The British Council's Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth Programme in Kenya, Culture Grows, works with communities to protect, value, discover and share Cultural heritage with all.

Working with and through partners this programme builds the understanding of cultural heritage and supports innovative projects that increase access to skills, networks and knowledge in the communities we work with in ways that create economic and social growth.

Braid Arts and Culture Fund

The Braid Fund sees the health of the art, culture and cultural heritage sector and its contributions to wider society as a weaving of elements: our disciplines, our practitioners, and our communities. Intertwining these strands leads to improved relationships, new work, increased connection and greater influence. The fund offers grants to innovative practitioners of art and culture projects in East Africa. This is a collaboration between the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) and the Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth (#CultureGrows) programme by the British Council.

For more information about the opportunities available, click here.

Book Bunk Trust

 Book Bunk Trust, partnered with the British Council Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth programme to create and disseminate tools and resources on the skills and learnings from our work restoring public libraries to library audiences,  community, members, policymakers and others. This project continues to build on two successful rounds of collaboration with the programme to create resources that will provide a blueprint for potential partnerships with governmental and other entities on inclusive and transformative public participation.

Book Bunk Trust has also produced a Podcast, A Palace For the People (Title inspired by Eric Klinenberg's book palaces for the people -How social infrastructure can help fight inequality, polarization and the decline of civic life) which unearths pieces of Nairobi's history that support and feed the restoration process of the McMillian Memorial library and its branches in Makadara and Kaloleni. This podcast is hosted by the founders of Book Bunk Angela Wachuka and Wanjiru Koinange.

Book Bunk, in April 2019 created McMillan Memorial Library first digital catalogue consisting of 137,705 books. The aim is to digitise more collections all the material at the library that are rare and damaged collection is important and is incomplete. This inspired the the next level of archival called The Missing Bits.

Africa Digital Heritage

African Digital Heritage conducted research on the status of Skills Gaps in Kenya’s Cultural Heritage Industry at a national level. Report found here.

Phase 2 – African Digital heritage responded to skill gaps identified at the county level after extensive research co-created a publicly accessible toolkit for practitioners working at community and county level. Access the tool kit here.

Siyu Fort in Lamu © National Museums Kenya
Siyu Fort in Lamu © National Museums Kenya

Opportunities

  • Upcoming capacity building workshop for Cultural Protection Fund in Nakuru, to be announced in April 2024
  • Braid Fund open call to be announced in April 2024
  • Cultural Heritage Symposium 2024 - subscribe to our newsletter to know when and where!

The Cultural Protection Fund takes on Climate Change awarding 5 new projects in East Africa!

In December 2020 the Fund announced a pilot round to support preparedness for the effects of natural disasters and climate change on cultural heritage in East Africa. We have now selected 5 projects working in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to protect important heritage sites, collections and intangible practices from the growing threat of climate change.

The projects are:

£76,447  awarded to INTO, working in partnership with Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda who will protect the tangible and intangible heritage of the Bakonzo and Alur communities which is at risk due to rapidly melting snow in the Rwenzori Mountains in Western Uganda. 

£61,701 awarded to St Andrew’s University, in partnership with the University of Dar Es Salaam to assess and digitise the coastal sites of Kilwa Kisiwani and Bagamoyo in Tanzania with a view to better preparing it for future rising sea levels, as well as documenting associated intangible heritage with these sites. 

£109,744  awarded to Book Bunk Trust in partnership with African Digital Heritage Foundation and Built Environment Surveyors & Infrastructure Consultancy (BESIC) Group Ltd, to digitise and protect the physical collection of paper and photographic collections at the McMillan Memorial Library in Nairobi in order to mitigate against the climate-related risks of heat and moisture.

£106,700 awarded to the Federal Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) in partnership with the Addis Ababa University, Mekelle University Institute of Paleoenvironment and Heritage Conservation and M. Womersleys Ltd.  The project involves the preparation of risk assessments and preparedness guidelines for 23 rock-hewn church sites in the Gheralata Mountain Region of Ethiopia.

£109,430  awarded to ICCROM in partnership with National Museums Kenya to develop disaster risk management plans for 4 heritage sites on the Kenyan coast that are at risk due to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, salt evaporation and storms. 

This pilot round has enabled the Cultural Protection Fund to open opportunities in new geographies and address different threats to our valuable cultural heritage. Despite an exceptionally challenging year, these exciting projects are committed to delivering the Fund’s outcomes and will help us to shape how we continue to protect cultural heritage against threats such as climate change.  Stephanie Grant, Senior Programme Manager Cultural Protection Fund
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