We are proud to announce that a Deputy Director of Helvetas Kyrgyzstan Ms. Damira Raeva received a certificate of honor in a special nomination - Person of the Year, who made a special contribution to the development of tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic. We decided to ask Damira Turarovna several questions in order to better acquaint our readers with her. - Dear Damira Turarovna, thank you for agreeing to a short interview. First of all, let me congratulate you on your victory. Could you please explain us what is Kyrgyzstan Tourism Awards and what is the nomination? - Thank you very much. I would like to note that it is a great honor for me and I am grateful to the organizers for the award, in fact, this is a common victory for our organization. The Kyrgyz Tourism Awards National Award is an annual event organized by the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic. This year, my candidacy was nominated in the nomination "Person of the Year, who made a special contribution to the development of tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic." - How did you begin to work in the tourism sector? - In the tourism sector, I started working as a Project Manager for Community Based Tourism Development Project (CBT), which was implemented by Helvetas Kyrgyzstan. Our team consisted of 8 people, and we piloted the first CBT group in Kochkor village in 2000. This initiative was very well received by the local community, we were all very motivated by the result, so we began to spread this experience to other regions of Kyrgyzstan. As a result, we got a network of local CBT organizations interested in developing rural tourism. To date, this network includes 15 local organizations that in 2003 joined the KCBTA Kyrgyzstan Hospitality Association. This project has become one of the successful projects in Kyrgyzstan, since the CBT network has been working steadily to this day, and I hope that it will be successful for a long time. - The CBT project was very successful, but it was in the early 2000s, does Helvetas continue to work in the tourism sector? - In my opinion, Helvetas makes a great contribution to the development of tourism in Kyrgyzstan, especially rural tourism, focusing on sustainability issues, including environmental aspects, analyzing the root problems in tourism and involving local players in the decision-making, which leads to sustainable development as we see in the example of CBT. At this time, Helvetas has also launched a long-term project for the development of sustainable winter tourism funded by the Swiss Government through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and is also working on the development of rural tourism in Alai and Chon Alai. - What, in your opinion, is lacking today for the development of the tourism sector in the country? - I think that tourism in Kyrgyzstan is developing quite dynamically. This year, Kyrgyzstan was in the top of the world tourist destinations, and we all see a significant increase in the number of tourists from different countries. But this is only the beginning, because according to various expert estimates, we use only about 10% of the country's potential. However, there are still a lot of unresolved issues related to the quality of tour services, outdated infrastructure, and ensuring the safety of tourists. These are very serious problems, for the solution of which we need to make structural changes in the state’s policy, and this is exactly what we lack for the time being. Most issues are resolved locally, spontaneously, and there are no significant system changes. - Will Helvetas continue to work in the tourism sector? - Of course, Helvetas will continue its work in the tourism sector, especially sustainable tourism, including winter tourism. We will make every effort to develop the tourism sector and the country as a whole. - Thank you very much for taking the time to answer questions. Congratulations again on the award and wish you success in your work. - Thank you, I, like the whole Helvetas Kyrgyzstan team, will make every effort to develop not only the tourism sector, but also other sectors of the economy of our country.
