Deadline: 21 June 2019
The Prince Claus Fund and the Gerda Henkel Foundation has announced an Open Call for proposals specifically aimed at Emergency Preparedness for Cultural Heritage under Threat. They invite cultural practitioners, institutions and local NGOs to present their ideas for measures to protect tangible cultural heritage against acute danger and irreversible loss. They welcome applications from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
The Prince Claus Fund, through its Cultural Emergency Response (CER) programme, and the Gerda Henkel Foundation, through its funding initiative Patrimonies, both support the protection and preservation of cultural heritage in crisis regions. Both Foundations have a history of preventing and minimizing the loss of cultural heritage. Projects supported in the past have varied from implementation of seismic strengthening in the reconstruction of Nepal’s temples after the 2015 earthquake, to supporting local networks to develop emergency plans for archives in the Caribbean after the 2017 hurricanes, and enhancing security measures for collections that were vulnerable to looting in Jordan.
This joint call for applications aims to support the development and implementation of more preparatory measures for heritage buildings, collections, and sites to protect these in case a disaster occurs. They furthermore encourage organizations to enhance their emergency preparedness by implementing lessons learned during previous incidents. The call also aims to step up both their Foundations’ efforts in the field, raise awareness about its importance and illustrate how preventive concepts can safeguard heritage. Cultural practitioners, institutions and local NGOs are encouraged to submit their ideas and plans for the protection of tangible cultural heritage under threat.
Funding Information
- Grants will average about € 20,000.
- Grant funds can only cover project-related expenses, not running (operating) costs for organizations.
- No support will be provided retroactively (i.e. to projects already implemented).
Eligibility Criteria
- The project must aim to protect tangible cultural heritage in emergency situations caused by an acute, current or impending disaster. Cases that only involve long term neglect are not eligible.
- The country where the intervention is to take place must be in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Caribbean, and the applying organization or individual must live and work in one of these regions.
- The heritage involved must be significant for a specific community, whether local, regional, national, or global.
- Local communities and/or local authorities must be involved in the emergency preparedness, and the legal owner must support the proposed measures.
- The intervention must be able to be carried out within a time frame of twelve months
- Previous grantees of the Prince Claus Fund and of the Gerda Henkel Foundation can only apply for a new grant when the previously funded project is completely finished and closed before the deadline for submitting the current application.
- The project could fulfill one or several of the following aims:
- Damage and risk assessment: setting salvages priorities, digitization, and inventorying.
- Disaster preparedness and the provision of supplies: storage, packing and evacuation.
- Improvement of security measures for museums, archives and sites.
- Management of crisis situations: risk evaluation, disaster management and evacuation plans.
- Training of professionals for cultural emergency situations.
- Strengthening of local networks working on heritage protection or advocating for its importance in other disaster response structures (for example with civil protection services, humanitarian actors, etc.).
- Adoption of best practice methods for cultural emergency response or the exchange of these methods and knowledge.
- Emergency documentation or excavation of cultural heritage sites under direct threat.
Selection Criteria
- Projects will be evaluated by Prince Claus Fund and Gerda Henkel Foundation staff, external reviewers and a scientific Advisory Committee. The selection criteria are:
- Urgency of the need identified – affected heritage must be threatened by imminent loss in case of disaster.
- Soundness and sustainability of the plan for emergency preparedness and/or dissemination – the plan must be feasible, realistic and well thought out to prevent or limit future vulnerability.
- Significance of the threatened heritage to local, regional, and/or world communities – the heritage must be of value to an identified group of people.
- This grant selection procedure aims to ensure that projects are chosen in a transparent and fair manner, according to clear criteria, and through a rigorous process giving due consideration to all proposals that meet the eligibility requirements.
How to Apply
To apply, please send a brief statement of need with supporting materials (if available) at the address given on the website in English, French, or Spanish.
For more information, please visit https://princeclausfund.org/emergency-preparedness-for-cultural-heritage-under-threat-2019