Dr Zoitsa (Zoe) Gkinni | Senior Book and Paper Conservator, National Library of Greece

Which workshop did you attend?

Strategic Planning for Heritage Managers (2020) & Successful Fundraising for Heritage Managers: Strategies and Best Practices (2021)

Were the training workshops opportunities to enhance your connections with your peers?

Yes in a number of ways. To begin with I started feeling safer when I was training, as I also train people. During these training sessions you come across people from different communities, the workshops are intercultural meetings, and this enriches us participants professionally, in the way we approach things. I benefited both by acquiring knowledge and by enhancing my understanding of peers from  around the world, from diverse cultural backgrounds.  I became conscious of theses benefits when I went on to take part in working groups with peers from North Africa and Asia.

The workshops are intercultural meetings and this enriches us professionally in the way we approach things.

The training workshops also helped me enhance my mentoring work for the International Institute of Conservation by widening my horizons and giving me yet another solid foundation that I could then share with mentees.

Do you feel that your ability to perform relevant tasks has improved?

Yes, my heritage management and fundraising skills have been upgraded. I was part of the team that coordinated the National Library of Greece’s move to its new building and that experience, along with the heritage management training workshops, helped me gain a deeper understanding of many aspects of my work.I feel confident to use the knowledge and skills I gained in the fundraising workshop in practice when approaching third parties and writing funding proposals.

The fundraising workshop has proved particularly helpful when I am part of organising committees for conferences or events; it has proved very useful when approaching people or companies to fundraise.

Following of your training, have your projects benefited?

Yes, I feel the projects I have worked on have benefited from the HERITΛGE training I received. I do not fundraise every day but I have had to fundraise and I will need to do so in the future. I have also discussed the workshops with colleagues and I have recommended that they also sign up for the fundraising workshop with the Heritage Management Organization. I believe it is a very compact training session that provides a great amount of knowledge. I always have what I learned during the fundraising workshop at the back of my head  when I am organising conference and events and it has proved very useful when approaching people in order to fundraise.

How would you summarise your HERITΛGE training experience in your own words?

The training offered by the Heritage Management Organization is well-organised, well-designed, and the instructors are well-selected. I have attended a number of training workshops with a variety of providers and I am very satisfied with how the HERITΛGE workshops were organised and how they were delivered and as a result I have recommended them to colleagues and I will keep recommending them in the future.