HERITΛGE participated in the first European Humanitarian Forum that was hosted by the European Commission’s Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Directorate and France22 in Brussels, Belgium on 21-23 March. The Organization hosted a Humanitarian Talk on “The role of the private sector in fostering local identity and culture: emergency preparedness, relief and reconstruction” in cooperation with Greek Foreign Ministry. 

The event’s goal was to highlight the private sector’s potential contribution to the preservation and strengthening of local identity and cultural heritage, from emergency preparedness through to relief and reconstruction efforts in crisis zones, achieving inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability. Cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) are directly tied to local and/or national identity and subsequently to social cohesion and resilience and can become important tools during humanitarian crisis.

“It is unfortunate, but timely, that the Forum is being held while we are facing the war in Ukraine,” Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias pointed out while addressing the Talk. “Our goal is to highlight the role that the protection of cultural heritage can play in the prevention and mitigation of humanitarian crises,” he added. 

Watch the Talk here.

The 6-day online workshop on “Climate Change, Heritage and Risk” took place between 18 January and 2 February, and was exclusively conducted for the World Monuments Fund professionals.

The workshop was sponsored by the World Monuments Fund and the Heritage Management Organization. 17 WMF heritage managers from Italy, Spain, the UK, Portugal, India, and the USA attended the course. They have been introduced to new insights regarding climate change, and raised awareness and appreciation of the way climate affects heritage integrity of cultural heritage and the authenticity of monuments, objects and site,s while considering how to minimize threats. During the workshop participants were engaged in group activities that helped them form a better understanding of the course’s material. The teams worked on their heritage projects covering several climate change cases from the UK, Burkina Faso to Belize and Bangladesh.

The workshop was conducted by Prof. Peter Brimblecombe, Emeritus Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, Member, Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.

HERITΛGE was honoured to take active part in the Africa-Europe EU Week that was held in Brussels from 14 to 18 February 2022. Stakeholders from Africa and Europe will come together to strengthen the partnerships between the two continents through a series of policy events and cultural performances in the margins of the 6th African Union – European Union Summit to take place in Brussels.

HERITΛGE organised in collaboration with the African Union a session on heritage and socio-economic development. The session which featured a number of heritage professionals from a variety of sectors, was an effort to showcase the importance of heritage for socioeconomic development in the continent. The session was addressed by Vera Songwe, Undersecretary General for Africa and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and Angela Martins, Head of division of Culture for the African Union Commission as well as HERITΛGE director Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidis.

You can learn more about the summit and watch the session video here.

The online 3-day workshop on “Introduction to Heritage Interpretation for Site Managers” took place from 21 to 23 January 2022.  

18 heritage managers from Africa (Rwanda, Kenya, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Egypt), Asia (Qatar) and Europe (Greece) have been trained on how to develop interpretive talks and walks in heritage sites or museums developing themes about tangible or intangible heritage phenomena, including values, contexts and universal concepts. 

 During the course, participants actively participated in discussions and various individual and group exercises. The exercises were designed to gradually build up their own interpretive project on cultural heritage in their preferred sites.  

The workshop has been conducted by Valya Stergioti, is a freelance interpretive trainer and planner. She has more than 20 years of experience on organizing and implementing interpretive workshops about heritage for adults and children. She is Interpret Europe’s Training Coordinator, works in collaboration with different NGOs and other institutions all over Greece and has more than 10 years’ experience in adult training.

Community engagement is a key element of good interpretation. Dr Olga Karagianni, manager of the Andros Research Center and coordinator for the Andros Routes Initiative, has delivered a keynote speech and shared her experience in motivating the local community of Andros and interpreting local cultural heritage.

The online 3-day workshop on “Project Management for Heritage Managers” took place from 3 to 5 December 2021. 

32 cultural heritage managers from Ethiopia have been trained in how to manage a successful project, from inception, planning and implementation to closure. This workshop has been supported by the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Heritage Management Organization.

During the three-day workshop, participants took part in individual and group activities. Heritage managers learned the qualities of a good project manager, how to achieve on-time, quality and on-budget completion of a project, with proper planning and strict control. In addition, participants became familiar with the use of tools such as the work breakdown structure, critical path diagram and Gantt chart. At the end of their training, participants successfully acquired the necessary knowledge on how to successfully manage a project. 

The workshop was conducted by Tim Healing, who has over thirty years’ experience working as a project manager and has a professional background in project management, community and NGO development. He specializes in the coordination and support of cultural heritage and community based social action projects in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asian regions. 

The online 3-day workshop on “ Engaging Communities” took place from 5 to 7 November 2021. 

22 heritage managers from Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Gambia, Egypt, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Morocco and Namibia) have received training on how to engage communities through heritage and for the benefit of heritage. This workshop have been supported by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union and the Heritage Management Organization as part of the “AU Year of Arts Culture and Heritage”.

During the course, participants familiarized themselves with the context of community engagement through heritage, discussed methodologies based on ethnography and oral history, and engaged in practical, both individual and group, exercises. By using the techniques demonstrated by the workshop’s instructors and getting involved with all exercises, participants can now understand better the communities that they might work with, and have acquired the knowledge on how to successfully engage communities.

The course’s instructors:

Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis: is the founding Director of the Heritage Management Organization. He has research interests in Mycenaean administration, Minoan religion and iconography as well as in ritual theory, history of archaeological thought and archaeological site management and planning. 

Dr Aris Anagnostopoulos: is the Public Director of the Heritage Management Organization. His research interests focus on the politics and poetics of the material aspects of the past in the present.

Dr Lena Stefanou: is an archaeologist and specializes in museum and heritage studies. She works at the Hellenic Open University and is also the Public Officer of the Heritage Management Organization. Her research interests are the ideological uses of the past in the present.