What has been done

For the purpose of making the Ecodialogue project and its objectives known by social segments as wide as possible, posters and brochures promoting the project were designed and reproduced.

Training materials that were to be prepared for a group of 140 people who participate in the training programme, comprising of local tour guides, and representatives of local tourism operators, regional public institutions and organisations and local non-governmental organisations were distributed to the participants during and at the end of the trainings.

A total of 3 training seminars were organised with the participation of 75 people. The trainings were provided by 2 trainers coming from the Tourism and Hotel management Highschool in Karadeniz Technical University. Slide shows were included during the trainings.

Rize Provincial Director of Associations shall make a presentation on creating and sustaining solidarity among NGOs regarding the environmental protection and ecotourism field during these trainings.  A representative from Rize Provincial Directorate of Environment and Forests also made a presentation on the fields of nature preservation, tourism certification programmes, ecotourism certification programmes and National Pars and sustainability.

Trainings, the most important activity of the project, shall be carried out in groups of 23-24 people. Each group were accommodated for 2 days at a hotel organised in Ayder Plateau for an intensive training comprising of 8 hours of courses per day. An informative meeting was conducted at the beginning of each training programme. The trainings were implemented for a total of 75 people comprising of 4 groups with 23-24 people each, and were repeated in fixed intervals for a period of 3 months.

With the trust and companionship atmosphere created among all participants during the trainings and the communication to be produced, foundations of a cooperation needed in the region will also be laid.

An information and attitude measurement and assessment test was applied to the participants at the beginning and at the end of the trainings for the purpose of determining whether or not the trainings achieved their purpose. The test and the assessment report were prepared by the project team. A web page was set up for achieving project objectives. A portal was designed to post in Turkish language inside this web page where people of all ages within the project target group may tell their stories.Thus, the infrastructure of a network among particularly project’s direct and indirect beneficiaries and project interest lobbies was prepared over the web page. In this we page, news on ecotourism and environment and up-to-date information were also included. Also, a network comprising of an e-group where training programme participants, assessment meeting participants and all interested institutions and organisations may participate was created in order to establish an environment where information exchange is facilitated and opinions, issues and resolution proposals may be exchanged.

Two press meetings were realised at the beginning and the end of the project, effectively promoting the project.

A certification ceremony was held for participants to the training after the end of the project. Aside from the training participants, representatives from NGOs, public institutions and organisations and municipalities also attended the ceremony.

During this ceremony, the importance of the cooperation among NGOs, local populace and public institutions and organisations regarding ecotourism and environment protection was highlighted