Focusing on Lesotho – Dinosaur Footprints
Sally Hartley has been undertaking research in Africa, in parnership with the Co-operative College, as part of a PhD with the Open University. Here she reports on the Subeng Dinosaur Co-operative, which is based in the country.
During the months of October and November 2010 I was in Lesotho conducting research on youth co-operatives as part of my PhD. My PhD focuses on young people in co-operatives and I am particularly interested in what youth learn through being in a co-operative, how they change and develop and what impact the co-operative has on their lives.
Lesotho has a population of around two million and is a kingdom in Southern Africa. It is referred to as the mountain kingdom as much of the country is made up of mountains or hilly areas, making it a very beautiful country. The capital Maseru has a population of 150,000 and this has one main road going through it called the Kingsway, but the city then spreads itself out around it – including large residential areas, more shops, shopping centres, hotels, government offices, NGO offices, banks, businesses and schools. It is a small, bustling but also quite relaxed city; however as you leave the city life seems to change dramatically. City roads give way to agricultural land, small clusters of houses, herd boys tending their goats/sheep, people riding donkeys or ponies and almost everyone sporting a blanket placed stylishly around their shoulders and some kind of hat – sometimes the traditional hat of Lesotho but mainly woolly hats to keep people warm in cold season and at night.
There have been co-operatives in Lesotho since the 1940s but, as with co-operatives globally, they have experienced periods of growth and downturn. Currently, the co-operative sector is reviving itself, greatly supported by the work of the Department for Co-operatives within the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Marketing & Co-operative. Much of the revival has centred around the establishment of youth co-operatives – which tend to have only youth members, or a majority of youth members, and focus on the needs of youth. They can be found in a number of sectors – tourism, professional consultancy, catering and savings and credit and tend to have around 12-15 members. A large number can be found in Maseru but there are youth co-operatives in most of the districts of the country. In Lesotho there are youth co-operatives that are community based and also some that are based in schools and are made up of students.
One of the youth co-operatives I researched was Subeng Dinosaur. They are a youth co-operative focusing on tourism, in particular on encouraging tourists to visit the dinosaur footprints they have found near their community.
They started their activities in 2007 and now have around twelve members – mainly young people but also some older people – most of whom are from the local community of Hasimone in Leribe District, North East of Maseru. They provide guided tours of the footprints and produce handicrafts to sell, such as moulds of the dinosaur footprints, jewellery and artwork. Recently, they have managed to get road signs notifying drivers on the main road of the existence of the footprints and this has greatly increased the number of people coming to visit them and therefore the income that they get from the entrance fees. They have also built a rondavel (in this case a small one room structure made of stone with grass thatching) which provides a central point to people visiting the site – where members can also display their handicrafts and hold their meetings. This in turn has enabled them to sell more handicrafts.
Any money they get from the entrance fees they save and re-invest into the co-operative. In the past they have used their savings to fund trips to Maseru for training that Co-operative College UK provided and also to help build the rondavel (although they used their own labour to build it and collected materials needed locally, such as the grass to thatch it). However they do make some personal income through selling their handicrafts through the co-operative. Whilst this a small amount (about 4 GBP per week), this does contribute to their basic needs such as food and buying more supplies to make more handicrafts. Interestingly, all members believe that it takes time for a co-operative to grow and hope that in time the co-operative will provide them with a substantial income.
Most members visit the site on a daily basis – they go to await visitors who they can take on a tour, make handicrafts and generally keep the site clean and tidy. This is because most of the members are unemployed and have no chance of permanent work; if they are lucky they get some small ‘piecework’ such as washing clothes or doing some gardening. Therefore, they have the time to be at the site and see it as ‘what they do’; it is like a job, and their way to help develop themselves and their lives when there are very few options open to them in terms of finding a livelihood. Furthermore, members also reported that being a member of the co-operative keeps them focused and gives them something constructive to do with their day – they say that if the co-operative was not there they would have nothing to do with their time and would be more likely to get involved with ‘risky activities’ such as taking drugs or drinking.
Subeng Dinosaur have many good ideas about how they would like to develop their co-operative. In the future they are hoping to build another rondavel and some seating areas for visitors to have a drink and something to eat. Over time they would also like to build some traditional style accommodation so they can offer bed and breakfast to visitors. They are also hoping to use the internet to better advertise themselves and also build relationships with potential partners. Finally they want to build a wall around the dinosaur prints to help preserve them as currently they are open to the elements and people walking over them – the members say that over the past five years they have seen the prints disintegrate.
One key challenge they face is access to finance. Most members are paying their membership fees of around 3 GBP, but due to the poverty they live in most are unable to buy shares. This makes it difficult for them to self-finance their plans for the future. One option would be for them to get a loan of some sort; however it would be difficult for them to approach the formal banking sector as they do not have the security that would be required. In addition, the micro finance sector is quite undeveloped in Lesotho – this is very different to my experience in Uganda where I found several micro finance providers in many rural communities. However Subeng Dinosaur know they need further finances to develop themselves but as yet do not know where to find them.
