the world bank group

Attended a workshop today presented by the World Bank to public sector officials, titled “The Tourism Sector in Mali: Possibilities for Development.” (Unfortunately, I missed the morning session, conducted for the private sector. The project never received an invitation, it was simply coincidence that the coordinator called a local official on Friday and he told us about the Monday workshop. I later learned that it was the prefet’s responsibility to delivery invitations. Even the hotel that hosted the workshop wasn’t informed until Saturday afternoon.) A group of approximately 10 men (plus me, the only woman, the only non-Malian), a group I’ve begun referring to as “the usual suspects,” attended. All of the informational sessions, business associations meetings and workshops I’ve attended are composed of the same individuals.

My impression is that the purpose was to build awareness among public officials of the importance of tourism as a tool for economic and human development. The discussions centered on obstacles to development of tourism in Mali—acknowledging first that they exist—and how to remove them or at least lessen the negative impact.

A highlight of the session for me was when the WB facilitator was talking about the difficulty of travel in Mali: visas, border crossings, roadblocks and delays. He gave the example of a recent event when a bus of 30 mayors, all in official dress, was stopped on the road and delayed for three hours without explanation. The discussion continued about difficulties tourists face when traveling in Mali, the police commissioner became agitated (he seemed to take personal offense and felt obligated to defend his position), and said, “they come here, used to being treated like kings, and expect us to treat them special.” I wanted to jump up and say, “That’s right! The client is king!” Le client est roi! It’s one of the major obstacles to tourism development in this region—the lack of an attitude of customer service—and will require much sensitization and training in order to develop staff for the hospitality industry.

At about 4pm, after the afternoon coffee break, the facilitator distributed the per diem to the attendees. 3000cfa per person, plus coffee and snacks, not bad for an afternoon. The workshop ended at about 5:30pm, but seemingly because it was time to end, not because any resolution had been reached. The WB facilitators were terrific, they did a good job of delivering their message. But I was disappointed that they didn’t demand more from the participants. No outline of an action plan, no responsibilities were assigned for next steps. But awareness was raised.