Workshop:Sustainability Certification Systems in the Tourism Sector focusing on Travelife

Date: June 16th 2021

This workshop has been postponed to a future date. The new date Will be updated in the next few days. The team of the GreenTU project want to ask for apologies to those interested in taking part in this event.

If you are interested in knowing how to make your tourism company more sustainable and how to get benefitted from the project’s results, do not hesitate to join the GreenTU project team for this workshop.

GreenTU Project: GREEN TOURISM IN UGANDA WORKSHOPS

From February 2018, the partnership between Uganda Tourism Association, Uganda Community Tourism Association and Gaiker Foundation have been implementing “Greening the Tourism Sector in Uganda”, GreenTU project, funded by the European Commission through the Switch Africa Green Programme.

The project’s main objective is to enhance the sustainability of the Tourism Sector to boost the inclusive green economy in the country through the promotion and implementation of SCP practices, environmental management systems, and sustainability certification systems in the MSMEs.

After three years of implementing the project, the GreenTU team will share the results achieved and invite a number of representatives of the Tourism sector in Uganda to a series of 4 workshops that will take place online between May and July. In these workshops, we will show the project results and how companies of this sector, mainly accommodation companies and tour operators, can benefit from the results achieved.

The dates for the 4 workshops are the following:

  1. Environmental Management System ISO 14001 in the accommodation sector Date: May 5th 2021 DONE! https://youtu.be/IB_zd2ShOU8
  2. Sustainable Consumption and Production practices in the accommodation sector Date: May 19th 2021 https://youtu.be/1oymXuTe41Q
  3. Sustainability Certification Systems in the Tourism Sector focusing on Travelife Date: This workshop has been postponed to a future date. The new date Will be updated in the next few days. The team of the GreenTU project want to ask for apologies to those interested in taking part in this event.
  4. Sustainability in the Tourism Sector Date: July 21st 2021

If you are interested in knowing how to make your tourism company more sustainable and how to get benefitted from the project’s results, do not hesitate to join the GreenTU project team for these workshops.

This project is co-financed by the Switch Africa Green Programme, which is implemented by UN Environment with the financial support of the European Union (Grant Contract – External Actions of the European Union – ENV/2017/391-388).

The UDB and the EU create the tourism intervention fund in Uganda to help the Ugandan tourism sector to soar through the hardship of COVID19

The Uganda Development Bank (EDB) in partnership with European Union (EU) has allocated funds in form of a grant attached to a loan (also known as ‘facility’) to enable the sector soar through the hardship of COVID19. The facility seeks to stimulate businesses operating in the tourism sector, which has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 by providing a grant and soft loan with flexible terms aligned to the current needs of the sector. A total approximate pool of UGX 61.8 Billion (UGX 40Bn UDB loan plus UGX 21.8Bn EU Grant) has been set aside for this intervention. The EU grant is subject to the signing of an agreement between EU and UDB.

The agreed tourism intervention fund is in line with the activities developed in the framework of the project GreenTU funded by the Switch Africa Green Programme and, more precisely, with

• Output 1 – Improved sustainability and resource efficiency of the Tourist Accommodation Sector in Uganda and compliance with internationally recognised EMS ISO14001,
• Output 2 – Promoted green commercialisation and consumption by implementing sustainability certification in the MSMEs of the Tourism Sector in Uganda, and
• Output 4 – Increased awareness and commitment of governmental institutions and financing bodies in SCP practices and Sustainable Tourism’s benefits.

A call for applications is currently opened and the deadline to apply has been extended to October 30th at 5 pm.

The call defines the eligibility criteria to be fulfilled by any applicant and the eligible expenditures under the facility that can be financed. At this regard, it must be highlighted that the certification costs of ISO 14001:2015 and Travelife are eligible. Therefore, for those companies involved in the project GreenTU that have been working in:

• the implementation of an environmental management system according to the standard ISO 14001:2015, and/or
• the implementation of the tourism sustainability certification Travelife at their facilities,

this call for applications constitutes an excellent opportunity to finance the certification costs of the ISO 14001:2015 and/or Travelife, what would be the culmination of the hard work done during the last 2 years.

All the information about this call for applications is available at https://www.udbl.co.ug/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UDB-CALL-FOR-APPLICATIONS-TOURISM-INTERVENTION-FUND.pdf.

Informative Workshop in Jinja

The objective of this workshop was to present the project to the MSMEs of the Tourism Sector in Jinja and nearby areas, which is a relevant tourist region. Besides, the activities that will be carried out within the project were explained and MSMEs of the Tourism Sector were motivated to participate in the project.

Representatives of the MSMEs of the Tourism Sector, Academia team and representatives from the Busoga Kingdom attended the event.

Informative Workshop in Kampala

The main objective of this workshop was to present the project to the MSMEs of the Tourism Sector, explain the activities that will be carried out within the project and motivate MSMEs of the Tourism Sector to participate in the project.

The event counted with the participation of the Hon. Minister for Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities Prof.Ephraim Kamuntu, the EU representative Mr. Jean Baptiste Fauvel, and the President of UTA, Ms. Pearl Hoareau. Representatives of the MSME of the Tourism Sector attended the event.

Kick off Meeting in Kampala

The kick off meeting took place in the Hotel Africana in Kampala, in which the project was launched. It was the first face to face meeting between partners. The objective of this meeting was to review the activities and define a strategy to fulfil the targets of the project.