(T) Adaptive Tourism Management Project

In partnership with Ujamaa Community Resource Trust, Honeyguide Foundation and TAS Consult, a new one year project has been launched at TNRF to pioneer a process for community based tourism management in Tanzania. The project addresses the need of communities around highly visited tourism areas in northern Tanzania to become more involved in tourism planning and ensuring that tourism businesses are responsible and benefit communities in these areas.

The significance of community-based tourism models for local conservation and development outcomes is the driving principle behind progressive tourism business partnerships with communities since 1991. The goal of this project is to use the best practices of community based tourism to produce tourism management plans in a participatory and adaptive way for four villages in Loliondo and Sale Divisions of Ngorongoro. The team will compile its accumulated experience into an informational toolkit for use in other tourism initiatives between private investors and communities.

Beginning with a series of introductory planning workshops the project team will address management and capacity issues which impede sustainable tourism, environmental management and improved livelihoods. These workshops will be structured around different priorities and exercises which will bring the stake-holders to the final goal of developing adaptive tourism management plans for the four villages. The workshops will bring together all stakeholders involved in or affected by tourism activities.

The project, which is known as Social Learning for Adaptive Tourism Management, is funded by IUCN and the Bradley Fund for the Environment and was initiated by Sand County Foundation and TNRF.

About the partners

Ujamaa Community Resource Trust aims to strengthen the capacity of local ethnic minorities in northern Tanzania, principally pastoralists and hunter gatherers, to better control manage and benefit from their land and natural resources (see pg 6).

The Honeyguide Foundation was initiate to bridge the gap between the communities and the tourism industry- who both have long-term vested interests in the management of natural resources- in order for both to benefit from tourism
economically.

TasConsult provides services to local authorities, local and international NGOs to build capacity for development through strategic planning, programme evaluation and multi stakeholder processes.