Sabdiyo Dido of SNV Kenya addresses the gathering. On the left is Hon. Najib Balala, Minister for Tourism.
On 28th May 2010, the Kenya Ministry of Tourism in partnership with SNV, the UN World Tourism Organisation and the Sustainable Tourism to Eliminate Poverty (STEP) Project presented cheques worth Kshs 4,108,800 (€41,000) to 15 tourism enterprises selected from North Rift, South Rift and North Kenya. The enterprises were among 29 tourism based enterprises that made applications to the UN STEP Project Implementing Committee (PIC) through the Ministry of Tourism in December 2009. The occasion was presided over by the Minister for Tourism, Hon Najib Balala.
In his remarks the Minister appreciated the efforts of UN World Tourism Organisation, STEP and SNV in the implementation of this project. The Minister sits on the Executive Council of UNWTO and pledged his support to the forthcoming council meeting scheduled for June 17th 2010. The STEP project aims at increasing local participation and improving the quality and competitiveness of the community based tourism products the Minister said. The project will empower the communities in the targeted regions in South Rift, North Rift and North Kenya. The Government of Kenya’s Tourism Trust Fund support similar enterprises.
The Minister appreciated SNV’s support and requested the organisation to help scale up this project to Kakamega area in Western Kenya in order to open up the western tourism circuit.
Sabdiyo Dido, Team Leader for SNV in Northern Kenya and country Business Development Advisor, gave an overview of SNV’s development work, highlighting the organisation’s tourism programme Kenya. She particularly appreciated the way SNV complements other sector actors through the capacity development agenda.
Other speakers included the community’s representative within the UN STEP PIC, John Kamanga (of the South Rift Land Owners Association) who appreciated the efforts of the UNWTO, STEP, Ministry of Tourism, SNV and other Stakeholders. Communities face challenges including finance, limited capacity and relevant policies to engage in the mainstream tourism. The STEP Project is one of the efforts to address such challenges at community level.