Sayari Dunia Sustainable Tourism Foundation SDSTF, a sustainable tourism and climate action non-profit operating at the nexus of tourism, trade and sustainability and targeting youths, women, MSMEs, communities and cities, has just launched its green tourism entrepreneurship programme known as STEP4GDP.
STEP4GDP stands for Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship Pathway for Green Development Programme and it aims to empower 10,000 youths and women and create 10,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs in 5 years in the decade of action.
Sayari Dunia in its 2022 annual report presented the pilot scheme of the Africa green tourism entrepreneurship initiative, STEP4GDP.
The pilot scheme was on Saturday, March 16th, 2024 launched via the Women in Tourism Trade and Sustainability Africa WITTSA programme which saw 50 women empowered with Eco-Adire and Batik textile design green skills.
The 50 STEP4GDP WITTSA women learnt the various techniques and textile designs in the Eco-Adire and Batik making class which was devoid of the use of Kerosene (fossil fuel) stoves characterized with carbon emissions whilst in use.
Sayari Dunia invented the green technique to transition the textile art tourism heritage from carbon emitting production processes to green and eco- friendly production process. This is in line with the United nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production which aims to produce in sustainable ways that will reverse the harm on the planet. It also aligns with the UN Tourism Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism which recommends tourism businesses, ecosystem and value chain to decarbonize operations and production processes for a net zero economy.
This also forms part of the 20 (Twenty) recommendations arising from the Africa Tourism Climate Action Forum ATCAF maiden edition in November 2023 that posits green tourism entrepreneurship.
The 50 trainees will further be empowered with business and entrepreneurship skills, seed capital, certificates and market access.
The organization is currently open to partnerships and collaboration that will advance the objectives of the programme.
Sayari Dunia which at its last annual conference, the Africa Tourism Climate Action Forum ATCAF declared the year 2024 as the Year of The Woman advocating for women’s inclusion and empowerment in climate governance, policies, adaptation and resilience interventions and financing, will continue to craft green pathways for tourism entrepreneurship to empower Africa, mitigate climate change and foster sustainable tourism enterprise and development.