South Sinai

The Sinai region, with its beautiful natural landscapes and its reach cultural and religious history, has been inhabited since 1500 years by the Bedouin tribes who have been forced in the last two decades to face a lot of dramatic changes related to the fast tourist exploitation of the Sinai coasts. Besides the dangerous environmental pressure, very little of the richness and the resources coming from the internal and international tourism flows, benefits the local communities. Moreover, new Bedouin generations are forgetting their cultural heritage, loosing a potential and sustainable source of income. Our project aims to sustain the socio-economic development of local communities in South Sinai, linking marginalized groups from the Bedouin villages to national and international Fair Trade and eco-tourist markets. In doing that we aim to increase natural resources management, and best practices of agriculture as well as protecting the natural and cultural Bedouin environment through the enhancement of intercultural exchanges, and the increasing of sustainable community-based solid waste and water management. Our efforts will be focused also on women in order to enhance their income-generating opportunities based on traditional handicrafts. Indeed, we believe that only by preserving and revitalising their cultural heritage, namely their identity, reach a real economic and cultural independence.

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