Community Tourism Development Specialist (CTDS), Africa

About Us

G Adventures is the world’s largest small-group adventure travel company and we’ve been making epic travel memories happen on all seven continents for over 30 years.

Our mission is simple: to change lives through travel. And not just our travelers’ either. Since day one, our tours have been built to establish meaningful relationships with local communities, directly benefiting the people and places we visit at every step of our tours.

With the demand for travel coming back strong, we are set up and excited for this next chapter in our company’s story — and we’d love for you to be a part of it.

Our DNA revolves around building, nurturing, and developing a diverse culture of people and a true sense of belonging, where everyone is encouraged to bring their authentic self to work each and every day. You’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, and yourself, alongside a passionate, talented, and welcoming community that works hard to spread goodness around the world.

If all that sounds like your kind of thing, well, we can’t wait for you to join us.

Planeterra is the leading non-profit worldwide using tourism to uplift communities. Registered as a non-profit organization in Canada and a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in the United States, Planeterra operates on a global scale, making a tangible impact through responsible tourism initiatives. Planeterra is committed to uplifting local communities in travel destinations to establish successful community tourism enterprises that benefit from the tourism industry.
 

About the Role

Reporting to the Africa and Middle East Regional Manager, the Community Tourism Development Specialist (CTDS) is responsible for coordinating and maintaining strong relationships between Planeterra, its travel partners, and community partners in the Africa region. You are required to ensure smooth operations aligned with the priorities of Planeterra’s corporate partners and the needs of Community Tourism Enterprises. They support the development and enhancement of community tourism experiences by managing capacity-building processes and ensuring new and/or improved community tourism experiences are achieved. Acting as the primary point of contact for community partners in the region, the CTDS serves as the local representative of the Planeterra Team.

Role Description

• Manage the development and integration of Community Tourism Enterprises into Planeterra’s Travel Partners’ product offerings (tour itineraries in East, West and Southern Africa); this can include - but is not limited to - project opportunity assessment, preparing budgets, managing the project's implementation, and providing training to community partners by working closely to Planeterra’s travel industry partners.   

• Support the implementation of Planeterra’s Climate & Biodiversity Strategy in the Africa region.

• Support community engagement and benefits with strategic and corporate partnerships in the region.

• Support the stewardship of Planeterra’s existing community partnerships in the Africa region, with a focus on innovation, capacity building and sustainable growth. 

• Support the growth and implementation of the region's Global Community Tourism Network initiative by contributing in the developing engagement opportunities, including leading monthly planning and communication with partners, and hosting webinars and networking events, and other engagement formats the Africa team can determine.

• Support Planeterra’s Communications and Development team as needed with impact information and updates from the region.

• Other support requested by the Africa and Middle East Regional Manager, including data management and impact monitoring.

Requirements

• 3+ years working in the tourism sector (private, public and/or non-profit) in roles dedicated to tourism development, and/or tourism-related projects; with experience developing tourism product design and/or tourism destination development, and with a strong focus on community tourism.

• A minimum of 2 years of experience in project management (financial management is an asset).

• University degree in a relevant field of study (tourism, international development, marketing or related fields), or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Understanding of the tourism sector in the Africa region.

• Exceptional communication and intercultural skills with rural community members.

• Knowledge to lead and support social enterprises in rural communities.

• Strong understanding of community development, as well as key environmental and social challenges faced by communities.

• Demonstrated experience working with a variety of stakeholders, including destination management representatives, entrepreneurs, and leading stakeholders.

• High computer literacy, comfortable using both Microsoft Office software (Proficiency in Excel), and Google Suite (Sheets, Docs), as well as familiarity with database management, project management, online collaboration (Slack) and social media tools.

• Strong capacity to support the execution and facilitation (virtually and remotely) of meetings, training sessions, and other tasks as required to fulfill the responsibilities of the role.

• Adaptability to collaborate with team members across different time zones and cultures.

• Outstanding verbal and written communications skills.

• English language proficiency is mandatory (oral and written language).

• Superior organizational skills, excellent attention to detail.

• Highly motivated, proactive and collaborative.

• Proven skills to effectively deliver projects.

• Ability to pivot and lead through change management.

• Local or international drivers license

Additional Information

• The estimated level of effort is 21 days per month (8 hours/day).

• Flexible working hours arrangement.

• This is an Africa-based remote work opportunity; however, candidates will ideally be based in Tanzania (Arusha), Kenya (Nairobi) or Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)

• As noted above, this role requires frequent travel (both regionally and internationally), sometimes at short notice, to visit community partners and develop experiences and enterprises.

• Attending organisational meetings and events outside of typical work hours may be required due to time zone differences.

G Adventures is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. We consider all qualified applicants. If selected, G Adventures offers support via a variety of Team Resource Groups.