ITB
For all tour operators among our readers, Eos Visions will again be represented at the world's leading travel trade fair, the ITB in Berlin, from March 10 to 14. You can find us, as usual, on the Rwanda stand (no.122 in hall 21). We strongly encourage you to make an appointment because the days will again be very busy. Please contact Nina at nina@eos-visions.com.
 

ONE
For some time now, Eos Visions has been a partner of ONE, a grassroots campaign and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people who are committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Co-founded by Bono and other campaigners, ONE is nonpartisan and works closely with African policy makers and activists.

As ONE's destination management company in several East African countries, we have been able to witness their impressive work first-hand. ONE believes in achieving change through advocacy. To quote from their website: "We hold world leaders to account for the commitments they've made to fight extreme poverty, and we campaign for better development policies, more effective aid and trade reform. We also support greater democracy, accountability and transparency to ensure policies to beat poverty are implemented effectively."

To learn more, take a look at their website www.one.org and particularly their 2009 recap video (www.one.org/us/2009video/index.html?rc=2009videofb2).
 

Rwanda named global host of 2010 World Environment Day
Coordinated by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) every year on June 5, World Environment Day aims to be the biggest global celebration for positive environmental action. In 2009, people in more than 80 countries registered activities. This year's global host will be Rwanda, "an African nation that, despite big challenges, is seizing the multiple opportunities possible from Green Economic policies", to quote UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The Government of Rwanda has decided that the culmination point of the celebrations will consist of the 2010 Kwita Izina "gorilla naming" ceremony, that is held annually at the foot of the Virunga mountains. This year's theme is "raising global awareness of biodiversity conservation as we give names to our baby gorillas". Other activities during the celebration week will include community service (umuganda), a bicycle race, a conservation conference, the launch of community projects and a community party.

For interested visitors, Eos Visions has developed a special World Environment Day 5-day itinerary of Rwanda that will showcase the country's progress in environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, and allow the participants to be part of the Kwita Izina celebrations. For more information, please contact Cecile at cecile@eos-rwanda.com.

Educational tourism in Nairobi's slum areas
For a few years, major Nairobi slums like Kibera have seen an influx of tourists who want to "take a look" and "see" for themselves the "misery" of the slum dwellers. Many of these commercial tours have been criticized by development and human rights activists - most of the time rightly so. They create only few opportunities for mutually beneficial exchange, frequently bring hardly any financial benefits for the inhabitants whose backyards they use, and usually disregard the potential negative socio-cultural impacts of such visits.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that similar visits can actually create a variety of income-generating opportunities as well as occasions for mutual learning and exchange. The question is how to get it right, empower the community, avoid patronizing actions, set up solid and honest structures, and attract visitors who are genuinely interested in such an approach.

With our experience from similar urban educational tourism projects in disadvantaged suburbs of both Kigali and Bujumbura, we have now teamed up with a group of young and creative inhabitants of the Nairobi slum Dandora. They want to portray a very different image of their home area - one that is full of innovation, micro-entrepreneurship and hope. The project is not yet ready to host its first clients, but, with more mentoring and support to set up functioning structures, interested Eos Visions visitors to Kenya will soon be able to enjoy this unusual opportunity. For more information, please contact Susan at susan@eos-kenya.com.

Lobbying for a change of visa policies in Burundi
In early February, the sad news reached us that Burundi has changed its visa policies and is no longer offering visas to purchase at an entry point, including the airport. All visitors now need to purchase their visa in advance at the Burundian embassy closest to their home. Not only does this cause major disruptions for tourism and business, but this also makes it more or less impossible for certain nationals to visit Burundi at all. Australians and New Zealanders, for example, would now have to first travel e.g. to India where the closest Burundian embassy is located...

The policy change remained unknown even in relevant government circles and it was an open letter published by our Burundian Eos Visions director Carmen Nibigira that finally started a major public discussion. Among others, the letter was published by the East African Business Week (www.busiweek.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3102&Itemid=35). Until now, nothing has changed. And the fact that Burundi is gearing up towards national elections certainly does not help either. But we will continue to lobby strongly for a change of the new visa policies.