USAID holds workshops to prepare new heritage strategy

AMMAN — The US Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted a series of workshops this fall under its Sustainable Cultural Heritage Through Engagement of Local Communities Project to prepare for the Jordan Archaeological Heritage Strategy 2020-2024. 

Each workshop in the five-session series focused on one of the upcoming strategies five pillars: Enabling environment, cultural resource management, research and studies, museums and awareness and education, according to a USAID statement.

The workshops, which began in September, were held in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities in Amman, Aqaba and the Dead Sea and attended by employees of the Department of Antiquities, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority/Wadi Rum Protected Area, among other cultural heritage institutions.

While this group of workshops centred on employees of governmental heritage institutions, Sustainable Cultural Heritage Through Engagement of Local Communities is planning further activities and discussions to involve others, including academic and research institutions, donor organisations, local and international NGOs and communities, the statement said. 

The Jordan Archaeological Heritage Strategy 2020-2024 will be based on these multi-level discussions and is expected to be launched early next year, according to the statement.

 “As awareness of Jordan’s cultural heritage grows, and international tourism increases, now is the time to put this new strategy in place to ensure that our heritage is managed sustainably and in a way that benefits local communities and the country overall,” Director General of the Department of Antiquities Yazeed Elayyan remarked in the statement.

USAID Sustainable Cultural Heritage Through Engagement of Local Communities, implemented by the American Centre of Oriental Research, is an eight-year project dedicated to the development of local economies and communities through cultural heritage preservation in under-served areas throughout Jordan, the statement said.