Beyond ‘voluntourism’: Can you help Rwanda with sustainable tourism and community development?
Dripping with sustainable tourism and community development potential, the Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda, along with the Virunga Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Bwindi Park in Uganda, make up the famous Virunga Massif whose eight volcanoes are the only habitat in the world for mountain gorillas.
In Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park will be expanded. Over the next five years, the 13,000-hectare protected area will gain an additional 10,000 hectares. Some 2,860 hectares will be used for park activities while more than 7,000 hectares will be set aside as a buffer zone, an area between the park and the people, benefiting both.
As part of our program to promote sustainable tourism and community development around Volcanoes National Park, Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development is advocating ecotourism and cultural tourism.
We believe ecotourism and cultural tourism activities can generate considerable benefits for our communities, as well as provide invaluable intercultural and knowledge exchange beyond traditional ‘voluntourism’.
Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development involves the local population in everything it does. In that spirit, we wish to forge partnerships with like-minded individuals and organisations from around the world to help us progress our sustainable tourism and community development projects.
If you are interested in partnering with us, we at Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development would love to hear from you. Please email info@redrocksinitiative.org.
We have created a collaborative environment wherein the local community can work together with us and our partners to position ecotourism and cultural tourism activities as competitive uses of the land — creating jobs, stimulating local micro-enterprise development, promoting local procurement, developing skills and knowledge, and ultimately improving livelihoods within and around Volcanoes National Park — all the while conserving what makes the region unique.
Our long-term objective is to ensure that local people can enhance and leverage their skills in agriculture, trade, art, music, education, and much more, so that our communities can raise their living standards while conserving their environment and honouring their traditional ways of life.
We also engage in global advocacy through sharing our experiences and urging the tourism industry to step up their sense of environmental, social, and cultural responsibility. Our partnership with The “Good Tourism” Blog is just one example of this.
Read more “GT” content about Red Rocks Rwanda & Red Rocks Initiative
A few of our sustainable tourism and community development projects
At home in Rwanda we have launched many projects, all of which are helping local communities adjacent to Volcanoes National Park gain access to better education and training, improved health, as well as higher sustainable incomes and outcomes.
Some of these include: … Read the full story at The “Good Tourism” Blog. It’s free and friendly.
