US$5 m to benefit world heritage sites and tourism facilities    

Business Writer      

The country’s heritage sites are set to benefit from a US$5 million Heritage Management Organisation (HERITΛGE) grant whose focus is on the protection of and/or promotion of local heritage for socio-economic development in the continent.

Zimbabwe has UNESCO Heritage Sites such as the Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe, Matobo National Park, Mana Pools, Kami Ruins and Kingdom of Mapungugwe, which are all instrumental in driving the tourism sector and the economy in general.

Tourism sector has also been identified as a low hanging fruit for Zimbabwe, at a time the sector as a whole is recovering from the adverse impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, the grants for Africa Heritage Projects are part of the Heritage Management Project – Africa (HerMaP-Africa) which is funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place programme.

To benefit and be considered for this initiative, project proposals must demonstrate sustainability, capacity development and network building as well as concrete and community impact showing strong, measurable incomes in terms of heritage protection and benefits to local people. Each project should provide clear indicators of the planned impact, according to the group.

The focus of the group is on projects that will have a lasting impact, much beyond the duration of the project, for example protecting heritage sites from desertification by creating green belts, preserving or stabilising or restoring and adaptively reusing a historic building for community needs, researching the public heritage landscape, installing solar panels at heritage sites to generate income or decrease expenditure in the long term, building eco-friendly tourism infrastructure and direct interventions that strengthen social institutions, like traditional methods of mediation.

“We are looking to untap the potential of heritage in Africa, in order to make a difference for the development of local communities,” said HERITΛGE Director, Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis.

“Heritage has the ability to empower and we are ready to partner with local organizations around the continent to this end.”