As part of our Katavi-Ugalla Corridor project, one of our new activities has been to support the creation of a group of young people who are failing out at school and who want to get involved in beekeeping. In fact, our starting point was the high failure rate of students entering secondary school. As a result, many of them join the ranks of nature’s “destroyers” for lack of alternatives. We are therefore actively supporting this pilot project to provide practical training in beekeeping for these young school dropouts.
After receiving theoretical training, the young beekeepers began by making their own hives in the IBA workshop. They then went off to hang them in the trees in the beekeeping area inside the Mlele Hills forest reserve. The young, in collaboration with IBA, returned to inspect their suspended hives in August.
They also worked on their communication to promote the specificities of their group and their products. Our volunteer, Nathalie Rochat, worked with them to develop their slogan and new visual identity (logo). The aim is to support them in their beekeeping training and help them promote their honey and other products.
November 2024 saw the first honey harvest for these young beekeepers. They visited the Beekeeping Zone of the Mlele Hills Forest Reserve and received technical training on how to harvest honey while preserving the trees, the hives and, of course, the bees.
The young beekeepers are motivated to learn modern beekeeping techniques, enabling them to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills. They are also managing some solar dryers for mushrooms, and have also started production of lotions and other cosmetics based on wax and honey. In this way, they should be able to have an income-generating activity that respects the environment and practises sustainable beekeeping.
© Nathalie Rochat
© Nathalie Rochat