Organisations and individuals working to preserve Africa’s rich heritage and culture have been called to submit concept notes to benefit from a total of $5 million in grant funding provided by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place programme.

The funding is being used to disburse small grants of between $5 000 and $50 000 – through the Heritage Management Organization (HERITΛGE) based in Athens – to initiatives that focus on the protection of and/or promotion of local heritage for socio-economic development. The grants are part of the larger Heritage Management Project – Africa.

HERITΛGE Director, Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis, said they were looking at the untapped potential of heritage in Africa, in order to make a difference for the development of local communities. “Heritage has the ability to empower and we are ready to partner with local organisations around the continent to this end.”

Heritage tourism has been identified as one of the major drivers for destination development in Africa. The continent is home to 98 Unesco World Heritage Sites, including 54 cultural properties, 39 national properties and five mixed properties.

Application criteria for grants

To secure grants, applicants will have to demonstrate that their project addresses one or more of three criteria:

Sustainability – Initiatives should have a lasting impact, much beyond the actual duration of the project.

Examples provided by HERITΛGE include:

• Protecting heritage sites from desertification by creating green belts.
• Preserving/stabilising/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.
• Direct interventions that strengthen social institutions, like traditional methods of mediation.

Capacity development and network building – Projects should strengthen local skills and build closer links with peer organisations in the HERITΛGE network.

Examples include:

• On-the-job training in preventive conservation (e.g clearing or fencing sites).  
• Experience and expertise exchanges with other local NGOs on shared issues such as desertification or erosion of sites.
• co-operative training on museum exhibition design.

Concrete and community impact – Projects with strong, measurable incomes in terms of heritage protection and benefits to local people. Each project should provide clear indicators of the planned impact.

Examples of indicators include:

• Increased visitation to a heritage site or programme.
• Financial benefits to the local community in terms of increased employment opportunities or local businesses created.  
• Tourism earnings.
• Money savings by solar panel installation.  
• The size of area protected from desertification or other threats.

To apply for the grants, applicants must complete a concept note application form. Click here to apply.