DFID commends SNV's outstanding performance

SNV Nepal's Great Himalaya Trail Development Programme (GHTDP) has been acclaimed as the country's best designed and implemented tourism project.

In a letter of appreciation from DFID, the department has congratulated SNV for its efforts in bringing government and the private sector together, and the progress made in the last three years of programme implementation.

The recognition came after SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), and the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN) received an A+ during an annual review led by DFID last month.

Since 2009, SNV has been working with the MoTCA, NTB, TAAN and host communities to create an iconic and globally significant new great trek which spans the entire length of the country. The Great Himalayan Trail provides tourists with an opportunity to travel through some of the world's most spectacular scenery while stimulating investment, employment and business development for remote and disadvantaged Himalayan communities.

Funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Nepalese Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOTCA), the GHTDP was piloted in two remote districts in the mid-west (Humla and Dolpo) region of Nepal with funding from UNWTO ST-EP grant during 2009/10. It is being scaled up nationally in a DFID-funded programme being implemented in partnership with the MoTCA, NTB and TAAN.

For more information visit the GHDT website.

Read a research news story about GHTDP on DFID site

Read more about SNV's work in Nepal here.