01
Overview
The African Nature-Based Tourism Platform is the first of its kind in Africa to connect funders to communities and SMEs working in nature-based tourism. The platform breaks down the barrier of access to finance, bringing funders closer to the people and communities on the ground, and boasts significant geographical reach to areas of cultural, tourism and conservation importance.
The collaborative nature of the platform allows prospective funders to work with a variety of organisations on the ground. Beyond that - the outreach to communities who generally don’t have access to these kinds of funding makes this model innovative. Data is continuously being collected, which contributes to baseline information on how communities are linked to/involved in tourism and conservation, filling a major data gap for many lesser known areas in the focal countries.
02
Get Involved
Impacted by COVID-19? Learn how you can benefit from The African Nature-Basted Tourism platform.
Interested in funding opportunities to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Nature-Based Tourism?
© Nikhil Advani / WWF-US
03
Beneficiaries
The first step to participating in the platform is to complete our survey to better understand your involvement in nature-based tourism, how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted your operations, and what your relief and recovery needs are.
Once your information has been submitted and reviewed by platform staff, there may be opportunities to assist you with identifying suitable funding opportunities and developing proposals for these opportunities. We have also developed summary reports for each country, which summarize key findings from the surveys.
04
Funders
The African Nature-Based Tourism Platform is keen to identify funding resources available for COVID-19 relief and recovery in eastern and southern Africa, as well as building the longer-term resilience of the nature-based tourism sector in the region.
Types of financial support we are looking to make available to beneficiaries include grants, loans, equity, and quasi-equity, among others. Sources for this financial support include governments, individual donors, institutional donors, banks, and investors, among others.
The platform has resources available to help matchmake between funders and beneficiaries, including identifying funding sources, identifying suitable beneficiaries, connecting partners in different geographies, developing proposals, and other support needs which may arise.
Potential funders are encouraged to contact us to communicate the kinds of funding opportunities available, and how the platform can assist beneficiaries in gaining access to funds, including supporting development of proposals.
Data submitted by beneficiaries can be accessed on our data page. Data aggregated across all countries is presented on the public data viewer. To gain access to detailed survey data, please register your information. Once approved by platform staff, you will gain access to survey information submitted by beneficiaries which they have chosen to make available.