Anticipated impact on household livelihoods in
Lekgophung
Sustainability
of the Lekgophung model
Value added to local social and human capital
Replicability of the Lekgophung model
SL approach considerations
Anticipated impact on household livelihoods
in Lekgophung
The figures presented in this paper illustrate that a comparatively
small rural business - if structured to direct most of its
resource flows to local beneficiaries - has the potential
to significantly improve rural livelihoods. In the case of
Lekgophung, this impact is enhanced by the relatively small
size of the beneficiary group. During the time of the most
recent survey, the village of Lekgophung had a total population
of about 2,300 persons in about 600 households. The total
disposable income generated in the village was estimated at
less than R600, 000 per month, with average household income
around R900 per month. This means that the direct benefits
captured from the single lodge enterprise could boost average
household income in the village by about R3, 150 per annum
and overall disposable income by more than 26%.
Indirect
impacts of the income flows from lodge and related park-based
developments are a matter for systematic monitoring as the
process unfolds. Experience elsewhere has shown unexpected
negative impacts on certain 'traditional' livelihood strategies
such as agriculture, as beneficiaries of new income invest
for example in cattle, but the already pressured grazing resources
may not be able to sustain increased livestock numbers.
Sustainability of the Lekgophung model
The rights and benefits to the Lekgophung community through
the lodge are durably secured through the following mechanisms:
- Long
term concession rights to a prime lodge development site
held by a 100% community owned company (Devco)
- Negotiated
and formalised partnership with private sector operator,
under a 'Maintain-Operate-Transfer' shorter term but renewable
contract, from which a fixed fee and percentage of turnover
accrues to the community
- Embedded
institutional arrangements for Lekgophung community representation
in the MI Steering Committee, enabling participation in
ongoing monitoring and coordination of park-based development,
under the leadership of the Park authority
- The
capital subsidy and soft loans from DBSA and IDC enable
early flow of benefits from the lodge to the community
- The
lodge fulfils a central aim of the NWPTB, to use the park
conservation project as a vehicle for local rural economic
development.
Value added to local social and human capital
At village level the Lekgophung Lodge has focused efforts
of the RDP Forum, as an anchor project, which also opens up
other opportunities for small enterprise development. Institutional
roles have been clarified, and skills developed by village
leadership and others.
At the
MI project level, the Lekgophung Lodge has provided an example
for the Molatedi community on the east side of the park, which
is engaged in a similar lodge development initiative. Molatedi
residents commented on the value to them of this working example,
in a situation of more ambivalent community attitudes towards
the park and wildlife tourism, and possibly less cohesive
community dynamics.
At the
area level, the NWPTB has indicated that Lekgophung model
has contributed significantly towards resolution of outstanding
land claims by communities dispossessed through the establishment
of the park. A restitution package includes a valuable lodge
development site.
Replicability of the Lekgophung model
As
part of broader structural reform programs, a number of southern
Africa's conservation agencies are currently undertaking programs
to commercialize the wildlife estate under their control.
Market-led reform of the region's state-owned conservation
estate creates significant opportunities for an application
of the Lekgophung model at scale across southern Africa. However,
in contexts where the state appropriates resource rentals
to cover the costs of estate management (i.e. in an environment
where classic CBNRM-style devolutions of resource rights are
not available), an impediment to the growth of local ownership
in the conservation industry has been the inability of the
disadvantaged partners to capitalize initial equity. Consequently,
large numbers of bankable projects are not being capitalized,
and the potential for progressive ownership transfer in a
high value niche sector of the rural economy is being undermined.
The Lekgophung
initiative seeks to overcome this impediment by establishing
a partnership that gives outright ownership of a productive
commercial asset to members of a disadvantaged rural community
in an environment of public ownership where classic CBNRM
options are not available. In order to achieve this, it uses
a relatively small donor grant to leverage a bundle of investment
that delivers a 100% share in the lodge-owning company to
the community. The project brings substantial economic benefits
and works within the 'new' conservation paradigm but it remains
dependent on a capital subsidy and private expertise mobilized
via partnerships with the public and private sectors.
SL approach considerations
The
Lekgophung Lodge initiative has been designed to optimise
livelihood benefits to the Lekgophung community through direct
employment, secondary enterprises and the distribution of
net income from the lodge.
The governance
issues, in particular the allocative function of the Lodge
Trust, could benefit from support in developing the capacity
for systematic participatory context-adjusted monitoring of
household livelihood trends in Lekgophung, both those related
directly to the lodge and those unrelated to the lodge or
park. Tools and processes to track changes in assets and livelihoods
status of different interest groups within the Lekgophung
community would enable transparency in the decision making.
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