Jan 13

Making tourism better

“Our everyday life is someone else’s adventure”

~ Greg Richards, Cultural Tourism: Global and Local Perspectives

This is the basic foundation for all tourist activities. People leave their homes to travel, and in the process, seek out the opportunity to see and experience life through the eyes of another. Some take that more seriously, working to participate in the most authentic experiences possible, while others are satisfied to just experience the staged activities, beaches, shopping and food of another locale. Regardless of the type of tourist experience, the tourism industry is an extremely powerful multi-billion dollar force in the global economy. “As the largest business sector in the world economy, the Travel and Tourism Industry is responsible for over 230 million jobs and over 10% of the gross domestic product worldwide” (The International Ecotourism Society, 2006, p. 1).

Tourism has been used as a model for economic development and cultural preservation around the world. It is seen as a way to bring foreign dollars into the local economy and as a way to create employment and monetary gains for the citizens of the destination. Unfortunately, tourism has not lived up to its promised benefits and often other foreign nations, and not the destination, benefit from the economic resources generated by tourists and tourism. “Although mass tourism was originally embraced by many countries as a ‘smokeless’ (nonpolluting) industry that could increase employment and gross national product, evidence quickly grew that its economic benefits were marginal and its social and environmental costs high” (Honey, 1999, p. 9). Continue reading

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Jan 12

Our Arrogance is Partly to Blame

It would seem that to address social problems around the globe requires celebrities and western donor nations. When the earthquake hit Haiti in January of 2010, it appeared as though nothing would happen unless you donated to a big American charity. For of course, Haitians would be unable to do anything without us. In the view of the media coverage and awareness campaigns, without your dollars and support the entire Haitian nation would crumble.

Yes, the need was great and it was assisted by an influx of money from powerful nations but on the ground digging through the rubble were Haitian neighbors and organizations trying to save the people they know and love. NGOs that have been in Haiti for years, struggling to meet incredible needs with minimal resources, were still there, trying to take on the incredible burden. Many never received your dollars. Though they probably know more about the people, the culture and how to bring about change within the country, they would need to go through ten levels of bureaucracy to access your funds. Instead individuals that have never worked a day in Haiti were running around trying to device on the spot plans in the middle of chaos. Continue reading

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Jan 11

Dig Deeper -10 Commandments for Social Entrepreneurship

We are starting a weekly series of suggestions for would-be Social Entrepreneurs interested in developing social ventures called the 10 Commandments for Social Entrepreneurship. This series will cover initiatives that are designed to address any social problem around the globe and include 10 things that every socail entrepreneur must think or do before they jump in. This week we command that:

Thou Shalt Dig Deeper

So you see a problem. This problem bothers you immensely. You wish that you could do something to change and/or stop this problem. You are passionate about it and you talk to your friends and family all the time about this problem. One day a light bulb goes off and you realize you know exactly how to solve this problem. You write down this idea and it expands to a plan that you see you could, personally, implement. You begin to pull together the necessary resources, the people and the systems that you need to address this problem and you think you are ready to jump in. At this point or hopefully sooner, you should stop, take one more look and see if you can go deeper.

Are there any other people or organizations on this earth doing this work that you don’t know about it? Have they tried a similar method and learned there is a barrier to achieving a positive outcome? For many big (and even little) social Continue reading

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Jan 10

Social Entrepreneur Empowerment Series

January 11 – 20 and February 8-17, 2011 Social Entrepreneurs and those interested in the field of social entrepreneurship can tune into to receive insight and information from the leaders in the field. This global tele-summit event will allow you to learn how some of the world’s leaders in social entrepreneurship work to bring about global change. To learn more or to register go to http://www.socialentrepreneurempowerment.com/

We will be tuning in and will provide feedback and highlights on the blog.

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Jan 10

Development Innovation Ventures Fund

In October 2010, USAID announced that they had awarded 8 organizations with Development Innovation Ventures Grants. These grants seek to work with a variety of partners to create innovative scalable solutions to core development challenges.

Here are a brief profile of some of the awarded organizations and how they plan to use the funding: Continue reading

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