Hear from Stephanie Grant, CPF Director, on how we are continuing to support cultural heritage that urgently requires protection from conflict.
This is an exciting time of renewal for the Cultural Protection Fund. We’re at the beginning of our new three-year programme; celebrating our 10th birthday, preparing new funding calls, entering a new partnership with CER and getting ready to launch our new Culture in Crisis programme. But even at this busy time of planning and preparation, we are continuing to support cultural heritage that urgently requires protection.
CPF is funding several ongoing interventions for cultural heritage and communities most at risk in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. We’d like to take a moment to highlight some of our brilliant partners delivering work in these countries:
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Biladi |
Biladi are working on ‘Our Heritage, Our Story’ where heritage-based humanitarian activities will supports families displaced from Southern Lebanon, where the scale of the crisis has reached 660,000 people living in overcrowded shelters. Biladi will provide vocational training and food support for displaced women, heritage-based educational activities for children, and community engagement through mobile heritage interventions. This programme will also contribute to the documentation and safeguarding of cultural heritage sites. In doing so, this project will provide participants with consistent support throughout the duration of the conflict and into the recovery phase. |
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Première Urgence Internationale |
PUI are leading a programme that aims to create opportunities for communities to reconnect with heritage and strengthen social bonds while building practical skills to protect Gaza’s cultural heritage. The project will support intergenerational knowledge sharing and documentation of local heritage through creative competitions, oral history recording, and capacity-building activities. It will also provide opportunities for children and young people to engage with archaeology and cultural heritage through a range of activities that contribute to the preservation and transmission of Gaza’s cultural heritage for future generations. |
| Taawon | Taawon are working on preserving and revitalizing the Jenin Historic Library, a landmark building located at the heart of Jenin’s Old City. This twentieth-century building constructed during the Ottoman period serves as one of the city’s most important spaces – hosting a reading activities, children programmes, events and community gatherings that support cultural engagement and learning. By completing the next phase of internal restoration works and improvements to the structural stability and functionality of the building, this project aims to support both the revitalisation of the Old City of Jenin and enable the library to act as an accessible educational and cultural resource for students, researchers, and the wider community. |
| Turquoise Mountain | CPF is contributing to a large project led by Turquoise Mountain to restore a clinic that housed the Tuberculosis Association of Aleppo since the 1970s before being damaged and looted in the conflict. By working with a local team of conservation heritage experts, a community support team, and the healthcare professionals of the Association, this project will simultaneously support the recovery of local neighbourhoods, address urgent health needs across the city, and create jobs through the restoration work. |
These organisations, and others we support working in conflict, are navigating unimaginable challenges to protect what communities value in times of crisis. They assist the Cultural Protection Fund to deliver on our mission to put people at the centre of cultural heritage protection.
As CPF approaches its tenth anniversary, we will be highlighting more stories and highlighting how heritage is a powerful tool to build a resilient, inclusive future.
