Activities

In the context of the project "Capacity Building of Village Government Institutions and Social Forestry Management to Develop Community-Based Ecotourism", a collaboration between GIZ PROPEAT and DESMA Center, a series of training on ecotourism development was conducted for youth groups, Pokdarwis, village governments, HKm management groups in Atap Village and Setabu Village, Binusan Village and Belagaone Mangrove Ecotourism Area in Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan.

The Introduction to Tourism and Ecotourism Training and Training on Itinerary & Tour Quotation Preparation were the opening trainings in this 4-day training series. The training was held on 15 and 17 November 2021 at Hotel Neo Fortuna, Nunukan, North Kalimantan from 08:00 to 18:00 WITA. The training was given by DESMA Center team speaker Wiwik Mahdayani, as well as DESMA Center co-trainers Dwi Setijo Widodo and Dicky Mardyan who provided an introduction to basic tourism and ecotourism knowledge and good practices carried out in other destinations.  

The training was opened by the Head of UPTD KPH Nunukan, Mr Roy Leonard Agus, S.Hut, and started with Indonesia Raya song and prayer. Participants were divided into several groups, then given an explanation of the training mechanism and tasks that would be presented on the 4th day of training. The training was divided into several sessions, namely introduction to tourism and ecotourism, identification of village potential that can be packaged into tour packages, preparation of tour package itineraries and tour quotations.  

Participants' ability to understand and accept the material varied. Some participants were able to accept quickly, but others needed more time.  Nonetheless, participants who have had tourism operationalisation experience but not by training with structured tourism education and knowledge. Therefore, their knowledge and understanding of tourism is based on their own experiences and inferences. In general, the results provided by the participants are quite good although more practice and direct implementation are needed. 

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The project "Capacity Building of Village Government Institutions and Social Forestry Management to Develop Community-based Ecotourism" implemented by DESMA Centre, is a Peatland Management and Rehabilitation Project-GIZ PROPEAT, which is implemented in the context of Indonesia-Germany government cooperation in reducing emissions from the forestry sector and improving the lives of rural communities.

One of the GIZ PROPEAT programmes is to strengthen the capacity of village governments and village forest managers in an effort to support sustainable peat and mangrove management. As a form of conservation of environmental utilisation and protection through sustainable ecotourism management.

Within this framework, GIZ PROPEAT together with DESMA Centre conducted a series of activities that included (1) Developing a feasibility study of community-based ecotourism in Atap and Setabu Villages, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan; (2) Developing a Village Ecotourism Master Plan for Atap Village and Setabu Village, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan (3) Facilitating and implementing integrated concepts and practices for the development of Sustainable Village Ecotourism with Pokdarwis and Village Officials in Atap and Setabu Villages, Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan; with capacity building activities through a series of training and coaching, institutional strengthening and assistance in drafting village regulations on ecotourism.