better understanding of the local country context and higher education situation, and the drafting of the application for the APPEAR Academic Partnership. In line with the aims of APPEAR, CAST Mozambique makes a contribution to a range of UN SDGs: It directly contributes to SDGs 4, 5 and 10 through the creation of education and tourism opportunities for women, the young generation and those often marginalised in tourism. Through the diversification of livelihoods and the creation of linkages between tourism and agriculture in Mozambique’s rural areas, it can reduce poverty in the long-run and hence further contribute to SDGs 1, 2, 8, 12 and 17 in a more indirect way.
Milestones and successes: a year of CAST Mozambique
As CAST Mozambique celebrates its first anniversary since the beginning of the project, the project team is looking back at a range of successful activities. These include a skills inventory survey at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane to better understand the local needs for training – also serving as a basis for the needs analysis and feasibility study of the new Master’s degree – as well as detailed plans for capacity building activities. In addition, the team in in the process of nominating a PhD student from Mozambique for an APPEAR scholarship, which will enable the joint supervision of the PhD student while being based at a Higher Education Institution in Austria. Finally, the creation of a shared logo and website with regular project updates has been an important step for the dissemination and shared ownership of the project.
To find out more about the aim and current activities of CAST Mozambique:
Pproject lead Prof (FH) Dr. Claudia Dolezal.
