One of the many rock-hewn churches at Lalibela

The British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund has announced that it will be providing financing to five projects in four East African nations. The money from the fund will be used to respond to the risks posed by climate change to the cultural heritage of these countries.

Ethiopia is among the recipients of the financing which is going to be dispersed across five conservation projects in the four nations; Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are the other recipients of the financing. The projects that are going to be financed are going to focus on developing sustainable climate practices and increase risk planning, training, and digital innovation.

Ethiopia will receive approximately 106,700 GBP to be used for risk assessment and action planning endeavors for 23 ancient rock-hewn churches which are staples of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and tradition.

Besides financial aid, the Fund also aims at furthering cooperation between organizations and experts from the East African nations and from the United Kingdom and Italy. This is seen as a critical undertaking in order to foster solidarity within the global heritage community.

Such measures are set to ensure already ongoing partnerships between the British Council and the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport initiative to protect heritages in the Middle East and Africa. To this end, the fund has set as its goal the empowerment of local organizations and communities to develop restoration techniques, digital documentation, and traditional crafts as integral parts of protecting cultural heritage.

The Voice , British Council

 

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