Most of the people erroneously believe that in order to create jobs massive capital investments are needed. Unemployment is, in their opinion, essentially caused by lack of money to be invested in order to create jobs.

This popular belief is incorrect. Lack of capital may influence the productivity of the job but not the number of jobs created that depends mainly from entrepreneurial skills and from the choice of applicable technologies.

Low cost technologies, as '700 European agriculture, based on natural fertilizers and animal driven agricultural implements, can be amazingly effective, when the cost of manpower is low.As an example, by using those "obsolete" agricultural methods it is possible to obtain, on good soil, wheat crops in the region of one metric ton per hectare.

  Many people find it difficult to believe that simple and inexpensive technologies could be really competitive in the modern world.

They are not considering that, in the modern world, far less than 10% of total working hours are directly invested to secure food, housing and services essential to human development.

As a matter of fact, more than half of what is industrially produced today (e.g. armaments) it is not directly beneficial to the vast majority of people and can be eliminated without causing a direct lowering of living standards.

Others products satisfy needs that depend on a particular situation. If you change the situation the need disappears.

No one, for example, is discussing the need of everyone to possess a motorcar in a modern city. But in a village designed for pedestrian, the motorcar will only be a luxury, not a necessity.

 We want to build an Arcadian type village, based on architectural style typical of rural '700, constructed of local materials by a largely unskilled workforce and capable to generate deep positive emotions in residents and visitors.

The beautiful feeling to be transported back in time in to a place that a normal person can still understand will be enhanced by a dress code inspired to local traditions, to be adopted by residents and visitors.

Suitable clothing to sell to visitors can be produced in the village, reinforcing the uniqueness of the experience and providing the village with an additional source of income.

It will be very advantageous if the village could be located in proximity of one area already attracting a sizable number of international tourists during the whole year.

The area known as the Letaba Ranch, near Phalaborwa in the Limpopo Province of South Africa represent the ideal setting for such a village.

 In order to secure the maximum commitment to the project and to avoid potential conflict with trade unions it is absolutely imperative the whole village to be registered as a co-operative company.

We suggest the emission of 10.000.000 shares of which 51% reserved to residents, 40% to the investors and 9% to management.

To secure the success of the project it is vital to attract and retain in the village the best possible quality of people, including a certain number of researchers and experts.

It will be necessary to adopt stringent screening procedures, in order to recruit the best available people and not to burden the project with unsuitable elements. This screening process must be continuous, enabling the village to democratically remove the less compatible elements on a monthly basis.

   In order to create and maintain the infrastructures and the services needed for the success of the project at the lowest possible cost, each resident between 14 and 65 years of age (experts and specialists included) should provide a minimum of 20 hours of community work per week.

This work should be compensated with cash remuneration and by awarding them with "exchange vouchers" which will allow the residents to enjoy goods and services produced inside the villages.

The effective value of the "exchange vouchers" corresponding to twenty working hours of a simple worker must be enough to secure him (or her) of adequate food, decent housing and access to basic services.

This result can be achieved by a sensible use of appropriate technologies, provided the village population is large enough to consent an adequate differentiation of activities and the land available for farming is adequate to the community’s needs.

  During this phase the population will grow to several thousand and more farm buildings and workshops will be built.

The agricultural and livestock farming productions will reach optimal dimensions and the village will produce a sizable surplus, agricultural and otherwise. Essential products that cannot be locally produced will be purchased in bulk utilizing trade profits.

This strategy will consent the residents to enjoy good and healthy food, decent accommodation and basic social services in a very short time, at a very low cost for the investors.

Guests will be mainly accommodated in lodges and the various smallholdings, where they will enjoy good food and a healthy, relaxed lifestyle.

Typically a smallholding will occupy from two to ten hectares of land. An agricultural system based on rotation and integration of cultivation could produce wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, peanuts, sun flowers, carrots, celery, turnips, beet, potatoes, asparagus, cabbages, cauliflower, beans, broad beans, peas, chickpeas, artichokes, fennel, cardoon, aubergine, green and red pepper, spinach, cucumbers, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelons, garlic, onions, aromatic herbs etc.

 Once secured the "public services" to the village, the focus will be on providing accommodation to the increased number of tourists. It will be the time to build hotels and lodges, utilizing local materials and technologies, in order not to loose the special character of the village.

By utilizing local skills and materials the larger part of the new investments will be spent in the village, increasing the collective wealth.

For the tourists the village will represent a romantic and affordable destination.

They will enjoy comfortable accommodation, good food and excellent service and a variety of additional services at very competitive prices.

In addition to all activities connected with wildlife and ecotourism, it should be possible to participate to crash courses in various languages, slimming and detoxifying programs, beauty treatments based on natural products and to receive training in music, dancing, pottery, weaving etc.

 A multi-disciplinary project of this type can appear unnecessarily complicated, when confronted with a relatively simpler traditional holiday village.

This it not the case when taken into consideration that:

• A conventional tourist village of the same number of beds, even if less attractive to the tourists, will be far more expensive to build and manage. In addition it will create less jobs and it will not qualify for international subsidies.
   
• In a conventional tourist village if, for any reason, the number of visitors decreases it will cause massive financial losses. In our village it will perhaps slow down the growth but it will not cause losses at all because the exuberant personnel will spontaneously move to other activities within the village, boosting the supply of goods and services internally and to neighbouring communities.
  

 In a project of this type, a sizable increase of productivity (up to 300%) can be obtained by a systematic use of participative management, instead of traditional bureaucratic management.

The style of management advocated, centred on the person, will promote a faster growth rate, reduce the need for supervision and it will secure continuous motivation and creativity.

In this project the basic social structure is based on an enlarged family model, made by a master of art (baker, cabinet maker, bee keeper etc), his family, his apprentices and his visitors.

The fact to be living together in the same smallholding will consent a far better quality of living than if everyone was living on their own premises.

In addition, the possibility to sit together during dinner will provide the opportunity to continuous cultural enrichment, based on the free exchange of ideas.

 The village we want to build will offer to the international tourist the unique experience of travelling in space and time, to a fascinating parallel universe where the best aspects of the civilization of two centuries ago will pacifically co-exist with satellite communications, personal computers and modern medicine.

Thanks to the appropriate technologies it will be possible to produce a better and happier lifestyle for the residents, with fewer capitals needed to be invested and higher than average returns for the investors.

It is not going to be easy. For instance, to secure the success of the operation it is indispensable to protect for years the residents from the allurements of the consumeristic world, and this task can be far more difficult than it appears.

The residents will be able to enjoy in a relatively short time, food, housing, clothing and basic services well above local average.