Sustainable Tourism through Youth-led Community Organizations and Environmental Practices
The proposed initiative promotes community organization practices and activities amongst local youth populations in the Island of Baru, Colombia, so that they can access the benefits of the island’s increased tourist industry, while encouraging the preservation of their environmental and cultural heritage. Specifically, the initiative will be based in Santa Ana, an afro-Colombian community with a rich natural landscape and high potential for increased tourism due to the private sector’s investment in hotel infrastructure. However, without training in, and support for, the formation of community organizations (cooperatives and leadership groups), local residents will be unable to access ...
About You
Contact Information
Title
Ms.
First name
Mariana
Last name
Cardenas
Your job title
Grants Manager
Name of your organization
Give to Colombia
Organization type
NGO
Annual budget/currency
300,000
Mailing address
6705 Red Road, Suite 502
Telephone number
305 669 4630
Postal/Zip Code
33143
Country
United States
Email address
Alternative email address
Alternative email address
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
Santa Ana
City
Baru
State/Province
Postal/Zip Code
Country
Colombia
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists , Quality of benefit to residents for the destination , Quality of tourism management by destination leadership , Quality of stewardship of the destination.
Organization size
Small (1 to 100 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Community Organization
Year innovation began
2007
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Nature, Indigenous people, Education, General tourism.
Name Your Project
Sustainable Tourism through Youth-led Community Organizations and Environmental Practices
Describe Your Idea
The proposed initiative promotes community organization practices and activities amongst local youth populations in the Island of Baru, Colombia, so that they can access the benefits of the island’s increased tourist industry, while encouraging the preservation of their environmental and cultural heritage. Specifically, the initiative will be based in Santa Ana, an afro-Colombian community with a rich natural landscape and high potential for increased tourism due to the private sector’s investment in hotel infrastructure. However, without training in, and support for, the formation of community organizations (cooperatives and leadership groups), local residents will be unable to access ...
IDB/Fomin
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Deseo postularme.
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Consumidores (viajeros), Prestatarios de servicios turísticos, Prestatarios de servicios no turísticos (proveedores), Grupos comunitarios autóctonos, Atractivos naturales y culturales.
Indica cuales de estas tematicas cubre tu innovacion (elige todas aquellas opciones que apliquen)
Innovación y diversificación en el desarrollo de productos turísticos, Profesionalización, buenas prácticas y certificación de servicios turísticos sostenibles.
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To create youth-based community organizations that provide tourism services and promote the empowerment of the community’s cultural and environmental heritage.
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
The proposed initiative promotes community organization practices and activities amongst local youth populations in the Island of Baru, Colombia, so that they can access the benefits of the island’s increased tourist industry, while encouraging the preservation of their environmental and cultural heritage. Specifically, the initiative will be based in Santa Ana, an afro-Colombian community with a rich natural landscape and high potential for increased tourism due to the private sector’s investment in hotel infrastructure. However, without training in, and support for, the formation of community organizations (cooperatives and leadership groups), local residents will be unable to access the new economic opportunities derived from the industry’s growth, as well as the means of contributing to its environmentally and culturally conscience development.
The program works with students to provide them with problem solving activities and workshops that promote environmental practices and student leadership opportunities, through which they can develop the skills to democratically discuss issues that are affecting them and their communities. The experiences that students learn through the program, will enable the youth community to develop successful cooperatives that can provide attractive services to tourists, and increase the opportunities for their generation and those thereafter. Private sector investors from nearby hotels are also involved and supporting the program as a way of increasing tourism in the island.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
This initiative integrates income generating opportunities with sustainable and environmental tourist practices, empowerment and community organization amongst youth, as a means of socio-economic development for traditionally marginalized communities. By providing safe spaces and encouraging: the development of student lead committees; the promotion of environmental practices; and the increase in local capacity for tourist services, the initiative provides the community with income generating options to promote an environmentally friendly tourism. In particular, the fact that youth learn to collaborate with their peers gives them the basis to create cooperative and independent employment opportunities, which will position them to create a better quality of life while preserving their cultural and environmental heritage.
Overall, youth learn to embrace communal collaborations as a means of achieving the scale of community development greater than what each could accomplish alone. The program supports the youth in the process of consolidating committees, choosing its leaders, defining individual responsibilities and conducting income generating tourist activities as part of the committees. These committees will be the root of future community organization and cooperatives that can provide innovative touristic services. In addition, the program provides workshops on sound environmental preservation to students, parents and the community at large.
