Aims and objectives

The overall objective of the project is to facilitate the development of rural tourism in Ukraine, by enhancing the capacity building process within local/regional authorities, non-profit NGOs, professional associations and SMEs, so that planning, management and animation of rural tourism become more efficient. Within this remit, to the project aims:

• To provide opportunities for managers and animators of rural development to engage in non-formal learning, in order to improve their skills and competences in the field of sustainable rural tourism and become competent to support initiatives originating at local level.
• To provide “training of trainers” so that local development “leaders” (managers and animators of rural development) are enabled to act as trainers of the “actors” of rural tourism, i.e. the local population and entrepreneurs (farmers, craftsmen and other service providers).

More specifically the project intends:

• To transfer knowhow and experience on the development of sustainable rural tourism from all over Europe to existing or potential local development leaders in rural areas of Ukraine, by offering face-to-face structured courses and distance learning courses.
• To introduce peer-learning and experience-based learning methodologies, allowing the target group of the project to improve their competences on a day-to-day, on-going basis.
• To raise awareness on key concepts and practices, such as those referring to the provision of quality tourism, environment-friendly tourism, sound and responsible entrepreneurship and endogenous development of tourism.
• To introduce best practice in the field of sustainable rural tourism that has been successfully tested in EU and Phare countries and guide the target group to develop local tourism initiatives as “pilot actions”.
• To encourage communication and networking among similar organisations and individuals involved in rural tourism development within Ukraine and between Ukraine and the rest of Europe, to ensure continuous exchange of experience and opportunities for joint work.
• To disseminate the project results as widely as possible in Ukraine and other TACIS countries, and promote networking among relevant actors.