Armenia gets set for sustainable tourism

Photo: Integrated Rural Tourism Development Event: Discovering rural wonders at their best and delivering them to the world.

Twenty-four Managers from Armenia undertook the Project Management for Sustainable Development Certification Training

Armenia is shaping its future to be a unique sustainable destination, building capacities in effective tourism planning and managing.

A diverse group of tourism and development professionals from across Armenia has joined a blended training program on PM4SD (Project Management for Sustainable Development), and successfully completed the first segment, a 3-week-long tailored online training course.

The participants then undertook an onsite face-to-face training session taking place in Yerevan), to complete their training and to prepare for the PM4SD-Foundation certification.

Before the on site training, on December 19th, a public event, "Armenia, the path to sustainable tourism" was  organized by UNDP, with the aim of bringing key stakeholders of the tourism value chain to build a common vision and an action plan for sustainable tourism development at the destination level.

"Tourism provides important opportunities for Armenia, and in particular for rural communities and undiscovered destinations, but we need to ensure tourism growth is sustainable. That’s why it’s critical to focus on training and capacity building. With many of our project managers and planners becoming PM4SD certified, we are able to create a pool of experts who will be able to deliver tangible and lasting benefits through our tourism projects." Said Arman Valesyan, Project Coordinator, UNDP Armenia Integrated Rural Tourism Development (IRTD) Project

Delivered by Jlag (PM4SD Accredited Training Organisation) and TrainingAid for UNDP Armenia, this blended training program provides the opportunities for participants to apply best practices in their own project context, helping improve various local and regional projects supporting sustainable tourism development and destination management.

This blended training program has been delivered as part of the Integrated Rural Tourism Development (IRTD) project, which is financed by the Russian Federation and implemented by UNDP Armenia in close partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development.

The training will serve a first pilot strategic action to certify sustainable management skills, with the goal of supporting long-term objective of creating sustainable income-generating opportunities to reduce rural poverty, and to empower community members to achieve sustainable development"It has been great to learn about many innovative and forward-thinking project examples from across Armenia, addressing key development challenges and sustainability issues through tourism. With their newly acquired knowledge in effective project management, our training participants will be able to approach their projects in a smarter, more efficient and productive manner, focusing on making a difference for the sustainable development of rural communities." Said Silvia Barbone, PM4SD Trainer, Managing Director, Jlag

Relevant links

UNDP Armenia IRTD project website:

http://www.am.undp.org/content/armenia/en/home/operations/projects/poverty_reduction/integrated-rural-tourism-development–.html

Valere Tjolle

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