Impact
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Although this is a relatively new initiative, its quantitative and qualitative impact has been considerable. Qualitatively, the program has resulted in a positive attitude change in the students who now respect each other’s opinions, commit to the responsibilities they have acquired in their committees, solve their problems and issues in a peaceful manner, effectively cooperate as a team, clean-up after themselves and promote environmentally friendly practices. The initiative has also achieved broad recognition of its efforts within the Santa Ana community and the nearby hotels and corporations. Furthermore, several academic institutions and non-profit organizations in Colombia that face similar challenges have heard of the initiative and have contacted the program in order to replicate it.
The quantitative results of the initiative demonstrate that 100% of the student body (700 students) participates in the committees and is part of the initiative; 30% are committee leaders and the reading habits of 50% of the student population has improved. The vast recognition that this program has achieved, has led an average of two local youth per week that were not enrolled in school to contact the school seeking admission.
These results been measured through faculty, student and committee discussions, surveys and evaluations. Alliances with Universities are being developed to improve evaluation assessment and impact measurement.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
The residents and their direct involvement in building and strengthening community resources are the basis of this initiative. The school’s faculty actively led the inaugural efforts, which have since been assumed and directed by the student community with continued faculty support. The students have demonstrated strong interest in continuing to work in the committees initial established, and have taken the responsibility to fulfill the duties self-assigned to committee members.
The at-large community has also constantly participated in the development of the initiative through their involvement in environmental workshops and reforestation campaigns, and their needs and concerns have been integrated to the program. They have acknowledged that, in the long run, the environmental efforts combined with the youth leadership and community organizing skills will benefit all the residents.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
The initiative promotes the opportunity for travelers to interact with a vibrant community and active youth leadership. In addition to the natural beauty of the island, amplified by the environmental activities and practices that this innovation supports, tourists will enjoy activities that promote their engagement with the native afro-Colombian community, a very defined and distinct cultural group. The canoe rides, craft sale and Cultural Folkloric performances offered by the youth provide tourists with a means to interact and learn about the deep cultural heritage of Santa Ana.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
Through the environmental workshops, conferences and activities provided by the initiative, local residents learn about their regional environmental issues and further understand their natural heritage. In turn, the community, empowered through the committees and cooperatives social organizaiton, sees that the cultural and environmental heritage of Santa Ana is valued and respected by visitors. Pamphlets and brochures with information about local environmental issues and preservation will also be provided to visitors.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Most of the costs of the initiative’s activities have been subsidized by the school, as a means of minimizing the initiative’s budget and enabling its implementation with minimal international support. Its administration and faculty have also contributed their space, time and skills to the development of the program. Furthermore, the program has created collaborative alliances with universities and non-profit organizations that provide environmental workshops and lead clean-up activities. The approximate cost of this initiative per year is USD $20,000. A total of thirty-eight teachers, three administrative directors and five volunteers are directly involved in the program, and an additional fourteen of the school’s staff members are indirectly supporting this initiative. This model (subsidizing the cost of activities as part of the school’s cost and promoting alliances with local organizations for environmental activities) is the basis of the program’s sustainability; however, a seed capital is necessary in order to ensure the growth of the initiative.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
The funds required for the creation and support to the student committees, as well as environmental workshops and clean-up activities are covered by the school and allied organizations. However additional capital is necessary in order to conduct the following activities, which are key to the growth of this initiative: sediment removal, reforestation, design and construction of canoes, kiosks, performance stage and pier. In addition, a seed capital fund for the cooperatives would help to them launch local businesses and support their incorporation into the larger tourist industry on the island.
Once this initial investment is made, the initiative will be self-sustainable from the continued income from the services provided to tourists.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The primary barriers facing this initiative are the following:
• Formalizing an alliance with the local public authorities.
• Ensuring that Santa Ana’s public spaces and its natural lagoon are available for the cooperatives to showcase their activities to tourists.
• Guaranteeing that future student leadership and committee members maintain commitment to and enthusiasm for the initiative.
• Protecting the credibility of the student leaders and their activities, from those who challenge their leadership because of their youth.
• Consolidating alliances with tourist agencies and hotels from Cartagena, especially those that are already organizing trips to the nearby Playa Blanca so that they include the Santa Ana community and its natural lagoon as a destination in their trips.
• Ensuring that students fulfill their academic duties, as well as the responsibilities that they have committed to undertake as part of this proposal.
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Given that the innovation is still relatively new there are still numerous developments that need to take place in order for it to reach its full potential, such as the strengthening of the student committees into proper cooperatives and the construction of canoes, kiosks, performance stage and pier.
