Transcript New Dawn Associates At the crossroads of tourism and

Millennium Village Tours
An innovative tourism product at the crossroads of
development, education and community-based tourism
New Dawn Associates
[email protected]
www.newdawnassociates.com
List of contents
Millennium
Village Tours
• Introduction to NDA
Contents:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
• Introduction to the Millennium Villages Project
• Mayange – the Rwandan Millennium Village
• Millennium Village Tours
Introduction to NDA
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
New Dawn Associates Ltd:
• East African service provider, headquarters in Kigali (Rwanda)
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
• Rwandan-European partnership
• Responsible tourism – consulting services – event management
• Tourism focus: Educational travel in Rwanda, community-based
tourism, project tourism, responsible volunteering, special interest travel,
general tourism services
• Consulting work: Several innovative community-based tourism projects
in four Rwandan provinces
Introduction to the Millennium Villages
Project
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
Background:
• Goal:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
“To end extreme poverty by working with the poorest of the
poor throughout Africa, providing affordable and science-based
solutions to help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty.”
• Millennium Villages Project: Partnership of Earth Institute
(Columbia University), UNDP, Millennium Promise, national/local
governments, country-specific partners (like NDA in Rwanda)
• Currently 12 clusters of villages in 10 African countries (400,000
people)
• Target: To achieve the MDGs within 5 years.
Introduction to the Millennium Villages
Project
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
Concepts:
• Set of interventions based on the recommendations of the UN
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
Millennium Project: Food production, nutrition, education, health
services, roads, energy, communications, water, sanitation,
enterprise diversification, environmental management
• Participatory community decision-making
• Use of improved science-based technologies and techniques
Mayange – the Rwandan Millennium
Village
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
“If it can be done here, it means it can be done elsewhere.”
(Gaspard Musonera, Mayor)
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• Mayange: Community created after the 1994 genocide, half the
• MV Tours
households live in settlement housing (imidugudu) built by the
government for survivors and returnees
• Very dry area with severe water shortages and frequent periods
of hunger
• Pilot efforts since January 2006 (5,000 people), considerable
scale-up to 50,000 people in December 2006
Mayange – the Rwandan Millennium
Village
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
Interventions:
• Community mobilization: Creation of committees (water,
agriculture, health), mass sensitization campaigns (use of fertilizer,
micro-finance loan schemes)
• Agriculture and water: Use of fertilizer and fast-maturing seeds,
micro-finance loan schemes, terracing, extensive training
• Health: Permanent doctors, trust, 100% health insurance,
distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, education on family
planning
• Education: Kindergarten, school garden, computer training for
teachers
• Business development: Basket weaving (training programs,
micro-finance loan schemes, formation of associations), orchards
• Infrastructure: Repair water infrastructure, electricity and water
tanks for health center and school, study on use of cook stoves
Millennium Village Tours
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
Concept:
• Educational and experiential excursions with small groups of
interested visitors who want to learn about the development
challenges and successful interventions of the MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
• MOU between NDA and the MVP:
• NDA engages in developing micro-enterprise opportunities
through community-based tourism
• NDA becomes the exclusive agency to operate Millennium
Village Tours in Rwanda
• Official start: April 2007
Millennium Village Tours
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
Tour:
• Welcome: Guide at MVP headquarters in Nyamata, introduction
• Visit to Nyamata church (genocide memorial)
• Fields of intervention: Health, education, agriculture, water,
energy, fuel-saving cook stoves, etc
• Women‘s cooperative for lunch
• Weaver association, including gift
• Final interaction with community leaders in a traditional way
(ubusabane), cultural experience (dancing), refreshment (fresh
fruits and juice, corn on the cob)
Millennium Village Tours
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
Implementation issues and key success factors:
• Mobilization and awareness raising
• Institution building: Tourism cooperative
• Capacity building: Formal and informal guides, cooks, weavers,
dancers etc
• Product development at the various intervention stations
• Quality control: Interpretation, hygiene etc
• Market research
Major obstacles:
• Understanding about and attitude towards tourism
• Inadequate entrepreneurial skills
• Language barriers
• Mentality (e.g. food)
Millennium Village Tours
Millennium
Village Tours
Contents:
Contribution to an African agenda for peace through
tourism:
• Intro NDA
• Intro MVP
• Mayange
• MV Tours
• Improving the standard of living (“poor minds think of evil”)
• Creating micro-enterprise opportunities for 155 people directly (and
benefiting their entire families), including formal and informal guides,
cooks, weavers and dancers
• Building a Rwandan identity through the interaction with foreigners
• Supporting reconciliation
• Educating visitors and raising awareness in their home nations
about development challenges and best-practice solutions
Thank you for your attention.
Murakoze.