Stephen Rwagweri arrived in Rabat, Morocco yesterday to
attend the
17th Session of UNESCO’s of the
Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage.
Rwagweri yesterday attended the opening ceremony which
took place at the Royal Club Equestre Dar Essalam in Rabat.
During the meeting, delegates will examine requests for
International Assistance up to US$100,000, follow-up
on elements inscribed on the Lists of the Convention and Rwagweri
will be formally adopted into a global pool of experts who UNESCO presents to
governments all over the world to provide consultancies to UNESCO’s ICH
projects
Stephen Rwagweri is the Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro
(Tooro Youth Platform for Action) and CEO of “African Continental Crafts
Ltd” which is a for profit social enterprise incorporated in Uganda and
having a business focus on the artisan sector across Africa.
Engabu Za Tooro was accredited by UNESCO to provide advisory
services to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible
Cultural Heritage and has since facilitated implementation of the UNESCO
Convention.
The Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform
for Action) and CEO of “African Continental Crafts Ltd” which is a for
profit social enterprise incorporated in Uganda and having a business focus on
the artisan sector across Africa travelled to Rabat Morocco today to attend the 17th
Session of UNESCO’s of the Intergovernmental
Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The seventeenth session of the
Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage will be hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat (Sofitel Rabat
Jardin des Roses) from 28 November to 3 December 2022.
The UNESCO meeting has 980 delegates
who are registered to attend from 146 countries across the world. They include
ambassadors of UNESCO, culture ministries representing governments, UN
agencies, intergovernmental and multilateral bodies, independent culture
experts and 147 globally accredited culture NGOs.
During the UNESCO meeting, Engabu Za
Tooro Stephen Rwagwri will be formally adopted into a global pool of experts
who UNESCO presents to governments all over the world to provide consultancies
to UNESCO’s ICH projects
Engabu Za Tooro which is a cultural Non Governmental Organisations based
in Fort Portal and operating in the Rwenzori region was accredited by UNESCO in
2010. Engabu Za Tooro provides advisory services to the Intergovernmental
Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Engabu Za Tooro admitted as a member of “Catalyst 2030” a network of global organizations collaborating to drive innovations for achieving the next economy and SDGs by 2030. Among the several collaborative programs, Engabu Za Tooro will participate in the Catalyst Market www.catalystmarket.net, a trade and e-commerce platform to allow member enterprises to access the global market and transform business of the underserved communities.
Stephen Rwagweri has said that Opportunity
Collaboration global innovation meeting is an Opportunity for Uganda and Africa
to access global innovation resources while speaking at a press conference held
on Saturday 1st October, 2022 after being welcomed from Entebbe
Airport after his flight from Dominican Republic
“Those with good ideas are close to
resources to implement those good ideas and Opportunity Collaboration provided
a very big breakthrough and breaking all the barriers of accessing global
resources. The conference was attended by over 500 people and 200 were people
who control world resources and 200 are those who implement so we were sitting
at the same table to distribute world development resources” Said Rwagweri
He adds, “we are in the era of promoting
social innovations as a driver of fighting global poverty and Opportunity
Collaboration is indeed a platform for collaboration where people with innovative
progressive ideas and energies to execute those ideas converge with people with
global resources”
Rwagweri will be received an Internationally Acclaimed Social Innovator
of his Time Award from Opportunity Collaboration for his Traditional
Artisan Inclusion Innovation.
Rwagweri, who is the
Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro NGO and CEO African Continental Crafts
Limited has been attending a global summit of innovators in Miches City,
Dominican Republic from 25th to 29th September, 2022.
While in the Dominican Republic, he pitched his innovation to
global Impact investors and discussions are underway with the impact investors
to enable him get funding to pilot the innovation across the countries of
Africa.
His social innovation (Traditional Artisan Inclusion model) won an
Award by Opportunity Collaboration because it is addressing market exclusion
leading to extreme poverty among the traditional artisans in Africa as a result
of limited product development, design innovations, business skills, digital
skills and infrastructure.
The innovation mobilizes capacity to advance product development,
design innovations, business practices and digital marketing solutions to drive
market access for traditional artisans and adapt them to the main stream
creative manufacturing sector.
The innovationis
implemented by “African Continental Crafts Ltd” which is a for profit
social enterprise which was first incorporated in Uganda in 2021 and having a
business focus on the artisan sector across Africa.
