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Post-Disaster Needs Assessment for Culture in Albania (2020)

On 4 December 2019, the Government of Albania requested a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) in order to assess the damage and losses, the impacts on macro-economic and human development, and the recovery needs arising from the 6.4 earthquake that struck the country in November 2019, 34 kilometres northwest of the capital Tirana.

In this context, UNESCO supported the Albanian Ministry of Culture in the coordination and implementation of the PDNA for the culture sector (PDNA- Culture). Within this framework, the HEF supported the organization of an online training on the PDNA methodology for 2 national experts (both women) appointed by the Ministry of Culture, as well as their participation in field assessments at key disaster-affected areas in order to elaborate the PDNA report for the culture sector. Six priority sites were identified as requiring immediate intervention to safeguard them from future potential collapse and damage, including the Castle of Kruja, the Castle of Durrës, the Castle of Preza and the Castle of Bashtova, (inscribed on the World Heritage Tentative List of Albania), Tekke of Dollma in Krujë, and the Ethnographic Museum - House of Aleksandër Moisiu in Durrës.

The PDNA report was presented at the International Donors’ Conference ‘Together for Albania’ organized by the European Commission in Brussels on 17 February 2020, which resulted in the EU and international donors pledging a total of EUR 1.15 billion for the country’s post-earthquake reconstruction and recovery. 

Risk assessment of built heritage in Gyumri (2019)

The City of Gyumri in Armenia is located in a highly seismic area crossed by several faults at the convergence of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The cultural heritage of the city is mainly associated with the period dating between 1804 and 1924, and comprises a historic district (the ‘Kumayri District’) with over 1,200 buildings and monuments spread across approximately 1,000 hectares. At the request of the Government of Armenia, and with the support of the HEF, UNESCO deployed a mission to Gyumri from 19 to 24 August 2019. The purpose of the mission – which was conducted by a UNESCO staff and an expert in structural engineering, in close consultation with the Armenian authorities – was to achieve a risk assessment of the cultural heritage structures of Gyumri. At the end of the mission, a technical report was developed and shared with the Armenian authorities. Structured around the four priority areas of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the report outlined the mission’s key findings – including the main observations of the risk assessment – and recommendations to strengthen the resilience of Gyumri’s cultural heritage to future earthquakes.

Training of Croatian World Heritage site managers on disaster risk reduction (2017)

Following a request from the Government of Croatia, a national training workshop was organized by UNESCO, from 25 to 28 September 2017, on the Island of Hvar. The aim of the workshop was to bring together site managing authorities, emergency response/civil protection agencies, and World Heritage focal points from Croatia to integrate disaster risk reduction principles into site management plans, and to strengthen coordination mechanisms between key actors at the national and local levels. The Heritage Emergency Fund supported the participation of technical experts in the workshop, which adopted a participatory methodology, with the World Heritage property “Stari Grad Plain” used as a case study for group work. The workshop resulted in the successful training of inter-sectoral teams, offering the participants an understanding of the key principles and techniques for disaster risk prevention, preparedness and response. In addition, participants identified major challenges in relation to disaster risk reduction for cultural heritage in Croatia and consequently adopted a common statement structured around the four priorities of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Online capacity-building of museum stakeholders in Croatia (2020)

On 22 March 2020, two earthquakes of magnitude 5.3 and 5.1 struck Zagreb causing widespread destruction of the city’s unique cultural heritage. Moreover, the disaster was further complicated by the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Council of Museums (ICOM) with its Croatian National Committee and its International Committee for Museum Management (INTERCOM) and the Museum Documentation Centre and Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb, co-organized an online workshop for museum stakeholders in Croatia on 4 and 5 May 2020. Entitled “Learning from Disasters and Pandemics”, the workshop was attended by over 80 professionals, namely museum directors, museologists, cultural heritage experts, engineers, and policymakers. Backstopped by an Associate Coordination Officer supported under the HEF, this activity aimed to enhance the capacities of museum directors in Croatia to effectively manage the parallel disasters induced by the earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Training on “Disaster Risk Management for Culture and Heritage” for Serbia (2018)

UNESCO conducted a national workshop on managing disaster risks to cultural heritage from 12 to 13 February 2018 at the Ethnographic Museum of Belgrade, Serbia. The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and understanding among relevant stakeholders of the principles of risk management for culture and heritage, and to build stakeholders’ capacities to integrate disaster risk reduction in the management and governance of heritage sites, in particular UNESCO designated sites. The World Heritage property “Studenica Monastery” was selected as case study, the property being at considerable risk from a number of natural and human-induced disasters with inadequate measures for preventing, mitigating and recovering from a potential disaster. Supported by the Heritage Emergency Fund, the event was part of a project implemented by the Serbian Ministry of Culture through its Participation Programme. The training offered the participants an understanding of the key principles and techniques for disaster risk prevention, preparedness, and response as applied to culture, as well as an overview of the international Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) methodology.

Training to counter antiquities trafficking in the Mashreq (2018)

To counter the phenomenon of illicit trafficking of antiquities and to protect cultural heritage, UNESCO organized the training workshop “Countering Antiquities Trafficking in the Mashreq – A training programme for specialists working to deter cultural property theft and the illicit trafficking of antiquities”, from 16 to 20 April 2018, in Beirut (Lebanon). With the support of the Heritage Emergency Fund, the programme aimed at providing governmental authorities, art professionals, academics and decision-makers who work in fragile countries affected by cultural property theft and illicit trafficking of antiquities, with professional skills to counter such phenomena. 31 professionals from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey, including 11 women, benefitted from the training. The 5-day training, animated by experts from the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), INTERPOL, the International Council Of Museums (ICOM), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as well as the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), was structured around four modules, each designed to address issues of common concern in affected source and transit countries.