(CREAD) -On February 5, 2021, the Kalinago Territory Tourism Cluster in Dominica will be competing against six other Caribbean-based projects for Compete Caribbean funding of a USD$400,000 technical assistance grant for implementation.
The seven Community-Based Tourism (CBT) projects with high impact potential have been developed over the past three months with the support of national and international consultants and will pitch their concepts to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Compete Caribbean’s Investment Panel on Friday. More details here.
Dominica’s Cluster Development Plan (CDP) proposes a concept that will increase the contribution of CBT in a selected cluster area, and by extension, that of the tourism sector in Dominica. Key Cluster members and beneficiaries are the indigenous people of the Kalinago Territory, and the Dominica Essential Oils and Spices Cooperative (DEOSC) in the southeast of Dominica.
The cluster proposes to leverage these assets for the attraction of more visitors and is a sustainable approach to tourism development in the local communities. There are 24 businesses within the Kalinago community with 16 of these being owned and managed by women. There is a total employment of over 200 people, 60% of whom are women.
The DEOSC has 564 active members, more than half of whom are women, located in various rural communities, primarily in Southeastern Dominica, and engages in the cultivation of bay leaves and spices. On implementation, the project will benefit the targeted communities by creating more employment while helping to sustain the livelihoods of residents who are highly dependent on the tourism sector. CREAD and the Ministry of Tourism are the lead entities in the project.
