The study aims at assessing the prospect of community based ecotourism development in andrnaround the Guassa Community Conservation Area and the establishment of alternative source ofrnlivelihood for local people. The Guassa area and its surrounding are endowed with natural,rncultural, historical and religious tourism resources. The study is descriptive in its design andrnused both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Interview and Questionnaire were usedrnas an instrument for data gathering. Interview was undertaken with government officials, NGOrnoffic ial and expert and, with three local community representatives. The three Kebeles ofGuassarnwere chosen using purposive sampling because of the fact that they are immediate neighbor tornGCCA and hence, 150 questionnaires were administered proportionally to the householdrnnumbers in each kebeles. However, out of the distributed questionnaires only 125 questionnairesrnwere valid and ready to be used for analysis. The perspectives of the MoCT, EWCA and somernTour Operation agencies were uncovered through questionnaires, for each of them fivernquestionnaire were administered and all the returned were used in the analysis. Frequency,rnpercentage, average mean, One Way-ANOVA and independent t-test are used to analyzernquantitative data.rnThe findings revealed that food insecurity is commonplace in the study area. The local peoplernreliance over the conservation area's resources has been increasing and the area size is alsorndwindlingji'om time to time. On the other hand, the local people Level of awareness about CEETrnare low. In addition, the local capacity in relation with the conservation and CEET developmentrnis also low even though there is inadequate training offered by government and NGOs. Inrngeneral, tourism is not yet considered as an alternative source of income. In addition, thernchallenges for CEET development apart Fom low awareness level about CEET and lowrncapacity, poor inFastructure, poor tourism facilities were also identified as challenges in thernstudy area.rnKey words: COIIIIII/lnity Based Ecotollrislll (CBET), alte/'llative livelihood {lml GllassarnComlllunity Conservation Area (GCCA)