The School of Health and Social Services of the Canary Islands (known as ESSSCAN in Spanish), the Civil Protection National Service of Cape Verde (SNPC) and the Chamber of Tourism of Cape Verde, have been developing joint actions in both regions since 2011, as part of the Transnational Cooperation project known as Euro-African Network of Health Emergency - REACT.
This project aims to increase the efficiency of the health care workers, improve the substandard health conditions and the access to health quality systems, to create spaces for the exchange of experiences and to develop a prevention transnational programme, as well as to contribute actively to actions that foster the security of the tourist destination. During the last four work years, they have reached the conclusion that the Security and the Quality are fundamental pillars where they have to continue working in, in Cape Verde, specifically in the islands with an important flow of tourists, as is the case of the Isla de Sal and Saõ Vicente, in order to promote the sustainable development of the coastlines.
In this sense, they consider the implementation of the Blue Flag raises the sustainable development in these areas, through the requirement of high standards in the quality of the bathing water, the security, the environmental and information management and the education for the sustainability.
From the School of Health and Social Services of the Canary Islands, Blue Flag International has beeb invited to participate in two activities taking place in Cabo Verde from the 10th to the 17th of November, last month. During those days, they offered to give two talks aimed at the municipal authorities from Cape Verde, managers from the tourist sector, healthcare technicians, among others, in order to get to understand the importance of keeping Quality and Security standards in their beaches, and which are de procedures that should be taken to get the Blue Flag there.
Catarina Goncalves and Fatima Viera from ABAE, the FEE national organisation in Portugal, presented, on behalf of Blue Flag International, the Foundation for Environmental Education and the Blue Flag programme at several seminars in Cabo Verde!
We are thrilled to know that the interest towards the FEE programmes and especially Blue Flag programme is rising there.
We gladly thank our two colleagues for their great involvement during a busy month in Portugal and of course all the stakeholders involved in Cabo Verde (The Office for the Tourism of Cabo Verde, Civil Protection National Service, Regional Directorate for Tourism and Maritime Agency,...).
We wish the best to the organisations in Cabo Verde and we will keep working closely with them to hopefully enter in a process of welcoming Cabo Verde within the FEE countries in a near future!
