Background:
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forwardlooking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Working under difficult conditions, GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis.
GTZ is a federal enterprise based in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. It was founded in 1975 as a company under private law. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is its major client. The company also operates on behalf of other German ministries, the governments of other countries and international clients, such as the European Commission, the United Nations and the World Bank, as well as on behalf of private enterprises. GTZ works on a public-benefit basis. All surpluses generated are channelled back into its own international cooperation projects for sustainable development.
GTZ employs some 10,000 staff in more than 120 countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Eastern European countries in transition and the New Independent States (NIS). Around 9,000 of these staff are national personnel. GTZ maintains its own offices in 67 countries. Some 970 people are employed at Head Office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. In addition, 365 staff work for supraregional projects based at various locations within Germany.
Projects focusing on tourism promotion:
1. GTZ Ecotourism Program in Muang Sing, Lao P.D.R: GTZ and the tour operator Exotissimo are working together in this innovative Public Private Partnership project with Akha communities in Luang Namtha to create a community owned and operated ecotourism program, which includes village lodges, eco-cultural trekking tours and village home stays. The program aims to provide an intimate look into the life of the AKha in the forest, in the fields and in the village. The project has refurbished a historic building in Muang Sing that now serves as a tourist information center as well.
For further details, visit www.laostravel.biz/ecotourismprojects.htm.
2. Stay Another Day in Cambodia: Co-sponsored by the International Finance Corporation’s Mekong Private Sector Development Facility (IFC-MPDF) and German Technical Cooperation – GTZ, the booklet features the products and services of 40 non-governmental organizations and socially-conscious businesses. For further details, visit www.ifc.org/ifcext/mekongpsdf.nsf/Content/Feature12
3. Management of Tam Dao National Park and Buffer Zones, Vietnam: In recent years, booming tourism has contributed to the destruction of the natural beauty of Tam Dao town and its surroundings and new large scale tourism projects risk to further damage the national park’s natural environment. This continuing degradation of na¬tural resources deprives current and future generations of the populations living around the national park (currently about 150,000 people) from important opportunities to secure their live¬li¬hoods. At the same time, lowlying agricultural areas and touristic sites are prone to suffer from increasing water shortages and environmental degradation, and populations from Hanoi and other urban centres may soon lose one of the last remaining natural heritage sites within easy reach for weekend recreation.
In the light of these critical developments, the Vietnamese Government decided in 1999 to ask Germany to provide technical assistance to a project aiming at the development of an integrated, collaborative management approach for the national park and its buffer zone.
Following participatory principles, this approach will apply decentralised planning procedures. It will bring together all stakeholders involved in biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development and assist them in planning and implementation of programs and activities which balance economic, social and environmental interests. These programs will integrate local, provincial and national priorities, focusing on poverty reduction and environmental protection with the ultimate goal of sustainable development.
For further details, visit www2.gtz.de/vietnam/projects/projects_rural_tamdao_eng.htm
Background:
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forwardlooking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Working under difficult conditions, GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis.
GTZ is a federal enterprise based in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. It was founded in 1975 as a company under private law. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is its major client. The company also operates on behalf of other German ministries, the governments of other countries and international clients, such as the European Commission, the United Nations and the World Bank, as well as on behalf of private enterprises. GTZ works on a public-benefit basis. All surpluses generated are channelled back into its own international cooperation projects for sustainable development.
GTZ employs some 10,000 staff in more than 120 countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Eastern European countries in transition and the New Independent States (NIS). Around 9,000 of these staff are national personnel. GTZ maintains its own offices in 67 countries. Some 970 people are employed at Head Office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. In addition, 365 staff work for supraregional projects based at various locations within Germany.
Projects focusing on tourism promotion:
Promotion of sustainable development through tourism in Central America (FODESTUR)
The seven countries in which the project operates are jointly expanding their touristic potential and using it to promote economic development and employment in an environmentally and socially compatible manner. Simultaneously, this supports economic integration in Central America.
Community-based Eco-Tourism around Wenchi Crater Lake, Ethiopia
Development, implementation and trial of a concept for conflict-free communal ecotourism
Promotion of mountain tourism, Yemen
The project supports Yemen's General Tourism Development Authority with the enhancement of tourism offerings in the Haraz mountains.
Development of Tourist Sites in the Montenegrin hinterland
In Cetinje, Lake Scutari and Plav, the project is promoting local tourism organisations, supports cooperation between local governments and the private sector, is improving tourism infrastructure.
Projects with a tourism component:
Conservation and management of natural resources, Benin
The programme component "Management of the Pendjari biosphere reserve" aims at balancing the aspects of protection and utilisation. The shared use of the reserve should be of mutual benefit to the neighbouring population and the park management.
Programme Economic Development and Employment Promotion, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The programme helps private enterprises in selected branches of industry to tap new sources of growth and development. The tourism industry, among other sectors, is particularly targeted because of its potential for employment opportunities.
Programme Environmental Policy and Management of Natural Resources, Colombia
The programme provides advisory services to selected private and public actors. The aim is to improve the political and institutional framework in the sector so as to increase the sustainability of natural resource management.
Economic Development and Employment Promotion, Croatia
The programme supports the lead executing agencies and implementing organisations involved with devising and implementing concepts for medium-sized business promotion. International experts provide advisory services to Croatian tourism associations to develop and market nature-oriented tourism in underdeveloped regions.
Management and Protection of Natural Resources, Morocco
The Tazekka, Toubkal, Souss-Massa, and Bas-Drâa (planned) national parks are being assisted in developing the capacity to fulfil their tasks in the areas of nature conservation, tourism, local development and environmental education, and to serve as role models for other nature reserves.
Training and Support for Resource Management (TRANSFORM), South Africa
GTZ TRANSFORM is the name of a cooperative project with the South African Ministry for Environment and Tourism since 1996.
Rehabilitation of the Old City of Aleppo, Syria
Living conditions and income opportunities of the inhabitants of Aleppo are being enhanced. A tourism policy model is being developed to better utilise the tourism potential while conserving the socio-cultural authenticity of the city.
Natural Resources Conservation, Bayanga "Dzanga-Sangha", Central African Republic
The project ensures that biodiversity and ecosystems in a central part of the Congo basin are being conserved, an important political concern for the partner country. The target groups participate in cultivating the natural resources in the Dzanga-Sangha nature reserve.
Contact
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5
65760 Eschborn
Telephone +49 6196 79-0
Telefax +49 6196 79-1115
Email: info(at)gtz.de
http://www.gtz.de/en/index.htm
Postal address
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Postfach 5180
65726 Eschborn