SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a multi-cultural development agency operating internationally in 33 developing countries around the world and in Nepal since 1980. Its mission is the development of a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own development, through strengthening the capacity of local organisations. The overall objective is the social, economic and political empowerment of groups of poor, disadvantaged and oppressed people. SNV works with local partners to strengthen effective and accountable local governance with particular attention given to social inclusion, gender equity and sustainability, and in so doing improve the livelihoods of poor people by:
- Reducing extreme poverty by increasing production, employment and equitable income opportunities
- Improving the access, coverage and quality in basic services in education, health and water and sanitation.
SNV is a global leader in Pro-Poor Sustainable Tourism Development with over 60 specialist advisors working with local partner organizations to support responsible and sustainable tourism development.
In Nepal, SNV has been supporting sustainable development for more than 25 years. To date, SNV's support focuses in five major sectors: Pro-poor Sustainable Tourism (PPST), Small Holder Crash Crops, Small Holder Timber, Renewable Energy (Biogas), Rural Community Water and Sanitation.
SNV's first substantive involvement in tourism came in the late 1990's within the context of the District Partners Programme (DPP) in the Karnali. DPP took a
participatory planning and
sub-sector development approach to promoting economic development with SNV providing technical advisory and capacity-building support to DDCs, VDCs, local NGOs and community groups. SNV's work in Humla was subsequently written up by the UK-based Pro-Poor Tourism Partnership: one of the first documented case studies of pro-poor sustainable tourism anywhere in the world.
The experience of DPP led SNV to play a leading role developing - in collaboration with DFID, UNDP, NTB and MoCTCA - the ground-breaking
Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme (TRPAP) from 1999. At that time Pro-Poor Tourism was almost universally equated with community-based tourism and the programme was planned accordingly. Its stated objective was 'to contribute to the poverty alleviation objective of the government through review and formulation of policy and strategic planning of sustainable tourism development which are pro-poor, pro-environment, pro-women and pro-rural communities'
TRPAP proved highly successful in mobilizing target communities (including socially marginalized and economically disadvantaged groups) to take an active role in planning their own development, and it delivered much needed and appreciated infrastructure, institutional development, professional skills and environmental awareness training. However, in common with many other community-based tourism initiatives in Nepal, it was less successful in developing commercially-viable tourism products and services. Significant contributory factors that have been identified include:
- The negative impact of the political conflict on the number of tourist arrivals to Nepal, and also on the willingness of those tourists who have visited the country to explore areas beyond the established tourism 'triangle'.
- Insufficient / ineffective marketing of the new destinations
- The failure of development partners to engage sufficiently with the tourism industry and to ensure that products and services developed meet the needs of, have the necessary access to, and are effectively promoted in, the target markets.
In 2005 SNV Nepal substantially revised its PPST strategy with the objective of creating a more focused, cohesive and effective portfolio of programmes and partnerships that addressed the identified weaknesses of previous PPST interventions as well as drawing on lessons-learned from the increasing body of international experience in pro-poor sustainable tourism.
At the heart of the new strategy was the understanding that PPST is much more than simply community-based tourism: it is an integrated approach that must underpin the planning, development and management of all tourism. Strengthening linkages between tourism and other sectors (agriculture, crafts etc.) in order to spread and deepen the benefits from tourism and reduce economic 'leakage' from the country, remains an important focus for SNV, but strong emphasis has now also been placed on:
- Strategic tourism development planning, ensuring that tourism planning in existing and (particularly) new tourism destinations is pro-poor, sustainable and market-oriented.
- 'Mainstreaming' PPST best practices throughout all sectors of the industry, with a particular emphasis on developing close partnerships with the private sector of the tourism industry.
- Demand-driven, market-oriented development of community-based tourism products and services.
- Value chain analysis and development, support for small and micro entrepreneurs, and facilitating effective market linkages for their products and services.
A range of programmes and interventions have resulted from the new strategy including:
- Targeted business training, product development and marketing support for local small & micro tourism entrepreneurs in Lumbini & Rupandehi (see appendix. This highly successful intervention was singled out for praise in the TRPAP final evaluation report, and the
- Participatory planning, institutional development and organizational development support for the Sustainable Tourism Network: a forum which facilitates cross-sector collaboration by bringing together tourism stakeholders from the public, private, (I)NGO, education and community sectors.
- The EC Asia Invest-funded Marketing Assistance to Nepal for Sustainable Tourism Products (MAST-Nepal) Project, planned and implemented in partnership with UNEP and NTB.
- The UNWTO-ST-EP funded Great Himalayan Trail Development Programme Pilot project in Humla, aiming at linking formal and informal enterprises to tourism markets to reduce poverty
For more information about SNV-Nepal Tourism Sector Strategy please contact:
Paul Stevens, Sector Leader and Senior Tourism Advisor at
pstevens@snvworld.org or Monica Oliveros, Pro-poor Sustainable Tourism Advisor at
moliveros@snvworld.org
Other Partners' Presentation
