The Cultural Protection Fund is today announcing 22 new projects, across 10 countries, with a funding total of over £2 million. The projects will protect cultural heritage at risk from the effects of conflict and/or climate change. In addition to the Middle East, North and East Africa, the fund will be working in Pakistan and Nepal for the first time, as part of a South Asia pilot programme
Funding of over £2 million will go towards protecting cultural heritage in Syria, Iraq, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Uganda, Tanzania and for the first time, Pakistan and Nepal.
Led by the British Council in partnership with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Cultural Protection Fund is the UK’s main response to international cultural heritage protection. In addition to working with organisations and communities across 17 countries to protect tangible heritage – such as buildings and archaeological sites – the fund also preserves intangible heritage including music, traditional crafts, and languages.
Stephanie Grant, Director of the Cultural Protection Fund at the British Council said:
“Since 2016, the Cultural Protection Fund has given grants of over £50 million to 159 projects to protect cultural heritage in 19 countries, but the need for our work has never been greater. Last year alone we received funding requests of almost 20 times the budget for our entire current programme.
We’re incredibly proud and excited to support new organisations and communities, adding 22 brilliant projects to our portfolio and expanding our work into South Asia. These projects will research, document and restore a wide range of valuable cultural heritage and bring together thousands of people to explore and celebrate their cultural identities.”
Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:
“We know that people, wherever they live, take immense pride in their cultural heritage. It is a fundamental part of who we are, which is why it must always be protected so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.
“This year’s successful projects will not only help to protect tangible heritage sites from the effects of conflict, instability and climate change, but also intangible heritage, such as the crafts and customs that are at the beating heart of communities around the world.”
Newly funded Cultural Protection Fund projects from Nepal announced today include:
- Preservation of Indigenous Food Heritage in Nepal – worth £ 50,000
National Indigenous Women’s Federation will deliver this project, which focuses on diverse culinary practices in the highland regions of Nepal. Food heritage, foraging and associated cultural practices are intrinsically connected to the environment; changes in weather patterns including increased drought, heavy rain, and flooding as a result of climate change is severely impacting availability of resources vital to the continuation of this practice.
To protect this heritage the project will document and record the indigenous food heritage and practices of communities across several provinces in Nepal. Women are the main carriers of this heritage and will have a leading role in identifying recipes and documenting activities – bit.ly/3wKmkqV
- Safeguarding the Kusunda (The Ban Rajas) Language and Culture for Future Generations- worth £45,953
The Kusunda Language is a distinct and critically endangered language spoken fluently by just a small number of remaining individuals in Bagmati Province, Nepal.
The language represents a link to the past for the remaining Kusunda people and has unusual characteristics, including the absence of words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The language is therefore irreplaceable if it is lost.The language is at risk of dying out as more Kusunda people move away from the area and lose connection to this important piece of their heritage due to the impact of climate change on their livelihoods and way of life.
Through courses for students at local secondary schools and the development of an online learning programme, Archive Nepal and partners hope to increase the speakership of this language and will promote the language further through the production of dual language Nepali and Kusunda books for children – bit.ly/3Kel9mK
- Towards Protecting the Cultural Heritage in the High Himalayas of the Shey Phoksundo National Park of Dolpo – worth £36,908
In the Upper Dolpo region, one of the most remote areas of Nepal, monastic sites, historic settlements, and monuments are at risk of deterioration due to conflict related instability, which impacted traditional management systems to maintain and protect these sites.
Sampada Samrakshyan Samaj Nepal (ICOMOS Nepal) will work with local government and members of the community to document and improve capacity to care for built heritage that remains an important part of socio-cultural life for the Dolpo community.
A training programme in the documentation and condition mapping of built heritage, will address the existing lack of records and support the development of guidance and procedures for the continuation of this work beyond the project end, further supported through series of workshops and discussions on community-led heritage protection – bit.ly/4dTnAbJ
- Preservation and revival of Maithil women’s wall painting and sculpting arts- worth £ 50,000
The project focuses on Maithil women’s paintings and mud art heritage, which is a form of earthen architecture used to decorate mud houses with symbolic imagery that represents religious tradition of the Maithil community.
Maithil women have great pride in their traditions, as this skill was traditionally passed down from mothers to daughters, upheld by women for centuries through art on walls of their mud houses.
The drought has led to limited sources of income, and women’s role in society has been limited to taking care of their households while men seek employment abroad, which has led to their artistic skills and heritage to be unpractised and forgotten.
Training local women in Maithil painting and mud work will ensure local people have developed skills to protect the heritage and practice the unique craft of Maithil tradition. The interviews with elderly Maithil artisans will allow local communities to better understand and value their cultural heritage.
By decorating the houses in Kuwa village, using the acquired Maithil artwork tradition, local communities will play an active role in protecting their cultural heritage through training and practice – and the local area is enhanced for the benefit of communities and visitors
