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Changing Behaviors, One Person at a Time

Growing up in Sakhakot, Muhammad Numan saw a much cleaner, calmer environment in Khyber Pakhunkhwa than what people see today
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Growing up in Sakhakot, Muhammad Numan saw a much cleaner, calmer environment in Khyber Pakhunkhwa than what people see today. With an increase in the influx of tourists every year, he began finding it hard to recognize his own home. Increased tourism has resulted in increased waste in the region too. Unfortunately, neither the visiting tourists nor the hospitality industry that operates in these regions is acquainted and qualified to practice techniques that promote eco-friendly tourism.

Unlike most people who conform to the changing norms and give in, Numan, who began working as a manager at Swat Palace Hotel started searching for ways to reduce the compromise his industry’s practices are causing to the environment. That is when he came across the “Travel Responsibly for Experiencing Eco-tourism” (TREK) initiative – a partnership between Nestlé Pakistan, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promote responsible tourism.

Number of trainings in different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the TREK partnership came into being in 2020. Ever since then, it has hosted six capacity-building workshops for professionals working in hotels and restaurants based in Nathia Gali, Abbottabad, Chitral, Peshawar and Swat, enabling them to practice eco-friendly tourism and lead to a waste-free future.

Prime Minister of Pakistan inaugurating the TREK partnership

As an important stakeholder of this partnership, Nestlé recognizes that this collaboration will only be comprehensive and broad-based if it drives new behavior and enables the community to help shape a waste-free future through community engagement, cleanup activities, trainings and connecting waste recycling companies with the local administration.

As the province that works most fervently on tourism promotion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a logical destination where TREK could help build further capacity.

These trainings began over a year ago, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism (KITE) Project identifying professionals from the hospitality sector as participants. In a short span of time, nearly 400 hospitality sector stakeholders including restaurant and hotel staff and owners have been trained on fundamental concepts and practices that can help them manage their businesses without compromising the environment.

Training taking place

After training formally through the TREK initiative by Nestlé, Numan reevaluated his practices and those of his colleagues. He learnt how to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, the basics of food safety and hygiene, water and sanitation and other practices that can help shape a waste-free future.

After attending the training in Swat, he implemented the learnings at his hotel and passed on those learnings to his colleagues. Now, other restaurants and hotels in Swat are also looking at how they can learn and implement these techniques to practice eco-tourism and reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.

Besides implementing the learnings at his hotel, Numan also led an independent initiative after training through TREK. He began a clean-up service in Mardan, his hometown, which is now fully self-sustainable through funds pooled in by the community itself and involves people in that community. They get together and run clean up drives regularly resulting in a clean neighborhood, setting an example for everyone.

TREK sessions have also been remarkably inclusive with participation from women, youth and the transgender community belonging to a wide array of professional backgrounds. On International Women’s Day, a training was specifically organized for women, urging them to not only celebrate womanhood but also to act as agents of change in the communities they belong to.

Women have actively participated in TREK trainings as well

Zareen Akhtar, a social worker and human rights activist who attended the TREK training mentioned that it has truly built her capacity. “There were a lot of concepts that I wasn’t aware of and learnt about during the training. It is my humble request to Nestlé to conduct these trainings often”.

As part of Nestlé’s vision for a waste-free future and to further tackle packaging waste, the TREK partnership with WBG and KP Government is a step in the right direction. Besides driving new behavior and enhancing the public’s understanding through community engagement, it is a remarkable demonstration of the strength of public private partnerships and how they can positively impact communities.

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