In February 2021, Community Homestay Network (CHN) was declared one of the 25 winners in the UN World Tourism Organization SDGs startup competition, which received over 10,000 applications from over 138 countries. CHN has won in the category of SDG 8—Decent Work and Economic Growth. Since 2018, CHN has been working with communities across Nepal to develop and promote community-based products and connect these products to a market.
As one of the winners, Community Homestay Network will get access to support and guidance from UNWTO to accelerate sustainable development, among other benefits. CHN looks forward to receiving this guidance and helping promote community-based tourism, which has a very large potential in Nepal.
The founder of CHN, Mr Shiva Dhakal, thanks the team from CHN – Poonam Gupta, Kaushal Shrestha, Bikal Khanal, Sagun Shrestha, Sabita Basnet, Nilu Thapa Magar, Sabin Ghimire, Labish Maharjan, and Impact and Sustainability manager of Royal Mountain Group Aadyaa Pandey for their immense contribution to the achievement.
Mr. Dhakal also hopes this award will inspire all aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to start community-based tourism projects. “The support and additional resources from UNWTO will help us scale our impact and bring benefits of tourism to more communities across Nepal. We do not take the trust and support bestowed to us by UNWTO lightly and will continue giving our all to our mission of empowering communities through travel”.
