On 30 June, the first phase of the “Capacity Building Programme on Improving Management Effectiveness of World Heritage Properties in the Arab States Region” kicked off.
This initiative, organized by the ICCROM-IUCN World Heritage Leadership programme and the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) at the Bahrain National Theatre, aims to equip World Heritage management teams with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage World Heritage properties and to carry out management effectiveness assessments to support the improvement and enhancement of management systems for World Heritage.
In this first phase, which spans from 30 June to 4 July, site management teams from 14 World Heritage properties in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates are participating in a course focused on World Heritage management. The course is delivered in a hybrid format, with team leaders and coordinators attending the course in person, while the wider team participates online.
This format ensures a broader engagement from management teams, providing an opportunity for all team members to benefit from the capacity-building activity.
The course integrates the curriculum of the World Heritage Leadership (WHL) programme’s flagship course on ‘Managing World Heritage: People Nature Culture’ (PNC) with the Enhancing Our Heritage Toolkit 2.0 (EOH 2.0) to engage participants in an interactive and immersive capacity-building experience centred on management teams’ use of the EOH 2.0 to assess the effectiveness of their World Heritage management systems.
Participants will have the chance to reflect on potential improvements and contribute to a regional discussion about World Heritage management.
Following this first phase, three World Heritage properties will be selected to take part in two additional phases of the programme, where management teams will partner with mentors who will support them in the implementation of a full management effectiveness assessment using the methodology of the EOH 2.0.
This programme is a major step in enhancing the management and protection of World Heritage sites in the Arab States region and it is fruit of the close collaboration with ARC-WH. By working with management institutions to equip site managers with essential skills and knowledge, this initiative ensures the management and enhancement of World Heritage for present and future generations.
Images by Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH)