During November we traveled in São Vicente, Cape Verde to take part at the second festival within the framework of S-FEST. This project is aiming to promote the cooperation between Europe, Africa and Latin America in the field of youth and explore the potential of youth work in order to increase social entrepreneurship and employability of the young people in the field of community based tourism. It includes partners from Cape Verde, Brazil, Italy and Greece.
Introduction to the festival with photos of the landscape
What we did there was an art festival which included street artists from the partner countries and the local community. The walls painted were those of the houses of the people living in Norte da Baía, a deprived area of São Vicente. Before our arrival, Atelier Mar, our partner from Cape Verde, helped the community by renovating the houses with plumbing, insulation, electricity and other basic facilities. The painting of the walls was the last but crucial part of a long procedure. The reason of the significance is the essence of the project. Community based tourism can increase social entrepreneurship and employability of the young people. The area, through the work of the street artists, became a touristic attraction and, through the training of the local community, they can explore its new potential and create touristic interest.
Here are the murals and photos from the creative procedure
In addition to the work done by the street artists during this five-days festival, the partners in cooperation with the local community, organised a number of workshops which included cultural exchanges (through dancing and cooking workshops), tourism training activities (through the partners’ presentation of examples of local based tourism to the local community), a cultural night (in which partners and people of Norte da Baía tried different tastes from their countries of origin and in which partners offered gifts to the local children) and games which strengthened the bond between the participants – both local and international – creating a strong team that will continue cooperating in the future.
Here is a gallery of photos from those workshops
Our participation to this second festival of S-FEST was a great experience which offers an excellent example of community based tourism and which would not be of such importance without the amazing hosting of Atelier Mar and the people of Cape Verde.
Some of those people and some of our great partners can be seen in this album
