Smaller World Tours with Sustainable Harvest International
Smaller World Tours and its non-profit Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) embodies geotoursim by connecting travelers from around the globe with rural Central American farming communities working to improve the quality of living in their villages while restoring our planet’s tropical forests. Tropical forests are globally recognized as critical to the ecological health of our entire planet, however politicians, scientists and activists rarely mention what their destruction means to the local communities who depend on them for their very survival. Smaller World Tour participants have hands-on experiences that provide a true understanding of both the global and local implications of ...
About You
Contact Information
Title
Mrs.
First name
Sarah
Last name
Kennedy
Your job title
Outreach Director
Name of your organization
Sustainable Harvest International, Smaller World Tours
Organization type
NGO
Annual budget/currency
Annual Budget/Currency
Mailing address
779 North Bend Road, Surry, Maine 04684 USA
Telephone number
919-967-3662
Postal/Zip Code
04684
Country
Honduras
Email address
Alternative email address
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
Casa # 1937, 6 avenida, 16 y 17 calle N.E. Colonia “El Roble”
City
San Pedro Sula
State/Province
Cortes
Postal/Zip Code
Cortes
Country
Honduras
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
Conservation/Preservation organization
Year innovation began
2004
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Living culture, Nature, Culinary or agritourism, Indigenous people, General destination stewardship/management.
Name Your Project
Smaller World Tours with Sustainable Harvest International
Describe Your Idea
Smaller World Tours and its non-profit Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) embodies geotoursim by connecting travelers from around the globe with rural Central American farming communities working to improve the quality of living in their villages while restoring our planet’s tropical forests. Tropical forests are globally recognized as critical to the ecological health of our entire planet, however politicians, scientists and activists rarely mention what their destruction means to the local communities who depend on them for their very survival. Smaller World Tour participants have hands-on experiences that provide a true understanding of both the global and local implications of ...
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), Grupos comunitarios autóctonos, Atractivos naturales y culturales.
Indica cuales de estas tematicas cubre tu innovacion (elige todas aquellas opciones que apliquen)
Planificación y Gestión de destinos, Innovación y diversificación en el desarrollo de productos turísticos.
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.
Empower travelers to support farming families in Central America working towards environmental, economic and social sustainability.
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.
Smaller World Tours and its non-profit Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) embodies geotoursim by connecting travelers from around the globe with rural Central American farming communities working to improve the quality of living in their villages while restoring our planet’s tropical forests. Tropical forests are globally recognized as critical to the ecological health of our entire planet, however politicians, scientists and activists rarely mention what their destruction means to the local communities who depend on them for their very survival. Smaller World Tour participants have hands-on experiences that provide a true understanding of both the global and local implications of tropical deforestation.
SHI’s work with the farming communities we serve is on the forefront of grassroots sustainable agriculture development in Central America. By touring family farms, taking part in local cultural activities, meeting with village organizations, supporting community-requested volunteer projects and seeing the natural beauty and unique biodiversity of the rainforest our trip participants return home equipped to educate and empower their own communities. We embrace geotourism as a way for tourists to not only do something unique and meaningful during their vacations, but as an opportunity to make connections between the travelers, environment and campesinos of Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
Our program is innovative because it promotes a cross-cultural experience to which most Central American travelers would never be exposed. Our non profit, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), hires local field trainers who provide families with the training and support to improve their quality of life while restoring our planet’s tropical forests. Smaller World Tours connect visitors directly with the families we serve. Tours are typically 1-2 weeks long and include an onsite orientation, farm tours, volunteer projects, and excursions to visit local parks and historic sites. We also offer day tours in partnership with Cotton Tree Lodge, an ecolodge that supports our programs in Southern Belize. Groups can be made up of individuals, families or community groups.
The volunteer projects are specifically designed by our local families and staff and include vegetable gardens, tree nurseries, nutrition workshops, wood-conserving stoves, erosion control, micro-enterprise assessment, bio-gas digesters and composting latrines among others. In addition to the volunteer support from the visitors, the families benefit by providing food, lodging, and cultural presentations for the visitors. Engaging visitors in the day-to-day lives of these communities develops a mutual understanding and appreciation of local people and resources.
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?
