Training of Trainers (ToT) for Ecotour Guides

During the Training of Trainers for ecotour guides, ILO will train qualified skilled tour guides to become trainers of ecotour guides. After completing the training, they will be involved directly in rollout trainings. It is hoped that they will have the ability to perform as a master ecotour guide and as a trainer with ability to educate other local tour guides through the defined rollout program. They will also be expected to help the surrounding communities to build their own capacity and develop positive attitudes towards the environment. The trainees will be trained based on national competency standards for ecotour guide (the “SKKNI”).

Background

The government of Indonesia like many other countries in Asia and the Pacific have voluntarily committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020. Indonesia has committed itself to a reduction of 26% (up to 41 per cent with international support) in GHG emissions. In order to achieve this, climate change mitigation planning must be fully integrated into national economic development planning.

The effects of climate change and consequently policies of mitigation and their impact on the world of work are not always fully understood and, in some cases, considered a strain on the economy and competitiveness. The labour authorities’ and the social partners’ (ILO constituents) involvement in the development of comprehensive and coherent climate policies are required. In order to assist the government of Indonesia, the ILO through its regional office in Bangkok has selected Indonesia, as one of the five countries, to implement the Green Jobs in Asia Project.

The objective of this project is to deepen ILO constituents’ understanding and commitment for the promotion of Green Jobs opportunities and an adequate transition for workers and employers towards a low carbon, climate change decelerating, environmentally friendly and socially respectful development in Indonesia. To implement the green jobs demonstration project the Project Advisory Committee for the Green Jobs in Asia project has decided that the demonstration project to be undertaken in the tourism sector where the project would support an existing government program called “Destination Management Organization” (DMO) that is being executed by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (MoTCE).

Based on a preparatory assessment study, the demonstration project would focus to develop two products within the tourism sector, namely, green home stays and eco-tourism. Within these two products, one of the activities that would be undertaken by the green jobs in Asia project for the local stakeholders at the Toba area is eco tour guide training in forms of Training of Trainer (ToT) for the skilled tour guides.

Purpose, Objective and Content

Given the regions competitive advantage in particular with natural resources such as Lake Toba the tourism sector has a lot of potential in becoming a major contributor to the local economic development of the region. Furthermore, the government through the central government has selected Lake Toba as one of their priorities are under the Destination management organization initiative with the purpose to improve the quality of the destination area.

Lake Toba has comparative advantage and attraction for both national and international tourists. There are several tourist spots in the area. It is seen that there is a positive trend of tourist visits to Toba and its surroundings area and simultaneously there are specific demands for the market and private sector to take into account community involvement and most importantly the commitment on preservation of the environment.

With a huge potential of tourism products in Toba and its surrounding areas, there is a large potential and demand for local tour guides to provide eco tour services to accommodate the number of tourists and extend the number of days tourists visits the region, through product diversification. The tour guides should be able to guide, inform, direct, and help the tourists to have a community, environmental, and tourist friendly atmosphere and to ensure a sustainable tourism approach is applied.

One key activity towards this end is that the ILO will conduct a Training of Trainers for ecotour guides, ILO will train qualified skilled tour guides to become trainers of ecotour guides. After completing the training, they will be involved directly in rollout trainings. It is hoped that they will have the ability to perform as a master ecotour guide and as a trainer with ability to educate other local tour guides through the defined rollout program. They will also be expected to help the surrounding communities to build their own capacity and develop positive attitudes towards the environment. The trainees will be trained based on national competency standards for ecotour guide (the “SKKNI”).

Finally, the training will be designed in a way to encourage the participants to be active and propose ideas on how to think, act, train, and advocate to other people on the principles of employment-environment-tourism to support the achievement of sustainable tourism in the lake Toba area.