Stephen Rwagweri will be received at Entebbe Airport on Saturday,
1st September, 2022 at 5pm by the artisan community in Uganda after receiving
an Internationally
Acclaimed Social Innovator of his Time Award from Opportunity
Collaboration for his Traditional Artisan Inclusion Innovation.
Rwagweri, who is the
Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro NGO and CEO African Continental Crafts
Limited has been attending a global summit of innovators in Miches City, Dominican
Republic from 25th to 29th September, 2022.
While in the Dominican Republic, he pitched his innovation to global
Impact investors and discussions are underway with the impact investors to
enable him get funding to pilot the innovation across the countries of Africa.
According to the organizing committee, Rwagweri will be welcomed
at the airport by a delegation of artisan community in Uganda and Engabu Za
Tooro Cultural Troupe. He will present the Award to the artisan community and
end with a press conference before proceeding home.
His social innovation (Traditional Artisan Inclusion model) won an
Award by Opportunity Collaboration because it is addressing market exclusion
leading to extreme poverty among the traditional artisans in Africa as a result
of limited product development, design innovations, business skills, digital
skills and infrastructure.
The innovation mobilizes capacity to advance product development,
design innovations, business practices and digital marketing solutions to drive
market access for traditional artisans and adapt them to the main stream
creative manufacturing sector.
The innovationis
implemented by “African Continental Crafts Ltd” which is a for profit
social enterprise which was first incorporated in Uganda in 2021 and having a
business focus on the artisan sector across Africa.
Stephen Rwagweri has received an Award from Opportunity
Collaboration for his Traditional Artisan Inclusion Innovation from the head of
the Opportunity Collaboration Fellowship Sarah Sterling in Miches City,
Dominican Republic.
While receiving the Award, Rwagweri appealed to impact funders for
social innovations to invest in the innovation to enable the enterprise which has
a hybrid business delivery model produce craft designs adapted to the changing
lifestyles and market demands while consolidating the ancient designs as a
distinct product and provide capacity development to underserved artisans in
product development, design innovations and business and digital marketing
skills and infrastructure.
According to Rwagweri, the artisan sector annual revenue stood at
US$ 500 billion in 2020 globally and is growing at 20% per year and projected
to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2024.
Rwagweri further emphasized that producers of crafts who are
beneficiaries of African Continental Crafts Ltd in capacity support services,
market access and its associated benefits are drawn from vulnerable populations
which were disproportionally devastated by COVID – 19 effects.
“The post COVID – 19 priorities to such groups focus on building
their recovery and their future resilience which the enterprise is positioned
to achieve through digital inclusion and income generation to them and hence to
take advantage of the recovery investments now” says Rwagweri.
The innovationis
implemented by “African Continental Crafts Ltd” which is a for profit
social enterprise which was first incorporated in Uganda in 2021 and having a
business focus on the artisan sector across Africa.
Group photo
Stephen Rwagweri, who is the Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro
NGO and CEO African Continental Crafts Limited is attending a global summit of
innovators in Miches City, Dominican Republic. The meeting will take 5 days
between 25th to 29th September, 2022.
Stephen Rwagweri has continued to meet
more Impact investors attending the Opportunity Collaboration Summit in Miches
City, Dominican Republic and pitched his idea to enable him access funding to
pilot his social innovation (Traditional Artisan Inclusion Model) across
countries in Africa.
Yesterday Tuesday, 27th
September, 2022 he pitched his innovation to impact investors who included Blackfox
Philanthropy, Segal Family Foundation, Upaya Social Ventures, Accelerate Change
and Skoll Foundation.
Rwagweri whose social innovation (Traditional
Artisan Inclusion model) won an Award by Opportunity Collaboration because it
is addressing market exclusion leading to extreme poverty among the traditional
artisans in Africa as a result of limited product development, design
innovations, business skills, digital skills and infrastructure.
The innovation mobilizes capacity to
advance product development, design innovations, business practices and digital
marketing solutions to drive market access for traditional artisans and adapt
them to the main stream creative manufacturing sector.
The innovation is implemented by “African Continental
Crafts Ltd” which is a for profit social enterprise which was first
incorporated in Uganda in 2021 and having a business focus on the artisan
sector across Africa.
Stephen Rwagweri the Executive Director
of Engabu Za Tooro NGO and CEO African Continental Crafts Limited is attending
a globalsummit of innovators in Miches City, Dominican Republic. The meeting
will take 5 days between 25th to 29th September, 2022.
