UNWTO And Didier Drogba Partner To Build Opportunity For African Youth
UNWTO and the Didier Drogba Foundation have teamed up to highlight the potential of African youth and ensure that both tourism and sport deliver on their potential to provide opportunities for all.
Against the backdrop of World Tourism Day 2021 – held under the theme of “Tourism for Inclusive Development” – the United Nations specialized agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the former Chelsea and Côte d'Ivoire footballer.
The agreement recognizes that both sport and tourism can play a key role in advancing many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including through promoting cooperation and understanding, as well as through creating frameworks for inclusive economic growth. It also recognizes the shared goals and values of both UNWTO and the Foundation.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Didier Drogba is one of the most celebrated and decorated athletes of this century, and the work of the Didier Drogba Foundation is true to the goals of UNWTO – to provide opportunity to the women and youth of Africa and build a better future for the continent.”
Didier Drogba was appointed a UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism in October 2019. In this role, he provides a bridge between tourism and sport – both sectors with the power to bring people together and promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding.
About UN Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
Our Priorities
Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.
Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.
Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.
Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.
Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.
Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.
Our Structure
Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.
Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.
Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.
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