Red Rocks Success Story
Red Rocks Initiatives for Sustainable development (RRISD) opened in Nyakinama Village, 8 kilometers from Musanze town (Rwanda) in 2013. RRISD is an African non-profit organization that supports sustainable development in Africa by engaging in sustainable tourism and community driven environmental conservation initiatives that are meant to benefit local communities. RRISD initiatives were initiated on the principle that sustainable tourism and community driven environmental conservation are effective tools for poverty eradication, when done correctly and in an inclusive manner. By placing aside wistful thinking and self-driven profit-making motifs, RRISD evolved into a partnership with 10 ecotourism ventures, 1 charitable NGOs and 5 volunteers to fulfill a diverse programme of activities under the Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development (RRISD). RRISD have been able to change the narrative about individualism and self-driven interests by establishing a number of local and international partnerships, which have led to a number of successes. For instance, Red Rocks’ ecotourism program continues to provide environmentally-sensitive employment to approximately 50 local community members, mostly youth and women, leading to local socio-economic development. RRISD have scaled up their conservationist approach by engaging and forging mutually beneficial partnerships with conservation professionals and community development organizations to provide specialist input required to operate in a truly impactful way. This approach has enabled RRISD to effectively utilize external donors’ funds leading to examples of best practices and greater confidence by visiting tourists who can verify how ‘their dollars are actually making the profound local differences’. Add description here
