Ecotourism Kenya has four key programme areas: • Community Outreach • Awareness Creation & Information Sharing • Standards & Best Practices • Research & Consultancy Below is more information on each of these programmes:

Ecotourism Kenya undertakes research on ecotourism and sustainable tourism, best practices, policy development and tourism planning and management. It also carries out social evaluation of programmes and review of Environmental Impact Assessment reports.

Ecotourism Kenya promotes these through Eco-rating Scheme (see Eco-rating page) the Members’ Charter (see membership page) Eco-Warrior Awards, Codes of Conduct, publications, seminars and workshops.

Ecotourism Kenya reaches out to local communities living in areas with potential for tourism with the aim of sensitizing them on the opportunities available to them through ecotourism. This is done through community mobilization and participatory trainings which may entail dialogue (barazas), focus group discussions, simulations and exposure visits. The project also involves promoting local community/private sector mentorship, whereby private sector operators (like tour operators & hoteliers) offer short-term placements for community representatives in an effort to improve their capacities. Ecotourism Kenya also offers communities assistance and advice in project conceptualization and planning, proposal writing, project implementation and evaluation.