We have had 388 participants take part in 31 Smaller World Tours. With the support of our Smaller World Tour participants our non-profit, Sustainable Harvest International has provided technical training and support in sustainable land-use practices to 1,080 families in 102 communities.
We ask local families, staff and the Smaller World Tour participants to evaluate the program. Candido Chun from SHI-Belize tells us, "They share meals with us and learn about how we live here. We enjoy getting to know them and show them how we are working to improve the land. Together we build wood-conserving stoves and plant tree seedlings. The stoves don’t fill our home with smoke which makes the children sick. These fruit trees will provide food for our families to eat and sell.”
Sharon Stein took her two children on a Sustainable Chocolate Tour with our program and had this to say, “I think that every parent needs to give this experience to their kids. My children discovered new levels of empathy within themselves and came away with a true sense of self within a global context. The trip lit a fire for both my children. Now they know they can truly make a difference, even though they’re ‘just kids.’”
As you can see from both of these testimonies, having our travelers work with and live directly alongside the families builds cross-cultural relationships and empowers both groups.
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 response to our programs from the local communities has been overwhelmingly positive and all of the villages have requested additional Smaller World Tour groups. We work directly with local staff, families and community groups in all stages of planning and activities on the tours. They create trip budgets and arrange for meals, lodging, and activities all within their communities. Planing these programs allows local people to take charge of the dialogue with the visitors and showcase their culture, heritage and homes. The families organize volunteer projects from which they will truly benefit. As farmer Don Cheyo from Los Amates, Honduras said to a recent Smaller World Participant: “Thank you very much for your confidence in us, hard work and your beautiful friendship. Now we have a compost project that we did not have before which will be a great benefit to my family.”
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Our approach brings the traveler in direct contact with the locales by offering tours of local farms, homestay opportunities and volunteer projects. The travelers are empowered by the education they receive and they are enthusiastic about the positive work accomplished with local families they have grown to understand.
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.
Working side-by-side with local families on community development projects and touring family farms with proud farmers who demonstrate how they have improved their quality of living while restoring the local environment, our tour participants get an introduction to local culture and community initiated environmental protection projects unlike that of any other tourism project we have seen. The local families demonstrate a great amount of pride in their work and sharing their rural communities and heritage with visitors reinforces the importance of their cultural identity and adds value to the native rainforest and biodiversity which attracts visitors to their communities.
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.
Smaller World Tour program fees cover all in-country transportation, meals, accommodations, insurance, staff support, materials and tours. Program fees range from $800 to $2,500 per person depending on the activities and accommodations on the trip. Approximately 50% of this is spent on in-country expenses (lodging, meals, accommodations, transportation, materials), 20% on logistical staff support, 10% for advance planning and follow-up activities and 20% is donated directly to the local SHI program. The donated funds purchase materials for the tour participant’s volunteer projects. Additional funds have been used to expand our programs to reach families and communities on our waiting list. A bilingual staff member leads each tour. SHI is a 501c3 non-profit organization ranked among Charity Navigator’s highest performing ngo’s with less than 8% of our total income spent on administration. SHI has a dedicated development staff in the U.S. and an annual budget of $1,327,920.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
Yes, the Smaller World Tours Program is sustainable. Despite the current economic downturn, we have an increase in demand for our Smaller World Tours. More people seem to be seeking opportunities to volunteer, connect with local communities and do something unique with their vacations. We believe that as international service-learning grows in popularity, alternative volunteer tourism does as well. As neighboring Central American villages see the success of our programs we receive requests from new community leaders who would like the opportunity share their communities with visitors. With additional staff support, we hope to expand our already successful program to reach these communities.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
For the Smaller World programs to grow, additional infrastructure and staff support are needed. We would like to have one dedicated local staff person in each of the four countries where we work (Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama) to coordinate Smaller World Tour activities with our non-profit organization, Sustainable Harvest International. We would also like to bring on additional trip leaders to lead groups and an additional staff person in the US to assist with participant recruitment, advertising, preparation and follow-up activities with trip participants when they return home. Additional resources could be use to build guest houses and dorms in the communities we serve and infrastructure such as composting latrines to ensure that our groups continue to have a positive environmental impact. Currently, the majority of our tour participants are community and student groups who prefer to travel during their “spring break.” We would like to recruit a more diverse group of tour participants including more family and adult groups who won’t be as tied to traveling during the busy “spring break” season.
