SAVE Travel Alliance (George Washington University, Counterpart International, National Geographic): SAVE member Counterpart International provides a leadership role for the Ethiopia Sustainable Tourism Alliance (ESTA), a consortium of international organizations and local partners forming public private partnerships to design and implement community-driven economic development strategies in coordination with the Government of Ethiopia. ESTA works to enhance biodiversity conservation, economic development and competitiveness through sustainable tourism products, services and other opportunities throughout destination regions of the country. A secondary priority focuses on the mainstreaming of HIV and AIDS prevention and awareness along the tourism sector. More specifically, the ESTA program plays a pivotal role in creating structures and opportunities for communities to benefit from conservation-based activities through improved livelihoods, natural resource management, and economic infrastructure.

Activities are focused around five Community Conservation Areas (CCAs), established with the Ministries of Tourism and Environment, in the targeted Southern Rift Valley and Central Rift Valley destination areas; each CCA has democratically elected nine representatives to act as CCA Management Committee members to undertake economic development planning and mitigate conflict over resources. Communities have been mobilized to engage in multi-stakeholder participatory assessments, consensus building and action planning around conservation needs and priorities linked to market-led development and alternative, non-resource intensive livelihoods.

The market development component of ESTA works directly with a number of lead firms and service providers for relevant products and destinations in the tourism and handicrafts value chains. In assessing and promoting relevant tourism-related products, ESTA has worked with 20 national tour operators and 15 international bird-watching operators. On this basis, a number of services and linkages have been developed and promoted between operators and local service providers. A feasibility study has been carried out for a major eco-lodge investment in the Bale Mountains National Park. Next steps include the development of a prospectus and investor targeting. Finally, a National Geographic MapGuide is currently in the process of development, including leveraged private sector financing. In the handcrafts sector, product development and marketing, including linkages to regional and international buyers, is reinforced by major exhibitions and media exposure such as a 2010 exhibit in Addis Ababa of environmentally friendly products.

As USAID Ethiopia’s sole biodiversity implementing partner, the ESTA project provides ongoing national-level advocacy and policy inputs, working in close coordination with Ethiopian ministries of tourism and environment. This has included the designation of 20,000 hectares of land as a Community Conservation Area in Ziway, and the establishment of 5 CCAs. The project further builds national-level awareness of environmental protection, initiating the first-ever National Media Award for coverage of biodiversity conservation, attended by Ethiopian President, Girma W/Giorgis.

International Executive Service Corps (IESC), CDS, FSVC: IESC, CDS, and FSCV implemented the Bulgaria Trade Development (BTD) program under the Volunteer for Economic Growth Alliance consortium from 2004-2008.The overarching objective of the VEGA/BTD program was to strengthen the capacity of local business support organizations (BSOs) to be more effective and sustainable market-based service delivery agents that could help their trade-focused and industry-specific (including tourism) SME clients to successfully expand into new markets and increase their international competitiveness.

Tourism experts advised the local administration, service providers, tourism associations, and small and medium enterprises on how to bring local communities to work together and start a successful business in tourism and established the basic guidelines for good service training, bed and breakfast (B&B) certification and sustainable tourism.

To promote the unique Bulgarian tourism product, the program tendered the marketing for the Authentic Bulgaria Quality Mark. The Authentic Bulgaria Project was successful in creating awareness among Bulgarian B&Bs and family hotel operators on how to use their native authenticity to differentiate themselves from others in the tourism business. The certified hotels and B&Bs acquired a guaranteed authenticity, unique character, individuality, personalization, experience and high standards of unobtrusive service, and anticipation of guests needs. Additionally, the better service delivery and incorporation of local attractions, food, wine, and culture resulted in attracting higher value customers and contributed towards establishing Bulgaria as an attractive tourism destination.

As a result of VEGA’s work, by the end of the program over 54 tourism operators (B&Bs, small family owned hotels and boutique city hotels) throughout the country were certified and awarded Authentic Bulgaria Quality Mark. Accommodation owners reported $17,397 increase in revenues, an average of 18% increase, as a result of introducing 11 new services and attracting 401 new tourists. 11 new jobs were created and another 67 sustained.

