This is the name of the project launched by the Agency for Private Initiative Development with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The project aims to increase the level of activity and involvement of civil society and CSOs in Ukraine in the development and implementation of policies on the management of cultural heritage of local communities. The project started on October 1, 2019 and will last for one year. The project partners are the Tourist Association of Ivano-Frankivsk Region (www.taif.org.ua) and the Creative Center of the CCC (Kyiv).

A significant problem that the project aims to solve is that heritage in Ukraine is usually an object of protection, not a factor of economic development, its economic potential is ignored by local authorities, and civil society is effectively excluded from the development of heritage policies and its management, largely due to the lack of necessary knowledge and vision. In addition, the involvement of civil society organizations in heritage management is hindered by a number of discriminatory norms and uncertainty in national legislation.

The project team has been working in the field of heritage interpretation for several years, considering this approach as a unique opportunity to provide added value to the heritage owned by small communities, to reorient approaches related to it from passive protection to active use in the interests of democratic development. Back in 2017, we drew the attention of opinion leaders and youth of four communities of Ivano-Frankivsk region to their own heritage resources, which, if managed wisely and interpreted successfully, can become the basis of local entrepreneurship. Youth debates and entrepreneurship trainings were held in these communities to spark imagination and find creative solutions related to heritage (the project “Democracy and Community Building through Support and Development of Local Heritage” (https://bit.ly/2CgXcrS, 2017). A little later, for the first time in Ukraine, a pilot program for the interpretation of heritage and the development of entrepreneurship based on it was developed with the active participation of the community in the Pechenizhynsk ATC (the project “CSO Coalition for Support of Communities with Heritage” (https://bit.ly/2rffMOJ ​​), 2018-2019).

At the same time, a unique book was created and later improved, the necessity of which has been tested by time and experience - the manual “Economics of Heritage for Small Communities” (https://arpi.org.ua/images/Heritage-Economy-book.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2KuMVyvMaJLLDv7ocajU5LvlZLX6vzVoqGmKDkaiNn-YRJeCEniywyH7I). Its authors – Oksana Fedorovych and Kyrylo Rubanovsky – tried to present the topic of heritage through an economic aspect – obvious and at the same time little-known and little-researched. The focus of “Heritage Economy” is an analysis of the impact of heritage in its broad sense on the local economy and on the future development of small communities. It is interpretation that the manual offers to small communities as a key tool for adapting and using heritage in modern conditions.

The Heritage for Development project will be a good opportunity to create effective practices of participatory heritage management and interpretation in Ukraine, using the approach detailed in our manual. To this end, training will be organized for CSOs to develop and implement heritage interpretation plans with active community involvement. In fact, the acquired knowledge will allow project participants (CSOs and small communities) to find answers to the questions – What, Why and How to do with their own heritage. Moreover, the project will offer grant support to CSO initiatives on the interpretation of local heritage of specific communities on the basis of participatory approaches, for example, festivals, forums, crowdfunding, etc.

By attracting like-minded people, forming a pool of Ukrainian experts working in the field of heritage, in 2018 we founded the National Coalition (Network) of CSOs to Support Communities with Heritage (https://bit.ly/2Nl3pJJ), which quite loudly announced its first results at the All-Ukrainian Conference https://bit.ly/2Cn16zi in February 2019. Currently, ARPI coordinates and develops the activities of the network, which includes 28 organizations, ensuring its promotion, supporting partner initiatives and attracting its resources for new joint initiatives (a recent event is the Heritage Day for Small Communities at UITM https://bit.ly/36IWK3Q).

A separate component of the project "Heritage for Development" will be networking and raising awareness of the project's target groups - CSOs working in small communities, trying to give new life to heritage and realize its potential for the development of these communities. A national ‘think tank’ conference will be organized for these CSOs, where they will discuss and identify the most optimal heritage management tools for their communities. The conference will also become a promotional event for the National CSO Network for Support to Heritage Communities in 2020, allowing it to increase its professionalism and expand partnerships.

In parallel with the project activities aimed at raising awareness, creating and disseminating heritage interpretation practices, the Network will continue its activities to analyze relevant legislative acts of Ukraine and make the necessary changes to eliminate discriminatory restrictions and create appropriate legal prerequisites for the full participation of civil society and its institutions in heritage management. We would like to remind you that the analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine on heritage use and management tools and recommendations for its improvement (https://taif.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Heritage_Legislation_Analyses.pdf) was carried out by experts of the CSO Network for Support of Heritage Communities in 2018-2019 with the support of the British Embassy.