MALAWI

Human Capital for the Tourism Sector in Malawi

A Training Project on Three Tracks

Read here our successtory:

PERIOD 2007 – 2012

OBJECTIVE The central objective of this project is threefold:
A. The first objective is the development of three complementary educational training programs in function of the tourism sector in Malawi and training trainers to give these programs throughout Malawi.
B. Secondly the project wants to strengthen local capacity by providing professional advice and consultancy in the format of problem specific workshops to several existing and starting local enterprises within the tourism sector.
C. Thirdly the project wants to support the Malawi Government, i.e. the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture in valorizing the educational tourism training programs and building standards.

PARTNERS In collaboration with the Malawi Government, i.e. the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture, the Malawi Institute for Tourism and Mzuzu University, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

COLLABORATION Collaboration with Living Stone Centrum Intercultureel Ondernemen, Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven, Departement Economisch Hoger Onderwijs K.H.Leuven/ECHO

BUDGET Funded by the Flemish Ministry of Administrative Affairs, Foreign Policy, Media and Tourism.

PART 1 THREE EDUCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS

DESCRIPTION 2007: research by Living Stone Dialoog in tourism education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife & Culture and Mzuzu University
2008 – 2009: development of 3 trainings for Malawi
08/2009: Training (2 weeks) ‘Train the trainer for tourguiding’, 35 participants in Malawi, trained by 5 LS Dialoog trainers. The 35 trainees are able to pass on their knowledge in tourguiding to future tourguides. The training was officialy closed with a ceremony, in the presence of the Hon. Minister Anna Kachikho, Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture.
04/2010: Implementation of the module “Small & Medium Enterprise Development in the Tourism Sector”, by a team of 4 trainers/experts (Greet Vandenboer of KHLeuven, Bert Teuwen of European Investment Bank, Bob Elsen and Manuel Minne van LSD) . During 2 weeks (40 hours) 25 future local participants were trained.
08/2010: Train the trainer for tourguiding is offered for the second time by 4 trainers to 25 new Malawi trainees. This training took place in the Malawi Institute of Tourism in Blantyre.
11/2010: 3th part “Sustainable Tourism Product Development” for decision makers in the public and private sector

PART 2 AUDIT + “IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS”-WORKSHOP FOR ENTERPRENEURS

DESCRIPTION 2009:Besides the development of these three complementary training programs and the train-the-trainer formations the project also wants to support some already existing local tourism enterprises/ key projects by giving practical advice and consultancy in the form of “problem specific” workshops. In this way the project takes full advantage of the presence of foreign tourism trainers and experts in Malawi and support is also given to already existing small and medium enterprises next to the education sector.
2010: selection of the businesses, in cooperation with the Malawi Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture. Gender equality was important.
April 2010: The trainers of “Small & Medium Enterprise Development in the Tourism Sector” did a professional audit with a SWOT-analysis. RESULTS & OUTCOMES Three professionally designed and tested training programs exist. Malawi has a group of 61 well trained trainers that can train the local population in three prioritized domains. Living Stone Dialoog has contributed to the libraries of the Mzuzu University and the Malawi Institute. 31 tourism enterprises were improved and empowered through consultancy and problem specific “Improve Your Business”-workshops. Malawi has high quality training programs in tourism according to international standards, ready for certification.The owners of the training programs will implement the trainings in existing or new structures within their educational institutes. The training for Tour Guides is a usable tool for the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture. There is a model for three training programs in tourism. The Mzuzu University and the Malawi Institute for Tourism are part of the knowledge transfer. The base has been created for a sustainable cooperation between the Mzuzu University and the University College of Leuven. The relationship between the department of Foreign Policy, Administrative Affairs, Media and Tourism of the Flemish Government and the department of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture of the Malawi Government has been positively strengthened.

CURRENT SITUATION & FUTURE Project ended.

Reviews:

“The content of the training material was unique for us, I am so delighted with it”
“The training was an eye opener and will help me to network more with all kind of partners”
“I learnt about the little things we turn to overlook in a tour”
“Every part of designing a package (before, during, after) was beneficial to us. We will not forget it in the future”