Tourism sector job qualifications

7.2.1 Future employers of CTTC graduates

According to the consulted community members the tourism enterprises in the direct vicinity of the Ikona WMA and/or located on Ikona WMA land should be the future employers of graduates from a CTTC. The close proximity of tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA villages to the 5 Ikona WMA villages and the obligation that tourism enterprises have to support communal benefits from tourism are the main reasons given by the interviewees why the tourism enterprises near or within the Ikona WMA are seen by the local community members as future employers of graduates of a CTTC. Agreements between villages and tourism enterprises are often written down in a memorandum of understanding (MOU), a form of agreement without the binding aspects of a

contract. Offering employment to CTTC graduates would be compliant with the MOU's in place between the 5 Ikona WMA villages and the tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA

according to the consulted local community members.

The consulted community members didn't know details about the job availability in tourism industry but did state that jobs in the tourism industry available to local community members are often jobs that provide temporary employment.

The tourism enterprises of the Ikona WMA that were consulted do see themselves as future employers to graduates from a CTTC, but only if the quality standards of a CTTC can meet the tourism industry's requirements on level and quality of education.

Efforts to obtain copies of MOU's in place or other documents such as the contract between the Ikona WMA , the 5 Ikona WMA member villages and the tourism enterprises located on Ikona WMA land have been unsuccessful. Therefore it wasn't possible to verify certain claims, for example the one about the percentage of staff that is supposed to be of local origin. A percentage that is often mentioned by local community members is 75%. Assuming this claim by the community members is true, this percentage stands in sharp contrast to the observed 20% by Liya and Ally (2008).

40 7.2.2 Job qualifications at tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA

Job availability differs largely among the tourism enterprises within the Ikona WMA because the tourism enterprises differ a lot among themselves. For example, Singita Grumeti Reserve is such a large tourism enterprise that it has an entire employee compound next to the

maintenance and repairs compound outside the Singita Grumeti game reserve, while Robanda Safari Lodge simply has a few small houses next to the kitchen for their staff. Figure 10 shows the visitors pass necessary to access the employee compound of Singita Grumeti Reserve.

Figure 10. Visitors pass employee compound Singita Grumeti Reserve.

According to the tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA a distinction can be made in the jobs available to local community members in the tourism industry based on the level of skill required to perform the available jobs. There are higher and lower skilled jobs available at the tourism enterprises located in the Ikona WMA. The so called higher skilled jobs include food processing/cooking, serving, front desk work, administration and management. Higher skilled jobs require training in knowledge, skills and attitude. Most people applying for the higher skilled jobs in the tourism industry have a college or university degree of a study relevant to the vacancy and/or have previous experience through on the job training.

Graduates of a CTTC should be suitable to apply for a higher skilled job in the tourism industry according to the representatives of tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA.

41 Education aimed at providing suitable applicants for the higher skilled jobs at the tourism enterprises located within the Ikona WMA requires a minimum entry level of Form 4. Other tourism colleges located in the Serengeti District and

Arusha also require a minimum entry level of Form 4.

There is also demand for lower skilled personnel, but the need of education for these jobs is low, the job security is low and there is already a large applicant pool to select from. Some of these lower skilled jobs are drivers, cleaners and housekeepers. Employment in the lower skilled jobs will only provide a full time job when there are guests and the amount of guests fluctuates during

high and low season. Often people get hired for these lower skilled jobs prior to or during high season and are let go when low season starts. In addition some other lower skilled jobs, such as serving and housekeeping often have an age limit. Therefore one should consider if these positions under those regulations are desired by community members. Losing your job due to your age, regardless of your performance, will most likely cause friction between the local community members and the tourism enterprises of the Ikona WMA.

Other lower skilled jobs are security guard, member of an anti-poaching unit or game scout but the qualifications needed to perform these lower skilled jobs are not very promising for a CTTC graduate. Hardly any education is needed to perform the job of security guard, game scout or member of an anti-poaching unit. If some

training is necessary, this is provided for through a short period of on the job training by the tourism enterprises.

The performance of local employees at lower skilled jobs such as game scout or member of an anti-poaching unit can also be a problem. To elaborate, members of a local anti-poaching unit will personally know many of the offenders, which often affects their performance.

Regardless of the certificate or the diploma job applicants

might have, the applicant must be able to communicate in English properly, even some of the lower skilled jobs such as driver, cleaner and housekeeper require sufficient English language skills. Tourism enterprise representatives indicated that sufficient knowledge of the English language is a top priority.

Representatives of tourism enterprise parent companies and representatives of other tourism colleges provided some additional information on employment in the tourism industry.

According to the representatives of parent companies and other tourism colleges, employment in the tourism industry regularly comes with low salary and bad working conditions. Female employees in the tourism industry are often subject of sexual harassment and/or sexual abuse.

'Having an entry level that requires Form 4 will not guarantee

competent applicants due to the poor quality of the Tanzanian education system, many will still lack sufficient English language skills.'

'Women seeking jobs in the tourism industry are often asked to perform sexual favors in return for

employment.'

'Most local community members do complete secondary education Form 4 but are still lacking sufficient English language skills, even though secondary education in Tanzania is completely taught in English '

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