Project Sumaheet

Project Name: SUMAHEET (Sustainably Managed Adventurous Heritage based Ecotourism Project)
Region: Madhya Pradesh
Focus Area: Chandanpura Village (Chhatarpur District, Madhya-Pradesh)
SIF Partner: HariTika

Project Goal

Developing eco- friendly Home-Stays to promote increased linkages between tourism and ecology/agriculture that will generate economic investment opportunities, build resilience in rural tribal communities and enhance the sustainable development of both the tourism and agriculture sector.

Current Situation Of Farmers

A large population in India, staying in rural areas, are still primarily dependent on traditional age old practice i.e. cultivation. But the profit generated from agriculture is falling down day by day and these villagers are lacking sufficient alternative job scope. This situation is forcing them to settle down in nearby urban localities in search of better income and better livelihood. Read more about tribals in Madhya Pradesh in this article.

Strategy:  Promoting increased linkages between tourism and ecology/agriculture

Madhya Pradesh offers a wide canvas of tourism products like religious tourism, wildlife tourism, forts, palaces, lakes, sanctuaries, adventure tourism, rural tourism, aqua tourism etc. It has become a popular destination for tourists from all over India as well as from other countries. If agro/eco-tourism is developed nearby heritage sites and managed using a participatory approach, then these villagers will get an adequate number of alternative jobs that can possibly reduce the tendency of leaving native villages and it will improve their socio-economic condition.

The purpose of the project is to promote increased linkages between tourism and ecology/agriculture that will generate economic investment opportunities and build resilience in rural tribal communities and enhance the sustainable development of both the tourism and agriculture sector.

Objectives

• Demonstrate ecological and aesthetic building techniques that will definitely; 
  • Contribute towards conservation of habitats, flora and fauna
  • Preserve traditions, heritage, architecture and cultural uniqueness
• To encourage resource efficiency by promoting the use of renewable energy in tourist villages.
• Double the incomes of the host families in Chandanpura village and increase incomes of the host families in Khajuraho Region by at least 10% annually;
• To empower local communities towards destination planning and decision making
• To empower women, girls & youths by enhancing quantity as well as quality of jobs including remuneration and working conditions and by ensuring widespread and equitable distribution of economic and social benefits to the host community.
• Improve sanitation and hygiene in the neighbourhoods of the home-stays; 
• To ensure safe and enriching experience for visitors sans any discrimination and hence enhance knowledge of other countries and cultures of the residents of these neighbourhoods.

Activities Planned

• Baseline Sampling for Planning and mapping of home stay: Detailed information about Individual Home-Stay Beneficiaries, Village profile, Tourist destinations’ Itinerary Information, Village level Culture, festival & unique skills information and community based infrastructure status & challenges in Chandanpura village.
• Formation of VDC 
• Training of 20 Persons (staff and Village Resource person and VDC)
• Technical  Survey, Designing & Guidance for construction of home stay as per the beautification, suitability & safety aspects of tourists
• Exposure visit of 20 individuals to Best individual home stays at Orchha
• Construction of 5 Home-stays
• Interpretation Center & Children Park: New style museum, often associated with visitor centers or eco-museums. Interpretation center will have reception for tourists, a sanitation Facility, and display of products developed by SHG and Farmers of Organic produce.
• Training & skill building of 50 youths on different skills (Foreign Language, Guide, Safety, Jeep Safari, Hospitality etc.). They will be the Host for the tourists and they will have the skills for the proper management of Community based rural tourism programs. Through this they will also be able to generate income within their village.
• Fixation of rules & regulations with VDC: Rent, Responsibilities, tariff, Management etc. norms for proper functioning will be fixed with VDC.
• Booking of Home-stays: For proper hand-holding support bookings will be started and hosts will be intensely monitored.

Current Progress

Current Status of Entrepreneurs:  At the time of implementation, loans had been provided to 5 Home-Stay Beneficiaries for construction and other arrangements. Within 6 years of completion of initiative, all the 5 beneficiaries/ entrepreneurs have repaid their loan amount. 3 entrepreneurs have constructed extra rooms in their home-stay after repaying their loan. So now in the village there are a total of 8 Home-stays. 

Please see video below showing the construction of homestay.

After 10 years of continuous support in 2018, the project is handed over to its management committee that comprises community members who have been involved in project management for a long-time. During these 10 years the members of the management committee have been strengthened and empowered enough to manage the programme after withdrawal.  

Marketing strategies: For marketing of Home-stay Programme, a separate website “www.orchha.org” has been developed in which all the information about Home-stays, nearest heritage places and other initiatives along-with photographs. Direct bookings are being done through this website. 

Other than this they have a tie-up with Trip Advisor through which they advertised their Home-stays in Trip Guide Books of various countries. Orchha Home-stay has its own office from where the entire Home-stay activities like: Pick-up and dropping of Visitors, On-site booking, Booking extension, Grievance Redress, arrangement of vehicle for visitors, local tours, information dissemination etc. are being managed. 

Major Achievements: In each year 100-150 days Home-stays remain usually booked. In 2018, Orchha home-stay received the Gold award for the Best Community-run home-stay from Outlook Indian Responsible Tourism at a ceremony in New Delhi. 

Expected Project Impact

• Economic gain: Access to markets in which to sell their goods and services, pro-poor employment because it is a highly labor-intensive industry and usually it does not require high levels of skill and is thus able to create employment relatively quickly.
• Employment: More job and income-earning opportunities for women than other sectors.
• Opportunities for small and medium-size enterprises (SME): Tourism development requires substantial inputs from financial services, building materials, construction, transportation, telecommunications, agriculture, food processing, arts and crafts, and other sectors of local economies and thus it will help to generate supplementary cash income opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups.
• Infrastructure: Improved access to potable water, communications, roads (access to markets), and improved health and education services.
• Protection of natural and cultural resources: Use of renewable energy, natural resource management activities, development of sundar van etc.  
• Opportunities and capacity for the poor to improve their livelihoods: Small farmers will have access to improved irrigation facilities, agriculture diversification & underprivileged youths will be trained for their skill enhancement and placed as per their interest.