International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #28
May 1, 2006

Summary

Message from the Editorial Team

The National Community Tourism Federation of Guatemala (FENATUCGUA)
Another approach to tourism

The 2nd International Forum of Fair Tourism and Fair Trade (FITS) March 24 - 27, 2006, Tuxtla Gutierez, Chiapas, Mexico

International Association of Investors in the Social Economy (INAISE)Annual Conference: June 1st – 2nd, 2006

First African Symposium on Fair Trade
April 6th – 9th, 2006 in Bénin

Announcements
A – 4th International Meeting on Globalisation Solidarity
B – 2007 World Social Forum
C – Cooperating in Portuguese
D – Workshop on the aging of rural populations and the development of their territories

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Message from the Editorial Team

In this issue, we are presenting an approach to tourism which integrates the dimension of community local development and an economic activity which is fully at the heart of social solidarity economy.

At the time of his participation in the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) which was held in Vancouver from March 15th – 18th, 2006 Yvon Poirier met with a representative of FENATUCGAU, Guatemala. In a workshop on community tourism, other similar examples were presented from Costa Rica, Thailand and Botswana.

The 2nd International Forum of Fair Tourism and Fair Trade which was held in Mexico testifies to the strength of these initiatives favouring the local communities.

We also wish to draw your attention to the next meeting of INAISE which will take place in San Sebastien, Spain June 1st – 2nd, 2006.

It is with pleasure that we present articles by Judith Hitchman and Norbert Tréhoux, as punctual contributions which enrich the information that we transmit in this Newsletter.

Editorial Team
Francisco Botelho
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut

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The National Community Tourism Federation of Guatemala (FENATUCGUA)
FENATUCGUA was established in January of 2005 given the need to create an entity that brings together community tourism destinations in the country and that represents their different partners. The organization is made up of community representatives with an elected board of directors and the help of diverse institutions such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT) and the Technical Training Institute (INTECAP).

Mission: to be a non-profit organization that advocates at the national level, promoting the development and auto sustainability of the associated communities through productive tourism projects managed by local people, with a gender perspective, and respecting and valuing cultures and the environment.

Vision: we are a nationally and internationally recognized organization that contributes to the improvement of the quality and life conditions of people from the associated community organizations through their participation in the management and administration of productive tourism projects, based on the respect of cultures, gender equity, and the conservation of the environment.

For communities and organizations to be considered members of FENATUCGUA, an indispensable requirement is that they must be currently implementing community tourism activities. These are understood as those that principally benefit the local community and are not just used to provide specific services. The community or organization is also part of the administration y management of the destination. Additionally, the benefit generated should be for the community as a whole or a representative percentage of the population. Factors such as respect and conservation of natural resources, interculturalism and gender equity are essential within the different experiences in order to be an active member or beneficiary of the actions of the Federation.

Currently 29 communities and projects form part of FENATUCGUA:

Asociación Ak’ Tenamit (Izabal) ADIQK-Región Ixil (Quiché)
Asociación Rupalaj Kistalin (Sololá) Aventura Maya K’iche’ (Totonicapán)
Consejo Chajinel (Sololá) Comunidad Aquil Grande (Alta Verapaz)
Comunidad Carmelita-El Mirador (Petén) Comunidad Chicacnab (Alta Verapaz)
Comunidad Lajchimel (Quiché) Comunidad Pamuc (Alta Verapaz)
Comunidad Paso Caballos (Petén) Comunidad Plan Grande Quehueche (Izabal)
Comunidad Roc já Pomtilá (Alta Verapaz) Comunidad San Lucas Sequilá (Alta Verapaz)
Comunidad El Porvenir (Alta Verapaz) Comunidad Candelaria (Alta Verapaz)
Comunidad La Unión (Petén) Finca Santa Anita (Quetzaltenango)
Comunidad Sepalau (Alta Verapaz) CASODI (Quiché)
Comunidad Santa Isabel (Alta Verapaz) Salto de Chilascó (Baja Verapaz)
San Juan Comalapa (Chimaltenango) San Vicente Pacaya (Escuintla)
Comunidad El Zapote (Petén) San Antonio (Retalhuleu)
Corazón del Bosque (Sololá) Comunidad Mucbilhá (Alta Verapaz)
CECEP (Alta Verapaz)

The destinations represented in FENATUCGUA are characterized for their natural richness and culture, providing added value to Guatemala’s tourist offering. This allows living ancestral cultures and the enormous biodiversity to be known through direct contact with the local and authentic population, experiences which complement those traditional destinations known worldwide.

For more information about our partners´ projects, please communicate with:

Francisco Enríquez.
Tel. (502) 5565-9164.
turismo_comunitario@yahoo.es

Or visit www.redturs.org, where you will find more detailed information on each destination that has its own electronic site.

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The 2nd International Forum of Fair Tourism and Fair Trade (FITS)
From March 24 to 27, 2006, Tuxtla Gutierez, Chiapas, Mexico

The purpose of this Forum was to facilitate the exchange, to promote the reflection and to contribute to the concrete construction of alternatives, combining ecological safeguarding, economic equity, social justice and cultural valorisation. It allowed grassroots organizations from the South to be able to meet those which are specialized in tourism and those specialized in agricultural or handicraft productions, and to meet other actors of these "fair exchanges": NGOs, local governments, consumers associations, media and professionals of the concerned sectors, from North and South.

Increasingly, many grassroots organizations carry out sustainable local development projects, with the concern of using respectful technologies, both for Man and Earth. The reinforcement of these communities depends at the same time on their involvement in national and regional networks and in the implementation of a – scarce - synergy between the various products and services like tourism, each one being able to reinforce the other and the economic autonomy of the communities. Ground visits took place, as well as conferences and workshops, gathering about sixty countries.