CDC Development Solutions: In Nigeria, from 2006-2008, CDS implemented a USAID-funded participatory community development program, Jobs and Business Development Services Initiative (JOBS) to expand the capabilities of the Cross River State government to utilize the tourism industry as a driver for economic growth in the region and provide its communities with opportunities to benefit from the tourism industry. CDS facilitated a series of focus groups and planning sessions with local communities and built capacity through technical assistance and training for the Cross River State Tourism Bureau.

At the outset of the program, CDS conducted a tourism assessment in Cross River State with the goal of identifying jobs and new business opportunities within the tourism supply chain. The assessment covered nine communities neighboring the major tourism attractions within the state and produced an Action Plan that identified several business development opportunities in target communities such as handicraft production, food processing, agriculture, tour guiding services and cultural performances.

Following the completion of the assessment and submission of the Action Plan, CDS began an eight-month period of capacity building and organizational restructuring for the CRSTB.

CDS delivered the following services:

• An assessment and Tourism Action Plan to build new business opportunities and promote jobs creation
• Capacity building activities within the CRSTB, redesign of its organizational structure, and creation of a new management structure
• Created a conservation framework for the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and Nature Reserve
• Created new tourism products designed to attract both new visitors and new investors, including the Old Calabar Mini-Circuit Tour, Ikom Monolith Tour, and Canopy Tour
• Delivered job placement training, life skills and micro-enterprise development training
• For local communities and SMEs, CDS:
• Provided skills-based training for 150 residents
• Provided business development training for 60 cooperatives
• Disbursed 2.5M Naira in micro-loans in the Marina communities
• Negotiated supply agreements between local enterprises and procurement officers of tourism related businesses
• Secured funding of approximately $55,000 for rural infrastructure development, including water access and environmental sanitation projects for rainforest communities

The JOBS program led to CDS’ World Bank-funded TEMPO program in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Aid to Artisans: ATA implemented a four-year project in Ghana with $1.4 million of funding from USAID. The goal of the project was to increase non-traditional exports, improve artisan livelihoods and communities, and continue developing the country’s intrinsic artistry and central position in West African trade routes. Additionally, ATA felt that Ghanaian crafts had disappeared in the U.S. Market and that there was great potential that needed to be brought back.

A total of eleven consultants focused on new product design and production in wood, metal and glass; textiles and baskets were also addressed but with a lesser emphasis. One main consultant served as the key design resource offering new design ideas and teaching new production techniques. He provided a consistency and a depth of knowledge that inspired both entrepreneurs and the young university graduates, many of whom went on to start their own businesses.

The Ghana project was critical in the formalization of ATA’s training program offered in conjunction with the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF), which is called the Market Readiness Program™. Four to six Ghanaian entrepreneurs participated in each show and training session during the project. Several entrepreneurs who had increased their scale of business from micro-enterprise to producer/exporter identified the training as key to their success.

Ghanaian exporters exhibited bi-annually at the NYIGF. In addition, ATA, along with the Ghana Export Promotion Council, brought buyers to Ghana, including Pier 1 Imports, Cost Plus and MarMaxx (which includes Marshalls and TJ Maxx). Several Ghanaian producers supplied not only the large buyers, but also small niche importers of African products such as Bamboula, Swahili Imports and Tribalinks.

Results & Benefits

• Cumulative sales of $859,000 at the project's end. Sales continued to increase and surpassed the project budget within two years of the end of the project
• Ghana’s exports increased from $160,000 in 1989 to $11 million in 2002. The Ghana Export Promotion Council attributed 60% of this increase as a direct result of ATA.
• Artisans wages increased from $32.50 per month to $50.46 per month—approximately 155% of the national per capita income.
• Ghanaian artisans created their own NGO, ATAG, which continues to serve the artisan sector today.

Beneficiary Quote

“I had been designing for the U.S. market from out on the balcony looking in. Now I have my foot in the door” Ghanian artisan after attending the NYIGF and Market Readiness Program. Read the report…

ACDI/VOCA: In May 2006, a team of researchers conducted an assessment of nature-oriented tourism in three locations in Ecuador: Mindo, Puerto Lopez and the Napo River basin. These sites presented a range of both geographical destinations (sierra, coast and Amazon) and natural resource ownership models (public, private and community lands). In conducting the assessment, the team applied elements of two frameworks—Nature, Wealth and Power, which considers the ecological, economic and social factors and benefits involved in natural resource management and nature-based enterprise; and the Value Chain Approach, which examines opportunities and constraints facing key businesses in an industry, and the critical factors affecting their competitiveness. Read the report here…