Daniela Viscarra (far left) conducts product development workshops with the Garcia sisters.

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE – As part of the “Making Tourism Benefit Communities Adjacent to Archaeological Sites”, from February 24 to April 5, Belzeb Inc. of Grenada, West Indies, in partnership with Aid to Artisans, completed a series of Small Business Market Readiness Training in Belize City, San Ignacio, Orange Walk and Big Falls. The training team comprised of Judy Karwacki, president of Small Planet Consulting, and Daniela Viscarra, founder of Jalsuri Foundation.


Judy Karwacki (middle) poses with some of the Market Readiness Training participants.

Launched in October 2013, the “Making Tourism Benefit Communities Adjacent to Archaeological Sites” (MTBCAAS) project aims to enhance the tourism experience through improvements in tourism infrastructure and services. It will upgrade health and safety provisions and enhance the diversification of community-based tourism products and services offered at the archeological sites. Funding for this project was provided by the European Union and the Government of Belize through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, for a close collaboration with the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) and the Belize Tourism Board (BTB). The Small Business Market Readiness Training equipped about 95 artisans living in the four sites with the proper business skills for entry into the tourism market.

It covered the following topics:

  • Understand tourism trends
  • Sell your product and identify the right client to sell it to
  • Understand the global opportunities and trends for your product
  • Understand the cultural value of your product
  • Cost and price your product competitively
  • Organize yourselves as a functional group
  • Promote and display your product to attract more clientele
  • Improve your product and develop new innovative market-ready products.

Members of the Magaña family receive their certificates of participation after the training.

These workshops were followed by two rounds of product development in which the artisans learn about improving existing products and develop a new collection of products that will eventually be introduced to the tourism market through a Marketing Launch Event scheduled for early in the fall 2014.  To ensure sustainability of the craft component of this program, the team also conducted a Train of Trainer workshop for 17 facilitators including individuals from key stakeholders such as NICH, Beltraide, and the Belize Chamber of Commerce. Belzeb’s and ATA’s part in the MTBCAAS project is scheduled to be completed on November 2014.

For more information about the ATA’s involvement in “Making Tourism Benefit Communities Adjacent to Archaeological Sites” (MTBCAAS), please contact our Senior Program Manager, Maud Mabika: maudm@creativelearning.org