Among these workshops, several insisted on the sustainable development of the territory, in particular through tourism. It is the case of a project supported in the Cape Verde by the French network T2D2 (Tourisms, Territories and Sustainable Development). In response to the expressed request, T2D2 proposed to intervene, according to its Alticoba21 methodology (presented in the Newsletters n° 11, 12, 13) to contribute to the creation of a responsible and adapted tourism offer. This approach makes it possible to set up an offer which is at the same time: a) a tool of cultural and tourism development for the rural inheritance of Cape Verde and to succeed in making a differentiated product, accentuating these islands’ tourism identity; b) an income generating activity, in order to fight against desertification and poverty; c) an instrument for a more integrated and more participative management of its natural resources.

Article written by Norbert Trehoux
www.fits.chiapas.gob.mx/
www.t2d2.org

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International Association of Investors in the Social Economy (INAISE)
2006 Annual Conference

INAISE, the International Association of Investors in the Social Economy, is organising its annual conference Innovation for Social Finance on June 1st – 2nd, 2006 in San Sebastian, Spain. The conference is organised in collaboration with Fiare. The programme and registration form are available on the association’s website - http://www.inaise.org as well as on the conference website - www.inaise2006.org.

The conference will be opened by Carlos Ballesteros, University of Comillas, Esteban Barroso, Managing Director of Triodos Bank, Peru Sasia, general manager of Fiare, and Raul Contreras from Enclau. There will be three round tables on different topics, field visits including a visit to MCC Mondragon, as well as workshops : From microfinance to social banking, new tools to finance development; the problem of housing in Europe: financial tools to allow disadvantaged people or joint effort to invert the process?; the financing of small scale renewable energies; social inclusion – in the wake of globalisation, more and more people are becoming informal, casual, temporary or home-based workers. How can INAISE members serve these groups?; production and consumption, financing organic production and fair trade.

Viviane Vandemeulebroucke
Coordinator
www.inaise.org
www.inaise2006.org

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First African Symposium on Fair Trade
April 6th – 9th, 2006 in Bénin
The first African Symposium on Fair Trade was held in Cotonou (Bénin) from April 6th – 9th, with around sixty participants from the various regions of Africa as well as Europe and Canada.

The stakes for Fair Trade in Africa are many and varied. The ex French and British colonies represent sub-regions that share neither the same language nor the same culture, which does not facilitate communication. The lack of infrastructure is a further hindrance to the development of potential African trade (lack of adequate roads, railways and airlines).

Fair Trade is one of the key enabling factors of endogenous local development. Originally an approach based on North-South solidarity, Fair Trade is now in the process of coming of age, to become a tool that the peoples of the South (from Africa and elsewhere) can seize to develop a more equitable alternative to the long-standing form of conventional trade, which exploits grass-roots producers. It allows the preservation and even logical and coherent development and enhancing of traditional and other production (this is particularly for agricultural products, transformed or not, and crafts). It is the opposite of international trade that aims to maximise profits for some, to the detriment of small local producers, whose quality of life is continually diminishing in the North and in the South. It also allows short supply chains to be established between producers and consumers, where all stakeholders are winners in terms of both price and quality. This approach should lead to the added value stages of transformation and packaging being done locally, rather than in the North, as is often the case today. Hopefully it will also lead to development of mutual sales between countries of the South, while respecting the necessity of growing of food crops, which is not always the case today.

In order to become adult, a sector, like a human being needs to overcome certain challenges. This is the present case of Fair Trade. The stakeholders need to learn to work together, mutualise their energies and strengths, build joint capacities, and capitalise on the collective cultural strengths of Africa.

Coming of age also implies learning how to make a point and be heard and to earn respect by being assertive and recognised as a fully-fledged player. This is what is at stake in imposing the voice of Fair Trade in international trade negotiations, be it with the EU (the EPA agreements) or the WTO.

These changes in logic and practice require raising awareness at all levels. They entail reinforcing capacities and communication. The Cotonou symposium laid the foundations for what should be sound future construction, based on people who got to know each other, who are aware of the importance of collective benefits that can come from overcoming language or country barriers and borders, and the importance of working together to jointly develop a true African Fair Trade, as an indispensable element of sustainable and endogenous local development.

Author: Judith Hitchman

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Announcements

A – 4th International Meeting on Globalisation Solidarity (Belgium)Please note that the next meeting will be held April 5th – 8th, 2007. We will share the official announcement in an upcoming newsletter.

B – World Social Forum 2007
The International Council for the WSF has decided the dates for the 2007 meeting. It will be held on January 20th – 25th, in Nairobi, Kenya.
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/index.php?cd_language=2&id_menu=

C – Cooperating in Portuguese
This cooperative initiative dedicated to local development, which Francisco Botelho already shared with us, now hosts its own website.
http://www.cooperaremportugues.org/

D – Workshop on the aging of rural populations and the development of their territories
The Portuguese Association on local development ADRACES is organizing this exchange of experiences among Europeans, with the participation of Gérard Peltre, president of MER (European Countryside Movement). This workshop is one of the itineraries of the Rural European University which will be held in Szolnoz, Hungary from June 29th – July 2nd , 2006. During this event, Camilo Mortagua will present the new magazine, VIVER “Vidas e Veredas da Raia”.
For more information contact : celso.lopes@adraces.pt

Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:

http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/

Special thanks to:Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Anne Vaugelade from France for the Spanish translation

To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca