The 2018-19 Heritage Alliance and British Council Travel Grant Scheme enabled recipients to undertake an international visit to meet with colleagues and share skills, expertise and experience.
The Travel Grant Scheme also supported UK heritage organisations who are starting to develop mutually beneficial international projects and partnerships. Here is the story of one of the recipients.
Lisa Shekede and Stephen Rickerby for The Ethiopian Heritage Fund (EHF) and The Tigray Bureau for Culture and Tourism
The EHF works with the Ethiopian Church and the Ethiopian Ministry of Tourism and Culture to promote the conservation of early Ethiopian churches. In this case, the funds awarded were used to deliver a targeted four-day conservation training course to guides in Tigray.
The course was highly successful, enabling the tour guides to meet as a professional group and examine their roles as the interface between tourists and the sites that they visit. As Lisa and Stephen put it:
“With over 30 years’ teaching experience in the conservation profession, the enthusiasm and gratitude shown by the course participants was unprecedented, and left a deep impression.”
Since the EHF’s course, guides have been able to maintain contact through social media. The EHF will provide relevant publications and information to the tour guides, and the Tigray Culture and Tourism Bureau has agreed to help organise future courses.
A full report on the EHF’s work in Tigray can be found here.
To view the EHF’s website, click here.