Endorois Demand a Better Slice of the Tourism Pie

In an event marking World Responsible Tourism Day, November 12, Minority Rights Group International shed some light on the plight of Kenya's Endorois people, evicted from their traditional lands in the 1970s to make way for a nature reserve frequented by tourists.

The traditional lands of the 60,000 Endorois lay in what is now Lake Bogoria National Reserve, a 41-square mile river basin in the Rift Valley. The Endorois now no longer have access to vital grazing land or ceremonial sites, and receive only a pittance in tourism revenue.

Leader of the Endorois people, Wilson Kipkazi, says, "We welcome visitors to our country. But loss of our lands has forced my community into poverty. It is high time that we benefit fully from the income generated through tourism."

While in Lake Bogoria, tourists can visit reconstructions of typical Endorois village and watch locals perform traditional dances, yet they remain oblivious to the dispossession of the Endorois.

MRG has started the Trouble In Paradise campaign to right this injustice for the Endorois.

        

I Got Yer Conditional Cash Transfer Right Heah

In the latest International Poverty Centre working paper, Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva offers a qualitative analysis of New York's controversial Opportunity NYC program. Based on conditional cash-transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America such as Brazil's Bolsa Família and Mexico's Oportunidades programs, Opportunity NYC provides cash rewards to students and families in low-income areas of the city for good attendance, participation in parent-teacher conferences, and obtaining a library card.

In a controversial departure from the Latin American models, Opportunity NYC also provides rewards for proficiency in standardized tests. This, as e Silva explains, may have some unintended consequences:

First, that may entail “leakage” of programme benefits to students who would achieve those grades regardless of the programme incentives. Second, in many cases the programme may come to reward not school effort but differences in family background and English-language proficiency, which is an important issue in a place like New York City with many immigrant families. That would ultimately mean that, if there is significant diversity of characteristics among the beneficiaries (which may be the case with Spark), the programme might actually be “rewarding the fittest”.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the program from a policy standpoint is its funding. Since the program is privately funded, it effectively bypassed any democratic oversight by the City Council or the court of public opinion. This may have significant impact on any future attempts to scale up the program from its current pilot phase.

        

HRW: More Peackeepers Needed in DRC

Human Rights Watch has called on the UN Security Council to dramatically increase the number of peacekeepers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in order to protect civilians from violence in the ongoing coltan war. The already-overstreteched UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) estimates that an additional 3,000 soldiers and police officers are needed to slow the rising violence and protect vulnerable civilian populations.

As if the current situation weren't bad enough, a cholera outbreak is threatening tens of thousands of internally-displaced persons in camps around Goma. Medecins Sans Frontiers reports that there have been more than 80 cases so far, a number that could rise sharply if infected individuals flee camps due to continued violence.