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.
We hope to repeat and expand upon our successful programs in Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama as well as reach new areas of Central America. We currently have two staff members working on this program as well as several volunteer trip leaders. This summer, we will have several volunteer leaders in-training, co-leading trips with our staff and it is our hope that with additional resources, we will be able to bring these trip leaders in-training on as staff or part time trip leaders in the coming year. This will enable us to provide tours and volunteer support in more communities. We believe that spreading our Smaller World Tours to new communities will help to spread sustainable tourism in general and provide sustainable alternatives to “conventional” tourism practices that have in many cases had a negative impact on the diversity of cultures and environments in Central America.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
My name is Sarah Kennedy and I am Sustainable Harvest International’s Outreach Director. I started the Smaller World Program in 2004 when I led our first group of Smaller World Participants to work with SHI’s Honduras Program. I grew up on a small farm in Maine and studied International Affairs and Spanish at the University of Maine and University of Costa Rica. I have traveled, studied and worked extensively in Central America with a focus on rural sustainable development and service learning. My passion is working to empower Americans to embrace and improve our global community.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
Our non-profit, Sustainable Harvest International, was founded in founded in 1997 by Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Florence Reed. While serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panamá in the early 1990's, Florence Reed learned that tropical deforestation has a tragic human component. Desperate farmers longed for practical training to protect local forests and restore degraded lands. Not only concerned with increased agricultural yields, these farmers also wanted to leave a healthy ecosystem for future generations. Reed extensively researched sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn farming during her Peace Corp tenure. Together, Reed and the Panamanian farmers met with considerable success in implementing these practices. Upon finishing her Peace Corps service, Reed sought to build upon the tremendous potential to create significant and permanent change throughout Central America. In Honduras, she met with a group of villages that wanted to implement sustainable techniques. Reed then cultivated interest in the project among a group of concerned university professors, small business owners, a member of the New Hampshire Belize teachers exchange, and non-profit executives. They formed a Board of Directors and Sustainable Harvest International was incorporated as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization in May 1997. By then, SHI's first two field personnel (extensionists) had begun work in rural Honduras. Since 1997, SHI has expanded its reach from the one program in Honduras to also include programs in Panamá, Belize and, most recently, Nicaragua.
The Smaller World Tours program was started in 2004 by SHI Outreach Director, Sarah Kennedy. The mission of the Smaller World Program is to support SHI’s work by providing opportunities for supporters of the organization to directly interact with our programs in Central America. We now lead trips to all four countries and have found that the Smaller World Participants not only provide important volunteer, morale and financial support to the organization during their tour, they also serve as ambassadors for the organization when they return home by sharing their experience with their community. Our programs are striving to reverse trends of poverty and deforestation in the tropics and educate the world at large about these global issues.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
Unique experience as remembered by recent Smaller World Tour participants:
Waking up under a thatch roof to the smell of coffee that my host family had picked and roasted.
Making chocolate with Mayan families in southern Belize.
Planting gardens with school children in Nicaragua.
Touring rice paddies and fish ponds then hiking through the rainforest to take a swim in a beautiful pool below a waterfall in Panama.
Learning how to make tortillas on a wood-conserving stove.
Exploring ancient Mayan Ruins sites with our Honduran guide.
Learning how to say thank you in Mopan, Q'eqchi' and Spanish.
Seeing howler monkeys, sloths, parrots and giant butterflies.
Soccer with the village kids.
Kayaking and snorkeling.
Helping a family plant cacao [the trees that produce chocolate] in the shade of mahogany, coconut and rosewood.
Garifuna dance and drumming performances.
Milking a goat.
Harvesting avocados, mango, ginger and passion fruit.
Attending a workshop on natural alternatives to chemical pesticides.
Visiting a women’s sewing cooperative.
Helping a family build a hen house.
Working on a community solar latrine project.
Making new friends!
Jumping from a rope swing into the river to wash off the clay and mud from an afternoon of building wood-conserving stoves.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
We want to work with other groups and organizations offering service trips to recruit more participants, to recruit a more diverse group of travelers, and also to help advertise the meaningfulness of service based trips of this nature.
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