The Heritage Management Organization (HERITΛGE) completed an in-person visit to The Gambia for the HerMaP Gambia program on 17th – 24th August to build on and develop the program’s capacity mapping and building functions for the heritage sector.

The team, headed by Project Manager Mina Morou, held meetings with The Gambia’s Vice President, Badara Alieu Joof and key heritage beneficiaries and stakeholders as well as training sessions with local heritage managers.

“We are happy to be in The Gambia after the lifting of the pandemic restrictions to further implement the HerMap Gambia program which serves as a springboard to develop the capacity of the country’s heritage sector, empowering local communities to grow sustainably by building on their culture, history, and traditions,” said Morou.

Morou, along with expert educator and trainer of trainers (ToT) Iordanis Paschalidis, and ethnomusicologist Stella Paschalidou,  delivered an executive leadership workshop on Capacity Development: Strategies and Best Practices, attended by 25 cultural managers from Barra, Wassu, Janjanbureh, Juffureh and Albreda, and Banjul and its greater area.

HERITΛGE is grateful to The Gambia’s  National Centre for the Art and Culture (NCAC) and its General Director, Hassoum Ceesay, for introducing and hosting the workshop as well as supporting our mission throughout its visit.  

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About HerMaP Gambia: The program is aimed at developing the business skills of heritage and cultural managers to enable them to establish and better support heritage and cultural enterprises. Supporting The Gambia’s heritage sector will promote community solidarity and provide high-quality employment opportunities for local talent.

The worskshop was funded by the European Union with funding partly matched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. The HerMaP Gambia in co-funded by the European Union.

The Heritage Management Organisation’s people, programs and partners have all been in the news. You can find some of the articles below. 

 

Heritage Director, Evangelos Kyriakidis, told Euronews’ Jonny Walfisz that Britain must seize the opportunity for cultural diplomacy and give up its fears regarding the restitution of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece and the British Museum needs to see past the legal arguments it has been presenting on the issue…

Read more on Euronews.com 

 

Staying on the same topic, Dr. Kyriakidis told Euronews a few weeks later that European museums must do more than just return artefacts…. 

Read more on Euronews.com

 

Irene Onyancha of the United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) speaking on behalf of Nita Deerpalsing during the “Community Engagement Workshop with Community Leaders on the Promotion and Protection of Heritage Resources” which was held in Nairobi, Kenya, told participants that ECA is partnering with stakeholders including the Africa Union Commission and HERITAGE, to implement its heritage management programme which aims to empower local communities and experts…

Read more on ModernGhana.com 

 

Press in The Gambia and beyond reported on Heritage’s “Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage” and “Heritage Interpretation for Site Managers” workshops. Cultural heritage managers in Banjul, Barra, Janjanbureh and beyond took part in the workshops which address the needs of the country’s heritage organizations and local groups as they themselves set them out in a survey conducted by the Heritage Management Organisation. The workshops are part of the HerMaP Gambia project, co-funded by the EU ….

Read more on AllAfrica.com,  ThePoint.gm and ModernGhana.com

 

Naftemporiki, one of Greece’s oldest and best-known financial papers/websites, features Hertigage’s work in Africa, highlighting that this is the first time that the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has collaborated with an organization to develop a cultural heritage program in the continent…

Read more on Naftemporiki.gr

 

Greek media reported on the upcoming conference on “Emerging Trends and Technologies (EMTech) in Cultural Organizations: Management Innovation and Network Collaboration” that HERITAGE is organizing at the American Farm School in Thessaloniki to mark the conclusion of the international TEACH FOR FUTURE project. The project was co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and took place in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania… 

Read more on MyPortal.gr