My friend Judith is taking part in a challenge to raise money for a sustainable tourism project. Would be great if you find the time to help her out and vote for her project on thisisyourplanet.com. Here’s her pitch:

Here’s the background story of my idea:
I have lived for 1 1/2 years in Lao PDR (Laos) now, where I came to gain more experience in responsible tourism management (the topic I have studied). During this time, I recognized the need for responsible village tours.

Currently, villages hardly profit from tourism which is by now one of the greatest industries of this developing country. While many tour groups visit villages, they usually just walk around, take pictures and leave without any encounter or expenditure.

Through interactive tours, we create a platform for meaningful encounters as opposed to a ‚zoo like‘ experience. These encounters foster cultural exchange, support the longevity of traditional arts and ways of life and bring social economic development directly to the village. Further, villagers would receive valuable training and education and assistance in revitalising cottage industry.
The local textile company Ock Pop Tok, which has been working closely together with many villages for more than 10 years, strongly supported this idea and funded me to write a detailed feasibility study to prove the demand as well as the operational feasibility of this concept. 
Now the company decided that they would like to run these tours on a non-profit basis (which means that all profit from their side would go back to village development projects), so we need money to cover the cost of the planning, training and launching period!
This project aims to start small but has the potential to be replicated all over the country and therefor create a much higher impact.