Birgit Steck

For two decades, Birgit Steck’s focus as a geographer and landscape planner was on “sustainable tourism development“, with jobs in Central and South America, the Caribbean, various European countries, and East Africa. As a free lance consultant, she also worked for the former GTZ and for the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ): ”Tourismus in der Technischen Zusammenarbeit“ (tourism in technical cooperation); “Sustainable Tourism as a Development Option“. For the sector project on tourism she organised, for four years in a row, the International Tourism Forum at Reisepavillon in Hanover. For almost six years she was employed as a consultant for Sustainable Pro Poor Tourism (SPPT) by the Dutch development organisation SNV in Tanzania. In Arusha, she cooperated with the Tanzania Tourist Board and the Tanzania Cultural Tourism Programme. As a Senior Tourism Advisor in Dar es Salaam, she managed research on value chains and the benefits of tourism for the inhabitants of Zanzibar (“Tourism: More Value for Zanzibar“). For two years, Mrs. Steck held the position of CEO at the Institute for Tourism and Development, which included co-publishing ”Tourismus in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer“ (“Tourism to developing countries and emerging economies”). After returning to the region of Mayence, the certified intercultural trainer continued to work as an international tourism consultant. Since 2014, Birgit Steck has been coordinating – on a free lance basis at first – “Faire Welten“, a trade fair on fair trade and sustainable consumption as part of the Rhineland-Palatinate exhibition. Since 2016, she has been in charge of the project management for development education at Engagement Global gGmbH’s branch office for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland. She has been part of the TO DO jury since 2011.