Awards criteria
The Educational Travel Foundation (ETF) was established to provide support to "individuals of merit" in least developed countries (LDCs)by awarding travel and maintenance grants and other assistance required in order to facilitate the acquisition of tourism related training and qualifications. The ETF also supports research related to the sustainable development of tourism in LDCs. The "official" launch of the foundation will take place at the ETFs inegural conference which will be held in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in September 2009. This will be followed by an international awareness and fundraising campaign.
Proposals for education or research funding may address a wide range of topics relating to community tourism planning, development and management, as well as social and economic relationships important in the conservation, production, and renewable utilization of the tourism resource base.
Awards are intended for the purposes of travel to educational institutes in order to engage in scholarly study, research related travel within the LDC, living expenses, and essential educational and or research resources. Applicants must be citizen of a least developed country. Applications are made on the application form which will be available from the ETF Secretariat (Note, the first round of awards will not commence until July 2010). Further details will be made available before that date.
Who is eligible to apply?
An eligible candidate for an award is:
- a citizen of a least developed country
- an individual who can demonstrate the potential to benefit themselves and/or their(or other)community in an LDC by engaging in tourism related education, training, or research.
All applications for funding will be screened by the foundation through its awards committee.
What are Least Developed Countries (LDCs)?
The following criteria were used by the CDP in the 2006 review of the list of LDCs:
(a) A “low-income” criterion, based on the gross national income (GNI) per capita (a 3-year average, 2002–2004), with thresholds of $750 for cases of addition to the list, and $900 for cases of graduation from LDC status;
(b) A “human assets” criterion, involving a composite index (the Human Assets Index) based on indicators of (i) nutrition (percentage of the population undernourished); (ii) health (child mortality rate); (iii) school enrolment (gross secondary school enrolment rate); and (iv) literacy (adult literacy rate); and
(c) An “economic vulnerability” criterion, involving a composite index (the Economic Vulnerability Index)based on indicators of (i) natural shocks (index of instability of agricultural production; share of population displaced by natural disasters); (ii) trade shocks (index of instability of exports of goods and services; (iii) exposure to shocks (share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in GDP; merchandise export concentration index); (iv) economic smallness (population in logarithm); and (v) economic remoteness (index of remoteness).
LDCs
Fifty countries are currently designated by the United Nations as “least developed countries” (LDCs):
Afghanistan,
Angola,
Bangladesh,
Benin,
Bhutan,
Burkina Faso,
Burundi,
Cambodia,
Cape Verde,
Central African Republic,
Chad,
Comoros,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Djibouti,
Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia,
Gambia,
Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau,
Haiti,
Kiribati,
Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
Lesotho,
Liberia,
Madagascar,
Malawi,
Maldives,
Mali,
Mauritania,
Mozambique,
Myanmar,
Nepal,
Niger,
Rwanda,
Samoa,
Sao Tome and Principe,
Senegal,
Sierra Leone,
Solomon Islands,
Somalia,
Sudan,
Timor–Leste,
Togo,
Tuvalu,
Uganda,
United Republic of Tanzania,
Vanuatu,
Yemen
Zambia.
The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC) in the light of recommendations by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP).
We work to facilitate the sustainable development of tourism through supporting the acquisition of tourism related qualifications and skills by local inhabitants of LDCs.
We aim to prioritized work where we can make the most difference:
- supporting tourism awareness programmes
- supporting the aquisition of formal qualifications
- supporting skills development
- promoting research into the development of sustainable tourism
Map of LDCs
