US Forest Service/GSTA Pays Dogon Project Technical Assistance to Bandiagara Cercle, Mali Mission: April 25-May 9, 2008 Participants in Guides’ Training Prepared by: Lisa Machnik, Ph.D., Project Coordinator Intermountain Region (R4) Regional Office, US Forest Service [email protected] TEL: (801) 625-5205 Sara Campney, Social Science Analyst Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, US Forest Service [email protected] TEL: (505) 346-3886 July 10, 2008 Sustainable Tourism in Dogon Country July 10, 2008 Table of Contents I. List of Acronyms............................................................................................................. 3 II. Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 4 III. Executive Summary...................................................................................................... 5 IV. Introduction: Scope of Technical Assistance ............................................................... 6 V. Issues and Findings ........................................................................................................ 9 ISSUE A: Representation of Stakeholders in the Visitor Center.................................... 9 ISSUE B: Traditional Materials and Design................................................................. 10 B1. Construction and Materials ................................................................................ 10 B2. Use of Traditional Dogon Design ...................................................................... 11 B3. Functional Elements........................................................................................... 11 ISSUE C: Funding ........................................................................................................ 12 ISSUE D: Guides’ General and Specialized Resource Knowledge.............................. 13 ISSUE E. Incorporating Local Products ....................................................................... 14 ISSUE F: Environmental Impacts of Tourism.............................................................. 14 F1. Human Waste and Sanitation.............................................................................. 15 F2: Litter ................................................................................................................... 16 ISSUE G: Basic First Aid ............................................................................................. 17 ISSUE H: Guides’ Organization................................................................................... 18 ISSUE I: Historic Site Protection ................................................................................. 19 ISSUE G: Web/Internet Training.................................................................................. 20 ISSUE H: Other Training Interests............................................................................... 21 VI. Summary of Recommendations.............................................................................. 22 VI: Conclusions .............................................................................................................. xxv Appendices APPENDIX I: Scope of Work .........................................................................................i APPENDIX II: Itinerary ..................................................................................................vi APPENDIX III: Participants (Visitor Center Training)...................................................vii APPENDIX IV: Participants (Guides’ Training) ............................................................viii APPENDIX V: Proposed Visitor Center Budget.............................................................ix APPENDIX VI: Visitors Survey .....................................................................................x APPENDIX VII: Resources.............................................................................................xxiv Sustainable Tourism in Dogon Country 2 July 10, 2008 I. List of Acronyms GSTA – Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance OMATHO - Office Malien du Tourisme et de l'Hôtellerie AED – Academy for Educational Development USAID – United States Agency for International Development GAAS Mali - Groupe Pour l’Alimentation d’Action au Sahel-Mali (Local NGO which addresses AIDS/HIV, Child trafficking, female castration, and other human rights issues) CCB - Cercle Conseil de Bandiagara USFS – United States Forest Service MCB – Mission Culturelle de Bandiagara Sustainable Tourism in Dogon Country 3 July 10, 2008 II. Acknowledgements The USFS International Programs mission team extends sincere thanks to our Malian hosts and counterparts. We were received with unparalleled hospitality, and appreciated the camaraderie and professionalism of our partners at USAID, AED, and the GSTA. To all with whom we collaborated, thank you. The success of this mission would not have been possible without your dedication, hard work, and investment of time and energy. It was an honor to work with you. We thank the US Embassy in Bamako for their support of this mission and their work towards realizing sustainable tourism in Pays Dogon. We extend a special thanks to Cristina Nardone, Coordinator of GSTA. Her dedication to this project ensured that all aspects of our work in Bandiagara proceeded smoothly. Significant planning, preparation, and logistics were necessary in coordinating the many partners and participants involved in these training sessions. We thank Mr. Moctar BA, Director of OMATHO in Mopti for his direction and support in advancing the goals of this mission. We are grateful to Mr. Diarra Prefect of Bandiagara, Mr. Guindo, president of the CCB (district council of Bandiagara) and Mr.Tembely Mayor of Bandiagara for their support in promoting sustainable tourism in the Bandiagara cercle. We extend a special thanks to the Ministry of Tourism. We extend our thanks to all of the training participants for taking part these workshops and for actively engaging in what we hope will continue to be a collaborative approach to sustainable tourism. We would also like to thank the Misson Culturelle de Bandiagara and GAAS-Mali for coming as guest lecturers. Your time and energy in contributing locally relevant material to the class was greatly appreciated by the instructors and participants. Special thanks are due to the team of facilitators who assisted throughout the training. From the GSTA project, we thank Allaye Karembe, Barri Diakite, and Bobacaray Ouologuem. From the Peace Corps, we thank Ben Arnold and Dan DiFranco for their work in taking notes and facilitating during the class. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to serve on this unique and challenging mission, and extend our thanks for support to our USFS home offices in New Mexico and Utah, and to USFS International Programs in Washington, DC. Sustainable Tourism in Dogon Country 4 July 10, 2008 III. Executive Summary The overall objective of USFS technical assistance in the Pays Dogon GSTA is to build capacity in natural resource conservation, sustainable productivity, and improved rural livelihoods in Pays Dogon. Bandiagara is a gateway town to key tourist sites in the Dogon escarpment. The regional Malian tourism office (OMATHO) plans to open a visitor center in Bandiagara in the next 6 to 9 months. A team of two USFS experts worked in-country with counterparts from USAID and AED from April 26 – May 9, 2008. The mission goals were to reinforce the local private sector by providing training in visitor center development and management, visitor education, and customer service in the Bandiagara cercle. The first training session (2 days) focused on developing relationships and collaboration among stakeholders with an interest in the creation of a visitor center in Bandiagara. The goal of this 2-day training was to identify ways in which the participating stakeholders (including OMATHO, the Mayor’s office, guides, hotels, and other local service providers) could collaborate in the development of and contribute to ongoing management of the proposed visitor center. The second training session for local guides (3.5 days) focused primarily on four topics: resource protection, professionalism and customer service, health and safety, and natural and cultural resource interpretation. The purpose of this session was to support the private tourism sector by providing formal training on a variety of immediately important topics, as well as topics that would assist in organization and long term business growth and development. Within these four main topics, a number of key principles for an effective and sustainable tourism sector were presented and discussed. The following issues were identified by the USFS team as critical to the advancement of sustainable tourism in Dogon Country: • Representation of stakeholders in the Visitor Center • Traditional materials and design • Funding • Guides’ general and specialized resource knowledge • Incorporating local products • Environmental impacts of tourism • Basic first aid • Guides’ organization • Historic site preservation • Web/Internet training • Other training interests These issues, along with findings and recommendations, are discussed in the following sections. Sustainable Tourism in Dogon Country 5 July 10, 2008 IV. Introduction: Scope of Technical Assistance Dogon Country is Mali’s number one tourist destination. Classified in 1989 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, this 4,000 km 2 area in Bandiagara Cercle