Given the innovation of the program and its long term benefits to the community, we will seek to market the initiative to regional organizations, local meetings and youth programs so that they can benefit from the experience and replicate this program in nearby localities that face many of the same challenges as Santa Ana. In addition, we will give visibility to the initiative amongst Universities and Colleges in order to seek academic allies that can strengthen our efforts.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
The school’s directors and teachers facilitate the activities of this innovation. Maria Eugenia Puche, the school’s dean has led the program, she is deeply passionate about community organization and environmental revitalization in Santa Ana. Maria Eugenia holds a specialization in Social Development with a wide experience in educational leadership. Her proposal regarding democracy in 1998 was awarded third prize by The Santillana Publisher.
The following students also participate in the leadership of the initiative:
Yunis Castro Rocha Student Council President for the 10th grade class, 15 years old. Yunis is interested in a better future for herself and the community as well as the recovery of local traditions.
Eduardo San Martin Student Council VicePresident for the 10th grade class, 15 years old. Eduardo has demonstrated social responsibility traits, he is persistent and committed.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
The local school and its main partner in this initiative, The Mario Santodomingo Foundation (MSF), have participated in various initiatives in Santa Ana for over 15 years. MSF provided the seed capital and support for the creation of the local school in 1997 and remains highly committed to the community’s needs. Give to Colombia has also supported the development of the innovation.
The initiative is rooted in the organizational weaknesses faced by the community of Santa Ana that ultimately results in the failure of any health, development, tourist, training, recycling campaigns and educational opportunities that have been provided to them on specific occasions. In addition, this weakness has lead to the incompetence of leadership roles within the community, which in turn leads to corruption and misuse of the community’s limited funds.
Without the ability to establish community means of providing complementary tourist services to the upcoming nearby hotels, and opportunities for socially responsible leadership development, there are few means of creating inclusive, sustainable development initiatives that can promote increased geoturism in this community. This would lead to continued high indexes of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, malnutrition and infant mortality amongst the community of Santa Ana.
The proposed innovation therefore tackles the issues faced by the community, and works with the school’s youth to provide them with the necessary tools to overcome these challenges and empower their communities in the creation of income generating tourist opportunities. By working with the entire school’s population, a total of 700 students, in preparing them with community organization and cooperative forming skills, the entire area will benefit in the immediate future.
Through various activities, the project promotes environmental conservation, ecologically friendly practices, and tourism friendly services in order to increase the number of tourists to Santa Ana. Examples of these activities include:
Phase I:
a. Students and families workshops about environmental practices, conservation, global warming, pollution and human development.
b. English classes to facilitate communication with tourists.
c. An environmental revitalization activity (e.g. clean-up, reforestation or conservation) in the community’s natural ocean pool to raise the community’s environmental consciousness and recover some of the island’s rich scenery.
d. Community Outreach and involvement
Phase II:
a. The development of eco-friendly tourist services, such as canoes trips, handicraft sales, and cultural and folkloric performances.
b. Consolidation of income generation activities
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
Given the circumstance of increased of private investment in hotel infrastructure, this initiative will provide tourists with the opportunity to interact with the native, Santa Ana community and learn about their culture, so that they can complement their visit beyond the resort experience.
New services available to tourists, such as: trips in canoes, sale of handicrafts and cultural and folkloric performances will be offered by the cooperatives lead by youth in the Second Phase of this initiative. Undoubtedly, it is a totally new experience for tourists that visit the island to be welcomed by youth, given that youth transmit a unique energy to the island’s visitors. In addition the environmental activities held with the community will have improved Santa Ana’s scenery, attracting tourists to a cleaner natural lagoon with native flora and fauna, such as flamingos, pisingos and pato real.
The combination of new cultural services offered by youth led cooperatives, as well as richer natural landscape unequivocally provides tourists visiting Baru and Santa Ana with a unique experience.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
Our approach has sought to maximize the impact of the initiative by creating alliances with the academic sector, national training and human development non-profits, local corporations, marketing outlets and the community. Currently there are alliances with Higher Education Institutions, foundations and national non-profits ( Give to Colombia, Mario Santodomingo Foundation, SENA, PROFAMILIA, Voluntarios Colombia-Worth Teach, Hernán Echavarría, URBASER). Additionally alliances with local tourism agencies and hotels are being consolidated, to encourage inclusive business development and opportunities. Finally, partnerships with media and marketing outlets, such as travel webpages, books, TV shows and magazines are being explored to provide visibility about Santa Ana and the services offered. Furthermore, the initiative has been very respectful and inclusive with the local community in order to gain its support and acceptance.
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 | 155 weeks agocaroline corrigan said: ...aquella que sólo trasciende en su comunidad a través de unos miembros seguros de ser capaces de aportar y aprender lo mejor para sí ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 157 weeks agoAlejandra Molina submitted this idea. |