Assignment Title: Conduction of trainings on Social Media Marketing (further SMM) branding for farmers, artisans, the owners of guest houses on SMM promotion of products and services with marketing improvement purposes, Including two months coaching of existing and newly created business accounts with consultations Location: Osh city Assignment periods: October 10 to November 30, 2019 Candidates should send the following documents to the following e-mail: asel.ikramova@helvetas.org, Imanaly.turkbaev@helvetas.org no later than October 5, 2019. List of application documents Certificate of registration of a legal entity Letter of interest describing the experience in this area and filled table with concrete activities of execution of the tasks and timing Examples of previous work (at least three) Curriculum Vitaes (Resumes) of the main executors Detailed budget, trainer’s fee, logistics expenses (accommodation, transportation expenses of trainer etc.) Basic requirements for a potential consultant or a potential organization: At least 3 years of experience in the field of SMM branding and sales; Experience in training similar auditory on these topics Registration of a legal entity (LLC or PF) Experience of work in rural areas, in remote area with farmers, with women and the ability of delivering information using simple language and without technical terminology. A real experience in promotion of the services, products in the area of agriculture, tourism and handicraft. Proficiency and fluency in Kyrgyz language in order to reach clear understanding of the topic by the participants Working experience with donor organizations, private companies involved in above mentioned sectors will be an advantage Download ToR
An introductory event was attended by the heads of municipalities of Issyk-Kul and Jalal-Abad regions, representatives of SALSGIR, the Swiss Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as international organizations. During the seminar, the main goals and objectives of the second phase, issues of gender sensitivity and equality, as well as plans for grants to improve services at the local level were announced. “As part of the implementation of the second phase of the project, we plan to allocate more than 5 million soms to 25 municipalities of Issyk-Kul and Jalal-Abad oblasts as small grants to increase the capacity of municipalities. After that, these municipalities will be asked to develop Service improvement action plans (SIAP), more than 48 million soms will be allocated for the implementation of the best SIAPs. It is worth noting that as part of the first phase of the project, 38 SIAPs were implemented for a total of 98 million soms,” said Asel Mambetova, PSI project Manager Representative of the Embassy of Switzerland Lucien Aegerter noted the importance of understanding that improving public services covers much more than improving infrastructure and buying new equipment. “The focus should be more on improving service management to ensure quality, access, efficiency and sustainability. For us, the most important factor is the sustainability of the services provided, which is why work will first be done to increase the capacity of municipalities,” said Lucien Aegerter. The event ended with the signing ceremony of memoranda of cooperation and grant agreements with representatives of all 25 municipalities. The project is financed by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Helvetas Kyrgyzstan and Development Policy Institute (DPI)
Helvetas Kyrgyzstan is looking for a Tourism Product Development Expert for the SECO-funded Sustainable Winter Tourism Development Project in Kyrgyzstan The specific areas of focus shall be: (1) winter tourism product development and capacity building, and (2) product positioning and marketing. Main tasks: Evaluate current winter tourism product offerings in two target destinations and assess potential for new tourism product offerings; Facilitate discussions/workshops with the local winter tourism VC stakeholders and local community to determine new tourism product offerings and identify new product owners; Develop and deliver tourism product development workshop for the winter tourism VC stakeholders and community members in two target destinations to facilitate the ideas on development of individual and/or joint winter tourism products; Provide targeted advisory services and initial mentoring for selected product owners; Formulate winter tourism positioning statements for each destination and for select products and identify marketing personalities. Doenload Terms of Reference Expertise required Minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience Proven experience in developing wide range of tourism products and experiences Fluency in Russian or Kyrgyz Place of performance: Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek and Karakol cities Period of Performance November 2019 – January 2020. The expected number of working days is 25. The exact period(s) of performance will be agreed with the selected candidate. Deadline for applications: 08 October 2019, 17:00 Bishkek time If you are interested, please apply by sending your CV and a letter outlining experience and suitability, as well approaches and methodologies you would apply by email to: Nazira.Jamankulova@helvetas.org with cc to kyrgyzstan@helvetas.org All application documents will be used only for the selection process. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.
SECO funded Sustainable Winter Tourism Development Project implemented by Helvetas Kyrgyzstan invites all interested organization to bid for DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OF A SERIES OF HOSPITALITY TRAINING The main objective of this activity is, jointly with Swiss Association of Hoteliers – Hôtelleriesuisse, to design and deliver a series of hospitality training(s) to enhance skill sets and knowledge transfer amongst the hospitality professionals across two select destinations, targeting three levels of hospitality staff 1) top management, 2) middle management and 3) entry-level staff. Place of implementation: Bishkek and Karakol Period of Implementation: November 2019 – March 2020 Terms of Reference can be downloaded here: ToR Application and cost proposal form to be downloaded here: Proposal form Tender proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm, Tuesday, 08 October 2019 to the email: Nazira.Jamankulova@helvetas.org with cc to kyrgyzstan@helvetas.org
SECO funded Sustainable Winter Tourism Development Project implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation invites interested organizations and individual experts to bid for smm promotion and training for target winter tourism destinations The specific areas of focus of this assignment shall be: (1) increase of online visibility of Kyrgyzstan, specifically, its two target destinations, as attractive winter tourism destinations, and (2) SMM capacity improvement for the winter tourism service providers in the two target destinations in Kyrgyzstan. Place of implementation: Bishkek and Karakol Period of Implementation: November 2019 – January 2020 Terms of Reference can be downloaded here: Download Application and cost proposal form to be downloaded here: Download Tender proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm, Tuesday, 08 October 2019 to the email: Nazira.Jamankulova@helvetas.org with cc to kyrgyzstan@helvetas.org
