Heritage & Development Taskforce – Historic Royal City Gondar, Ethiopia
A Story of Collaboration & Progress
Gondar, known as Ethiopia’s historic royal city and home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Fasil Ghebbi, boasts a rich history and a unique cultural heritage. Once the centre of an empire, the city is filled with stories of kings, battles, and architectural splendour. To align this heritage with a strong tourism positioning, we were invited to improve the tourism sector and we introduced and established a Tourism Taskforce.
In this project, storytelling was a key instrument in city branding. By integrating narratives that bring Gondar’s royal history, legends, and cultural diversity to life, we developed a brand identity that resonates both nationally and internationally. Through authentic storytelling, woven into tourism marketing, events, and infrastructure, we helped the city to transform from a place to visit into a destination to experience.
This project also marked the first application of our Green Square Model for area development, bringing together four key forces: government, knowledge institutions, NGOs, and the private sector. The task force became the central platform for collaboration and decision-making, ensuring that local stakeholders could take over operations while we focused on strategy, knowledge transfer, and capacity building.
Duration: 6 expert visits over 2 years
What was our biggest challenge?
Navigating Cultural Differences with Care: A key part of this project was balancing different learning and working styles. While we emphasize dialogue, co-creation, and shared decision-making, local stakeholders preferred clear instructions and hierarchical structures. We adapted by respecting existing methods while encouraging participation, ensuring a smooth collaboration.
We also paid close attention to:
- Decision-making – Finding common ground between structured consensus and top-down approaches.
- Perception of time – Merging long-term planning with local flexibility.
- Trust and relationships – Prioritizing strong personal connections for lasting impact.
By working with awareness and adaptability, the Tourism Taskforce and Green Square Model were successfully embedded, creating a sustainable foundation for growth.
Project Details
Client: Municipality & Private Tourism Sector of Gondar
Our Contribution:
- Integrating storytelling in city branding, based on royal heritage, legends, and cultural diversity
- Developing a strong brand identity for Gondar as a tourism destination
- Applying the Green Square Model: creating sustainable collaboration between government, knowledge institutions, NGOs, and the private sector
- Setting up and guiding the Tourism Taskforce as a local collaboration platform
- Strategic area development and positioning Gondar as a tourism destination
- City marketing and heritage experience development for international visibility
- Developing tourism infrastructure and services
- IT innovation and digital transformation, in collaboration with knowledge institutions
- Capacity building and training for local stakeholders
Through narrative city branding and the Green Square Model, we established a solid foundation for Gondar’s sustainable tourism development. The task force continues to drive the sector forward, focusing on collaboration, innovation, and local engagement.
