The final meeting on the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum for Sustainable Tourism Project, which focused on the appropriation and dissemination of the results, was organised by International and Ibero-American Foundation of Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) in Madrid, Spain recently.

The Gambian delegation to the conference was led by Dr. Mariama Sarr-Ceesay, Minister of Higher Education Research, Science and Technology and representatives of the National Training Authority /NTA, the Association of Small Scale Enterprise in Tourism /ASSET and the Gambia Hotel School.

In collaboration with ASSET, the (NTA) partnered with FIIAPP and through the support of the European Union contributed significantly to the development of the curriculum document. The partnership in this venture also included four other countries, namely: Bolivia, Morocco, Nicaragua and Senegal.

The curriculum for sustainable tourism was first validated in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and then piloted in The Gambia in June 2011. The University of Don Carlos III in Spain, two local teachers and 20 students participated in the piloting phase, which was facilitated by NTA and ASSET.

Addressing the conference on the theme “Gender, Sustainable Tourism and Training”, Minister Sarr-Ceesay deliberated on main-streaming gender in all aspects of development which features in the Project.She dilated emphatically on gender and skills acquisition while contextualising the importance of poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals.

She argued that “Sustainable Tourism cannot be sustained in the absence of women” and challenged the participants to devise strategies of making tourism sustainable through responsible tourism. This will ensure that all stakeholders including tourists take care of the environment and desist from the abuse of girls and women.

The Minister referred to TVET as the “the engine of growth and development for all countries especially the third world”.She highlighted the challenges of the mindset towards TVET in the Third world with specific reference to the Gambia and further encouraged the Conference to work together in this venture.

The General Manager of ASSET and NTA’s Standards Development Specialist also presented papers on good practices on Gender and Sustainable Tourism and the appropriation and dissemination of the outcomes of the project.