The grants are part of our Heritage Management Project - Africa (HerMaP-Africa), which is funded by the Mellon Foundation's Humanities in Place programme

The Heritage Management Organisation (HERITΛGE) is launching a new call for concept notes for small grants for organisations, groups and individuals working on heritage in Africa.

The grants are part of our Heritage Management Project - Africa (HerMaP-Africa), which is funded by the Mellon Foundation's Humanities in Place programme. They will fund projects that focus on the protection and/or promotion of local heritage for socio-economic development on the continent.

HerMaP-Africa is possible thanks to a grant of US$ 5 million from the Humanities in Place programme (https://apo-opa.info/3IXQf2h) of the Mellon Foundation, which aims to strengthen HERITΛGE's programmes in Africa, fund initiatives that connect heritage with socio-economic impact, develop the capacity of local organisations and help them preserve African heritage and culture.

"We are looking to tap into the potential of heritage in Africa in order to make a difference to the development of local communities," said HERITΛGE director Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis. "Heritage has the capacity to empower and we are ready to partner with local organisations across the continent to this end."

Applicants will have to demonstrate that their project fulfils one or more of three criteria:

1) Sustainability - Our focus is on projects that will have a lasting impact far beyond the duration of the project, e.g. protecting heritage sites from desertification by creating green belts, preserving/stabilising/restoring and adaptively reusing a historic building for the needs of the community, researching the landscape of public heritage, installing solar panels on heritage sites to generate income or cut costs in the long term, building eco-friendly tourist infrastructure, direct interventions that strengthen social institutions such as traditional mediation methods, etc.

2) Capacity building and network building - We encourage projects that strengthen local skills and establish closer links with peer organisations in the HERITΛGE network. Examples include on-the-job training in preventive conservation (e.g. cleaning or fencing), exchanging experiences and knowledge with other local NGOs on common issues such as desertification or site erosion, co-operative training on designing museum exhibitions, etc.

3) Concrete and community impact - We encourage projects with strong and measurable returns in terms of heritage protection and benefits for the local population. Each project must provide clear indicators of the planned impact. These indicators will depend on the type of work carried out, but some examples include increased visitation to a heritage site or programme, financial benefits for the local community in terms of increased employment opportunities or the creation of local businesses; tourist income; money saved by installing solar panels; the size of the area protected from desertification, etc.

To apply for these grants, fill in the concept note application form which you'll find here (https://apo-opa.info/3KxLtcU) or visit our website www.HeritageManagement.org.