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“Maroon Projects” is a program developed by“People in Action, (PIA)” that is the sustaining factor in the empowerment of development, through the employment of the volunteer tourism concept. We have adopted the principles of “geotourism” in the formulation of our product & services, a concept coined by the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations. “Maroon Projects” seeks to promote the geotourism approach to improve stewardship and attract the most beneficial, least disruptive forms of tourism.
In PIA's journey to define a ground-up approach process to geotourism, we recognized the possibilities of applying a similar strategy to development and capacity strengthening for community.
Traditional ConceptThe concept of “Maroon” is a Grenadian tradition, represented in communal labor pools and celebration. “Maroon” is also the name given to communities, which is the integration of various Amerindian/African/European ethnic groups for their suitable survival. They did not just coexist harmoniously with each other, but with nature, demonstrated in their use of herbal medicines and the art of camouflage. A significant trait of maroon culture is the communal cooking, cultural sharing, working and celebration.
The strategy is driven by an adaptive management process. The suggested community development strategy has been formulated from the geotourism concept using experiential, action learning methodologies, and community participatory mapping. We have also designed ICT tools and platform to help guide communities in the implementation and management of the process, in a transparent and accountable manner. The combination of these principles have been documented in the delivery in our GEF Funded project: the'Ground up approach to water resource management for Carriacou and Petite Martinique'. PIA now uses the term 'geo-development' to describe this process.
PIA has now formulated an adoptable and adaptable community development process developed from a combination of lessons learnt from the best practices of ground-up participatory approach facilitated by action learning methodology. Grenada's historical and cultural approaches to development have also been examined. We have documented our ground-up participatory approach to socioeconomic development for the understanding and adoption by communities.
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