Southern Africa is experiencing an increasing number of HIV/Aids related deaths, and an associated growth in the number of orphans.  At the same time, countries in the region have experienced a boom in eco-tourism, resulting in the establishment and expansion of game reserves and a need for skilled workers in the customer-service industry.

Amidst these contrasting trends lies an insidious poverty, fuelling the AIDS epidemic and threatening to undermine the region’s economic gains from ecotourism. 

The Wilderness Foundation has found one solution to this problem in South Africa.  It has developed a dynamic model called the “Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Displaced Youth,” relying on the economic promise of ecotourism to tackle the cycle of poverty and HIV/Aids head on with skills development and job placement among some of the most vulnerable members of society – youth on the verge of adulthood.  Umzi Wethu targets youth that show resilience and ambition – but despair of opportunities to support their households – and transforms them into highly employable young adults. 

The Umzi Wethu model was initiated following a feasibility study that assessed the job qualification needs of Eastern Cape parks and game reserves.  Design of the model blueprint involved partners from the conservation, social development, government, and academic sectors.  It was put into practice with the opening of the founding Umzi Wethu Academy in urban Port Elizabeth in April 2006 and launching of the Field Ranger Academy in rural Somerset East in March 2008, both in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.