EASTERN PROVINCE

BUGESERA — Mayange sector advisory council Wednesday signed a pact with tour operators; New Dawn Associates (NDA) and Rwanda Nziza Tourism cooperative to jointly promote community tourism.

After signing the pact at Mbyo community settlement, Michael Grosspietsch, the Director General of NDA, said that the move serves to bind the partnership between the council, the cooperative and NDA with clear defined roles and responsibilities of each party.

NDA is a Rwanda-European partnership with a mission to harness intellectually challenging high quality tourism as a tool for poverty reduction, sustainable development, peace building, raising awareness and cultural exchanges.

The president of the advisory council, Pierre Celestin Twagirayezu Nsenga, said that under the new pact, they would cooperate on a wide range of issues that include poverty eradication and peace building.

Twagirayezu noted that the council aims at developing community tourism based on rural activities in collaboration with partners and donors.

"With this arrangement, the local population will gain money and knowledge that will help them overcome poverty," he said.

Rwanda Nziza Tourism Cooperative was founded by 180 Mayange residents with an aim of developing community-based tourism.

Innocent Mukwiye, the president of the cooperative, expressed optimism that the pact would draw more tourists to Rwanda and Mayange in particular.

Under the contract, benefits accruing from tourists would be directly passed on to members of the cooperative.

During the same function, NDA also handed over a cheque of $1,640 (about Frw 908,650) to the council president, towards the construction of houses for vulnerable people in the area.

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