Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Foundation for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in Rabat, chaired the Foundation’s Board of Directors on Friday.
During this Board of Directors devoted to closing the accounts for the 2020 and 2021 financial years, His Royal Highness welcomed the latest decision of the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of the inscribed property of the city of Rabat, according to a press release from the Foundation.
The Princess also welcomed the importance of the work accomplished since the inscription, in 2012, on the UNESCO World Heritage List of “Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a shared heritage”.
Princess Lalla Hasnaa’s commitment, focused on heritage education and awareness as well as the synergistic federation around these issues, aims to strengthen awareness in connection with cultural heritage in all its forms of expression by with a view to contributing to its appropriation, enhancement and safeguard.
This last year has been particularly rich for the Foundation, which has rolled out an ambitious action plan comprising numerous scientific meetings, awareness-raising activities and the launch of the process of updating the management plan for the inscribed property.
The Foundation thus organized eight scientific meetings and technical workshops which were led by 40 national experts and 31 international experts. A total of 259 people participated face-to-face and more than 1,400 online, connected from 20 countries.
In addition, the Foundation’s 2022 action plan, presented to the Board of Directors, outlines its major plans in the education of the youngest through the implementation of educational programs and tools, awareness-raising through mediation and facilitation of access to heritage and mobilization and synergistic federation based on dialogue, exchange and mobilization of the various actors and stakeholders around reflections with ambitious aims.
In this context, the Foundation has signed three major partnership agreements with the Ministry of National Education, Preschool and Sports, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Land Conservation Agency, Cadastre and Cartography. These partnerships will be of great support to the actions of the Foundation in the context of education and awareness of the importance of safeguarding heritage.
Through these partnerships, the Foundation has set up four structuring programs according to the three pillars: educate, raise awareness and federate.
In this sense, the Foundation implemented the first program entitled “I discover my heritage” for the benefit of 62 colleges of the capital by adapting the educational kit of the “UNESCO program for the education of young people in world heritage to the cultural heritage of Rabat and its many representations in architecture, town planning, archaeology, traditions and nature with the introduction of notions of modern heritage and world heritage.
“I discover my heritage” was launched in partnership with the Ministry of National Education, Preschool and Sports, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, and in collaboration with UNESCO and the center of world heritage. The contextualization of the kit to the local territory and its educational vocation represent essential tools in order to strengthen the position of culture in the pedagogical processes.
In the wake of the implementation of heritage in educational processes, the Foundation launched the program “I draw my heritage” for the benefit of 600 schoolchildren on the occasion of the International Day for Monuments and Sites which will be articulated this year around the theme “heritage and climate”. This program aims to raise awareness among schoolchildren of the heritage values of the city of Rabat through artistic and plastic creation.
Also, the Foundation will organize with its partners for the year 2022, a set of workshops and meetings within the framework of themes which will relate to the celebrations of Rabat African Capital of Culture, Rabat Capital of Culture in the World Islamic, the 10 years of the Inscription of Rabat on the World Heritage List, and the ICOMOS Triennial Scientific Plan 2021-24 on Cultural Heritage and Climate Action. This is a provisional program rich in educational, cultural and scientific activities, with the aim of building a real platform for exchange between heritage practitioners, researchers, institutions and civil society.
In addition, with a view to promoting access to culture and heritage, the Foundation will work to set up digital platforms and create educational tools, in particular interactive virtual tours intended for the general public and institutions, universities and academics. The program will also offer educational games for the youngest. The pilot project will focus on an interactive virtual tour of Fort Hervé, the statement concludes.
The Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat was created following the inclusion of “Rabat, modern capital and historic city” on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Its mission is to educate and raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding the cultural heritage of Rabat in order to allow people to benefit from it today and to pass it on to future generations.
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