Community-based Rural Tourism Programme: A new methodology to boost productive employment and decent work in Bolivia
ILO carries out in Bolivia the first pilot Training of Trainers programme to strengthen capacities and promote the development of rural community-based tourism enterprises and the generation of new and better jobs in rural areas.
This Programme, which seeks to support the creation of new tourism enterprises or the development of existing tourism enterprises in the rural community tourism sector, is an ILO initiative in collaboration with the Vice-Ministry of Tourism of the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy (MDPyEP). Experts in the tourism sector in Bolivia will be able to strengthen the capacities of rural community-based tourism enterprises in becoming more resilient, inclusive and sustainable, and to generate decent work opportunities
“Through this programme, we aim to build capacities to promote sustainable tourism with decent work and social dialogue for men, women and youth from local communities and migrant workers in Bolivia
Efraín Quicaña, Rural Economy Specialist, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
The main step towards promoting the creation and development of rural community-based tourism enterprises and generating new and better jobs in rural areas is to strengthen the national capacity to implement the TRC-TD Programme in Bolivia. The 28 professionals who are being trained as trainers of this methodology will undergo three stages of training that will lead to their international certification.
“For us, the joint work that with the ILO has been important to strengthen capacities that can promote the reactivation and generation of opportunities in the community tourism sector in Bolivia
José Luis Gerónimo, specialist of the Vice-Ministry of Tourism
During the first stage of the virtual training, participants addressed issues related to decent work, occupational safety and health, social dialogue, workers' rights, international labour standards, community-based rural tourism and supply design.
In the second stage of the training, participants attended a face-to-face workshop in the city of Cochabamba, together with a team of specialists from the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), as well as the ILO and the Vice-Ministry of Tourism of Bolivia. Here, the future trainers acquired more specific knowledge on rural community-based tourism. They discussed about its characteristics, the conditions that a community and territory should have to develop this type of tourism. Likewise, the training also looked into which tools can be used to identify resources and services to generate ideas for tourism products, and how to guide the community and its inhabitants in developing tourism products. Professionals trained in the ILO's Entrepreneurship Programme on Community-based Rural Tourism and Decent Work Programme (TRC-TD) will be certified by the ILO to bring this enterprise development methodology to more women and men from local communities in Bolivia During the face-to-face training, learning sessions were complemented with strategic tools that promote and strengthen the links between community-based rural tourism with national and international markets; as well as how this type of tourism can contribute in diversifying the options to generate more and better jobs in rural areas.
In addition, the ILO’s SCORE Phase IV Project provided inputs on the benefits of moving towards formality and why it is key to train SMEs on productivity and how economic units can contribute to the transition towards a greener economy by providing greener products and services in the tourism sector.
“The objective of the Training of Trainers (ToT) process has been to build capacity at the national level to use the ILO’s training package. Now, the group of participants will be able to implement the Programme in their regions and to leverage community-based rural tourism as an engine for sustainable development and for the creation of decent employment
María José Mallo, ITCILO
Currently, in the third training stage, each participant will replicate the training contents with tourism enterprises at the local level, so as to demonstrate the knowledge acquired, transfer strategic tools to counterparts that also work in the community-based rural tourism sector, and certify themselves as trainers.
The ILO's Rural Community-based Tourism and Decent Work Entrepreneurship Training Programme (TRC-TD) is part of the ILO's strategy to support the generation of productive employment and decent work in rural areas of Latin American countries. Strengthening the capacities of rural community-based tourism enterprises to become more resilient, inclusive and sustainable will guarantee rights at work, promote social justice, extend social protection and foster social dialogue for the generation of new and better jobs in rural areas of Bolivia.
