Building a Desert Based Economy
RuralRevive – Building a Desert-Based Economy is a project conceptualised under Wolwedans Vision 2030 – The AridEden Project, a sustainability framework that encapsulates Wolwedans’ sustainability journey ahead.
Underpinned by a philosophy of balancing people, planet and profit, it aims at building resilient and thus more sustainable and equitable tourism/ conservation economies based on five core pillars: Commerce, Community, Conservation, Culture and Consciousness.
The project embraces these five pillars, interlinking them to provide the foundation on which to develop and implement a holistic economic concept for the benefit of local communities in the Namib Desert beyond Wolwedans, thus achieving the ‘revival’ of Maltahöhe and its people by implementing a model for a diversified local economy by assessing supply chain gaps and the needs of the local community to create sustainable entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for the underprivileged men and women of Maltahöhe and surrounds.
To achieve a diversified local economy that is inclusive, integrated, and resilient, RuralRevive will embark on developing and implementing core activities.
About Maltahöhe
Maltahöhe is a small village in Southern Namibia, located about 450km away from Windhoek, and about 110 km west of Mariental in Hardap Region. The village is home to about 6000 inhabitants, who are mainly communal and commercial farmers of small livestock, and few horticulture allotments. The area is former economic hub, a result of the karakul sheep industry which flinched over the years. Today, there are only a few retail services. On the sideways, are often scenes of marginalized young men and women, desperately looking for job opportunities.
Contrary to the socio-economic status, Maltahöhe offers an array of opportunities which could potentially be used to uplift the marginalized community of Maltahöhe. The village is currently used as a pathway to tourism destinations such as Sossusvlei and NamibRand Reserve – strategically making it a potential distribution hub and shipment point for products and services, especially those that are locally produced as they offer a competitive advantage as a unique offering for the destination. Additional advantages for the regional tourism industry include financial savings and reduced carbon footprints as a result of shorter delivery routes.
Publications and Downloads
RuralRevive – Building a Desert-Based Economy is implemented by the Wolwedans Foundation and co-funded by the Social Security Commission of the Republic of Namibia and the Wealth Inequality Initiative of the Julius Bär Foundation.
