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Responsible Tourism Policy
We define responsible tourism as tourism which is managed to insure the following:
· Provide benefits (especially employment, income and skills)
to the communities which themselves form the tourist attraction in the
visited area
· To promote an atmosphere of respect, understanding and
appreciation between the visitors and the local people
· To preserve and promote, rather than exploit and corrupt
local culture and traditions
· To reduce the impingement of tourist activities (such as
photography) onto the lives of the local people to a bare minimum
In order to affect these aims the Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge intends to:
· Employ local staff and contract jobs to local workers,
where-ever possible, and initiate training programs for locals where
not.
· To work in close contact with the Local Tourism Bureau (Konso
Community Tourism Project, funded by the ST-EP initiative) in Konso and
work with local guides.
· By providing itineraries for tours and trekking in the area,
which take in community based projects at different locations around
the woreda, providing economic dividends for service providers within
the Konso village communities.
· To brief all visitors on appropriate behaviour before
visiting villages, so that their behaviour will promote good will
between tourists and the local community and wont ruin the experience
for future visitors.
· To make it clear that there are appropriate channels through
which donations can be made if people are keen to help a particular
community economically, and that they should not go about showering
gifts on children.
· To show multiple aspects of the local culture (food, customs,
music etc.) to guests within lodge.
· To facilitate constructive activities locally such as
volunteering to teach in schools or to undertake anthropological or
language learning, which will promote the formation of meaningful
relationships between visitors and locals.
Policy Aims
SFEL aims to promote the following:
- Community benefit through the tourism industry in Konso.
- Promote improved community-visitor relations.
- Food security through training and implementation of Permaculture in
Konso schools and communities.
- Environmental conservation and restoration in Konso through Permaculture
- Cultural conservation and promotion of the Konso culture
Economic Responsibility
SFEL takes economic responsibility by insuring that each day of
trekking arranged by the lodge will take in two community based
activities resulting in over $10 being paid to the community per
tourist per day, on top of fees to the local guides and the customary
visitors fee paid to tourism bureau.
SFEL also seeks to promote
alternative livelihoods for the agricultural community through
establishment of cooperatives for small scale food processing and food
oil production from existing farm produce, such as Moringa seed.
SFEL employs local staff and offers them free language training in Amharic (ethiopia’s national language) and English.
Environmental Responsibility
SFEL offers training and consultancy in Permaculture (PC) design to
schools and community in Konso. Konso is a system for integrated and
sustainable ecological resource management. It promotes soil
restoration, reforestation and recycling of all wastes to create
resources. PC will contribute to improving the sustainability of
agricultural practises in the area, promote food security for the
community in an area where it is currently lacking, and encourages use
of appropriate technologies which reduce environmental degradation and
the labour burden of women, such as solar cookers, biogas and
wood-saving stoves.
Social Responsibility
SFELs activities will promote improvement of trans-cultural
understanding by allowing the grass roots community to gain more
benefits from tourism.
It will promote Konso’s culture to Ethiopia and the rest of the world.
Through
our Permaculture in Konso Schools program we will promote improved
teaching facilities in Konso schools for science and nature learning,
as well as equipping children with relevant skills for their future
life in the rural situation.
We also promote and facilitate
volunteering activities by visitors to Konso including health-care and
teaching activities, especially English language. education
Reduction
of women’s labour is a major aim of our Permaculture program through
training the community to build solar cookers and wood-saving stoves.
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