The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET) in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) and the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau (SIVB) are requesting innovative tourism project proposals from the public.
The requests for proposals have been advertised in the media in recent days which will close on October 10.
The announcement marked the beginning of the implementation of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) programme in Solomon Islands.
The EIF is a multi-donor programme, which supports LDCs to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them tackle supply side constraints to trade.
A project entitled “Solomon Islands Tourism for Inclusive Development” (SI-TIDE) was approved by the EIF board in January 2014, which is now being implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The SI-TIDE is designed to contribute towards achieving overall goals of the Government’s National Development Strategy 2011-2020 to build better lives for Solomon Islanders through targeted interventions.
In doing so, the project will systematically intervene in the areas of policy/legislations related to the tourism sector which promotes Solomon Islands as a distinct visitor’s destination in the Pacific Region and to strengthen linkages of the tourism sector with other auxiliary sectors like agriculture and handicraft in a way that help create additional livelihood opportunities for people.
Many activities are designed and to be implemented to achieve the project goals and aims.
One of the key activities under the project is to promote small tourism promotion initiatives in the country. Each year during the project implementation period, few small innovative project proposals will be selected for a maximum grant limit of SB$100,000.
People interested in submitting proposals or who have questions are encouraged to visit the External Trade Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade in Honiara.
