Travelers’ Philanthropy Conference
Arusha, Tanzania
December 3-5, 2008
“Making Travelers’ Philanthropy Work for Development, Business, and Conservation”
The Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD), a nonprofit research institution based in Washington D.C and at Stanford University, is organizing this international conference with a focus on Africa on Travelers’ Philanthropy. By bringing participants together in Arusha, Tanzania, December 3-5, 2008, CESD aspires to promote and strengthen this emerging form of development assistance generated by travelers and the tourism industry.
What is Travelers’ Philanthropy?
CESD’s Travelers’ Philanthropy program promotes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the travel industry, and encourages individual businesses and their travelers to give “time, talent, and treasure” to support social service and conservation projects in host communities. This is an increasingly important source of development assistance for communities located near tourism destinations.
Over the last decade, an increasing number of tourism businesses around the world have, as part of their core mission, begun supporting community and conservation projects in the destinations where they work. By providing staff time, funds and other resources, tourism businesses are assisting schools, health clinics, orphanages, libraries, conservation research centers, parks and protected areas, and a wide range of other worthy projects. Spearheaded originally by ecotourism businesses, today the number and types of businesses involved in community and conservation projects includes larger resorts, chain hotels, and airlines. And, increasingly, businesses are finding that travelers also want to learn about and provide assistance for projects that address critical social and environmental needs.
Indeed, tourists who visit the developing world frequently wish to help the communities they see. Yet, it is often difficult to know whether their financial contributions or their expertise have a positive impact. It is also often difficult for tourists to obtain tax benefits from their donations. The Travelers’ Philanthropy project addresses these challenges through an international network of lodges, tourism operators, and other tourism businesses that connect potential donors to projects in the host countries. Travelers’ Philanthropy offers a vehicle for tourists to help address local needs by channeling their expertise and providing security and tax-deductibility to their donations.
2008 Travelers’ Philanthropy International Conference with Focus on Africa
Tanzania, a world leader in ecotourism, and Arusha as the gateway to Mt. Kilimanjaro and the northern safari circuit including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, provide an ideal venue for this conference. The Tanzania conference builds upon the initial international Travelers’ Philanthropy conference held at Stanford University in the USA in 2004.
The three-day conference in Arusha will bring together 200-300 practitioners from socially responsible tourism businesses, experts in the field of sustainable tourism and philanthropy, community based organizations and global and regional NGOs doing development work, the United Nations and other development agencies, philanthropic foundations, government, and the media. A growing number of leading tourism businesses, organizations, and international agencies are co-sponsoring this important conference.
The Travelers’ Philanthropy Conference 2008 will provide a venue for collective learning and exchange among the group of global participants. It will facilitate discussion of the tools and capacity needed for effectively running and evaluating community projects. A goal is to move Travelers’ Philanthropy from a mere set of ideals to applied best practices.
More generally, the conference will build media and public interest in socially responsible travel. The conference will include presentations on some of the leading Travelers’ Philanthropy initiatives around the world. It will also offer a range of optional safaris before and after the event, hosted by leading East Africa tour operators that include visits to community and conservation projects.
2008 Conference Program
The theme of the conference will be “Making Travelers’ Philanthropy Work for Development, Businesses, and Conservation”. As such, the conference’s program will emphasize key conceptual and strategic elements of Travelers’ Philanthropy which enables these initiatives, and the operators and clients who support them, to deepen their social and environmental impact in a sustainable way. A diverse line-up of plenary session speakers, presenters, and panel discussants will address key Travelers’ Philanthropy issues which include:
- Making effective, lasting, and strategic investments in social initiatives such as public health, HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment, and education;
- Linking tourism businesses and Travelers’ Philanthropy to the conservation of wildlife, biodiversity, and marine resources at the local level through financial support and economic incentives;
- Designing development projects that target the root social and institutional causes of poverty in Africa and other parts in the world, through social movements for justice, equity, and political voice;
- Addressing climate change and carbon footprint issues facing the travel industry through innovative off-setting and other Travelers’ Philanthropy strategies;
- Using Travelers’ Philanthropy to provide specific training and capacity building for communities, emphasizing local participation and empowerment;
- Developing and spreading tourism business models that fully incorporate ethical and sustainable tourism with Travelers’ Philanthropy as a central element.
In addition to these issues, which will form the basis for the conference’s sessions and panel presentations, CESD will also run a short technical seminar for businesses interested in developing Travelers’ Philanthropy programs. At this “how to” seminar, CESD and representatives from several companies with well developed programs will cover questions such as how to identify which community project to assist, what sorts of corporate involvement and support are appropriate, how to develop a program to involve guests and travelers, and how to set up the legal structures and oversight mechanisms.
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya will give the keynote address at the conference. Other invited speakers include David Western, former director Kenya Wildlife Service; Judy Kepher-Gona of Ecotourism Kenya; Dennis Pinto of Micato Safaris, Les Carlisle of CCAfrica; and Lars Lindkvist, Basecamp Explorer, Masai Mara, Sven Lindblad of Lindblad Expeditions; and Toni Neubauer of Myths & Mountains.
Advisory Committee
• Wendy Wood, Executive Director, Friends of Africa Foundation
• Duncan Beardsley, Director, Generosity in Action
• Lelei LeLaulu, President, Counterpart International
• Jane Crouch, Responsible Travel Coordinator, Intrepid Travel
• Priscilla Macy, Global Sojourns
• Toni Neubauer, President, Myths & Mountains
• Hilary Noon, consultant to Travelers’ Philanthropy program
• Andy Bill, Sierra Marketing Service
• David (Jonah) Western, former director, Kenya Wildlife Service
• Judy Kepher-Gona, Director, Ecotourism Kenya
• Lars Linkvist, CEO, Basecamp Explorer Foundation
• Sonya Bradley, Country Walkers
