![\"Equality](\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/empowering.jpg\")
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W<\/span>omen\u2019s network Equality in Tourism today launched a crowdfunding campaign for a groundbreaking initiative in Tanzania that could join the dots between the livelihoods of local communities and lucrative tourism industries across the developing world. Equality, which is dedicated to ensuring that women have a voice in global tourism, is looking to raise \u00a316,600 by 20 December 2017. This will be used to fund the initial six-month phase of training and development for 30 women farmers in Mailisita in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. The aim is to form a farming and business collective that will provide the area\u2019s hospitality sector with an easy supply of fresh food. Already, local hotels and tour operators have expressed a keen interest in the project, with the scene set to create powerful and lasting partnerships.<\/p>\n The exciting pilot project will be delivered by Equality\u2019s locally managed team, which will train, mentor and empower these aspiring entrepreneurs. The women will learn how to farm, store and sell their produce more effectively, build their business more efficiently, and become stronger decision-makers with greater financial stability both at home and in their communities. (See Notes to Editors, below, for suggested donations and what they can achieve.)<\/p>\n Thousands of tourists visit Kilimanjaro each year and use the area as a gateway to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Farming families living in the shadow of the mountain and the booming tourist industry that surrounds it currently subsist on work as seasonal day labourers and produce grown on the family plot. A typical family income is about \u00a38 a week. \u201cMost of us expect to travel, go on holiday and see the world around us, but what happens when you live in one of these hot-spot destinations yet cannot afford to take your family to the doctor or buy fertiliser to farm your land?\u201d says Dr Barnett. \u201cUntil now, no one has thought about connecting these women to the profitable local tourism industry. This is what we have suggested to them and this is what they really want to do. We also want to make sure that when people go on holiday they can relax knowing that the locals are benefiting from their visits.\u201d<\/p>\n Suggested donations and what they can achieve:<\/p>\n Follow developments at Equality in Tourism on Twitter at @EqualityTourism, on Facebook at www.facebook.com\/EqualityInTourism and on LinkedIn at Equality in Tourism.<\/p>\n![\"Equality](\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/empower.jpg\")
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