(Credit: Ewaffe Cultural Village)
The WTO Public Forum 2023 took place last week from 12 to 15 September 2023 under the theme “It’s Time for Action.” It contained three subthemes: The Role of the Services Sector in Sustainable Trade; Inclusive Policies for the Advancement of Green Trade; and Digitalisation as a tool for the greening of supply chains.
While attending the Public Public Forum, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ewaffe Cultural Village, a woman-led enterprise that honoured us by attending our workshop on “Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day In Uganda: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity for Women Entrepreneurs.” The enterprise is planning to use intellectual property to its fullest. But in this piece we focus on the role of the services trade in sustainable trade and inclusive policies for the advancement of green trade. At Ewaffe Cultural Village, one finds a lot hidden in one space: Trade in services, culture, environment and sustainable development. As the name implies, at Ewaffe, one is made to feel at home. The community-based enterprise strives to preserve Ugandan culture by providing relaxing services like organic-based traditionally-prepared food (Luwombo), entertainment through traditional dances and brain-relaxing traditional games, fishing exhibitions, walks in the fields and fetching water from a well.
A tourist is taught how to draw water from a well. (Credit: Ewaffe Cultural Tourism)
At the WTO Public Forum Panel on “Empowering Rural Women for Action: Inclusive Policies for Sustainable and Resilient Livelihoods in the Circular Economy,” Collins Nwosu, Trade Ambassador for International Trade Facilitation Association, stressed that policies are not made only by states. They are made at every level of the value chain by those involved. One important policy of Ewaffe is that at the end of the relaxing entertainment, health eating and cultural discovery, the visitor plants a tree, thus contributing to sustainable development.
A tourist planting a tree (Credit: Ewaffe Cultural Tourism)
This unique experience of environmentally friendly cultural tourism is provided at almost give away prices as indicated on www.ewaffe.ug, @EwaffeVillage Cultural Village; or https://m.facebook.com/EwaffeVillage/.
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