Covenant of Akŏ Dhông community tourism village

Recognized by the People's Committee of Buon Ma Thuot City at the end of 2021, the Akŏ Dhông village covenant was built on the principle of promoting the self-management of the residential community. As a village located in the city, Akŏ Dhông has a clean, neat landscape and exudes the colors of Ede culture. The highlight of the village is the traditional long house architecture blending in under the shade of cool green trees.

Vice Chairman of Tan Loi Ward People's Committee Vo Thanh Phuong said: Akŏ Dhông was announced as a community tourism village since the beginning of 2023. The village has 370 households, of which 84 are ethnic minority households. With the advantage of natural space and tourism potential, in the past two years, the city has promoted and raised awareness among people about tourism while mobilizing people and communities to participate, manage, exploit and benefit from community tourism. The city advocates investing in tourism in a modern and civilized direction while still preserving the national cultural identity.

The cultural identity of ethnic minorities is an element emphasized in Plan No. 65/KH-UBND of the People's Committee of Buon Ma Thuot City on the implementation of the work of preserving and promoting the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in Buon Ma Thuot City for the period of 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030. With the motto that the people are the main subjects and the State supports, this program is concretized and integrated through communication activities, cultural and artistic programs, and more specifically, included in the village conventions and regulations of ethnic minority villages.

The village convention of Akŏ Dhông also affirms that life in Ede villages is changing rapidly, but does not cause the loss of traditional cultural customs towards the origin and ancestors. The people in the village preserve and promote the unique cultural customs of their homeland and uphold the ethical standards and good customs of the nation...

To preserve the unique cultural space of the Ede people while exploiting tourism, the government has encouraged people to restore, repair and renovate traditional long houses. The first 5 households in the village were encouraged to "try their hand" at community tourism, investing in the restoration and renovation of long houses, opening restaurants serving local cuisine and building gong and xoang dance programs to welcome guests. Resources from resolutions on supporting the development of community tourism in ethnic minority villages and hamlets in Dak Lak province have supported Akŏ Dhông village to build infrastructure items, improve the environmental landscape; relocate livestock barns; build parking lots, public toilets; install signs... People are also trained in tourist service skills.

The policy of preserving long houses has received the approval and is consistent with the wishes of the community to preserve the traditional long house culture and build the image of the village. Since its establishment, the village had only 7 long houses, each with 2-3 households living. Up to now, after many changes, Akŏ Dhông village has 35 long houses. Mr. Y Nuel Nie, owner of the cultural space, coffee and cuisine of the Central Highlands, Elder Ama H'rin, said: Preserving the space of long houses to serve tourism development is the right direction and is a highlight to attract tourists. This is a model that needs to be spread and shared with other villages in developing community tourism.

The urbanization process is taking place very quickly in the villages of the Central Highlands, but in Akŏ Dhông village, the unique space of ethnic minorities is still preserved. Although the residents are mixed with many ethnic groups from different regions, and the modern lifestyle is permeating, the Ede cultural colors still play a leading role through costumes, houses, traditional occupations...

As the unit directly monitoring and urging the implementation of the village covenant in Akŏ Dhông village, Chairman of Tan Loi Ward People's Committee Pham Van Thai said that, in addition to propaganda and mobilizing people to participate in tourism models, economic development and improving living standards are also included in the village covenant. People in the village have implemented the rules and regulations in the village covenant very well. In addition, the government has established a Zalo group with the participation of the village chief, party cell secretary, local police, party cell committee, cultural officers, etc. to support people promptly when incidents occur.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/huong-uoc-cua-buon-du-lich-cong-dong-ako-dhong-post878413.html