The majority of activities in the village are household based e.g. animal keeping and agriculture. In many cases these do not provide sufficient income for families to cover basic living costs and to send their children to school.

As an income generation activity, the group came up with the project "Teso community tourism program", the first of its kind in the district (Teso being the area where Omiito is situated).

Omiito and the surrounding region have a lot to offer but the area is not well known to tourists. They would like to attract visitors (national and foreign) by offering community-based tourism.

With this project they expect to create jobs and improve income levels by sustainably exploiting the locally available natural resources, while preserving their cultural identity.

As well as tourists, the community would also like to host on-site volunteers, both individuals and groups, in order to learn new skills and further develop the community.

In preparation for receiving tourists and volunteers, the community have already taken several actions:

* Several families are willing to host the tourists.

* Groups of older people have organized themselves to provide cultural and spiritual demonstrations to the tourists.

* Local institutions (schools, health centre, community organisations) have expressed interest in hosting volunteers to offer services in their workplaces towards community development.

* A womens group is collecting savings under a local micro-finance institution to facilitate the implementation of community activities

* Youth and womens groups are organizing themselves to offer entertainment (Music, dance, drama, cultural foods & crafts exhibitions etc) to the tourists.

* The community, leadership and stakeholders are aware and expecting tourists.

* A community youth group is coordinating and developing more communal activities.

* A partnership with a Ugandan tour and travel company is in place to complement the delivery of any services required by Omiito to tourists.

The people of Omiito are very eager to receive tourists and volunteers... the challenge now is to find ways to make it happen!

For details of how you can help, please visit the Project Room.