Sustainable tourism based on natural resource management with gender balance towards women.

Strongbow‐ a project specifically designed for capacity building within HEIs in the fields of natural resource management, tourism and (eco) tourism constitutes a powerful programme to address an important set of interwoven, problematic issues. The project has been constructed to fully take into consideration the four priorities of the NICHE programme: these are (a) focus on gender; (b) response to market demand; (c] use of local expertise; and (d) organisational learning. The basic strategy of exposure, networking and sharing embodies the concept of the Ethiopian beneficiaries being linked, in a reciprocal way, to institutions in Europe and within the region (South Africa), in order to build capacity through learning from proven, positive experience. This project strategy has been designed entirely around the principle of sustainability: staff training (including 10 PhDs and 100 MScs); gender balancing; continuous professional development; ownership in terms of management and organisation; establishing demand‐driven research and linkages with stakeholders; investments in the key area of (eco) tourism, based on sound natural resource management; catering to labourmarket needs and the involvement of the private sector.

Keywords:Capacity Building, Eco-tourism, Natural Resource management, Ethiopia

Disciplines:Economic development, innovation, technological change and growth