And the winner is … INTO Small Grants Programme, July 2016

We are pleased to announce the award of an INTO Small Grant to the Sierra Leone Monuments and Relics Commission, our newest members.  

The grant will support an awareness raising campaign on Bunce Island, the site of European slave trade operations in the 17th to 19th Centuries which is currently on the World Heritage Tentative List.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Bunce Island sent as many as 20% of its captives to the North American Colonies, particularly to the rice fields of South Carolina and Georgia.  The British parliament finally outlawed the Slave Trade in 1807 and operations on Bunce Island came to a halt following the Abolition Act. The Island was proclaimed Sierra Leone’s first National Monument in 1948, with the Monuments and Relics Commission leading its preservation, protection and management.

Photo: welcometosierraleone.sl

The Island is exposed to numerous risks from both natural, such as floods and rain, and human made threats – pollution, erosion, material decay, development, inappropriate site management, and looting.  The project seeks to combat these risks and negligence by increasing awareness of the importance of preserving the island and the potential socio-economic benefits the communities will derive from the island if preserved.

It includes Training of Trainers Workshops, printing of posters, focus group discussions and radio and TV pieces.  The Commission intends to work with 40 youths drawn from the three neighbouring communities for the project implementation.  It is envisaged that these 40 youths will be fully abreast of heritage management issues after this exercise, and that they will serve as agents of change to go back into their communities and share this newly acquired information with their peers and community people.

We are thrilled to be able to make this award to the Sierra Leone Monuments and Relics Commission and know you’ll join us in wishing them the very best of luck with this worthwhile project!

There were of course projects which missed out on SGP funding in this round, many of them equally worthy and well thought out, but we simply can’t manage to fund them all.

If you would like to make a personal contribution to the INTO Small Grants Programme and enable us to make more of these transformational capacity-building awards, please contact the INTO Secretariat or push the donate button on the INTO website.

We are indebted to our INTO Amicus for their continuing support of the INTO’s Small Grants Programme, now in its third year of operation.  Grants can be up to £1,500 and are open to all INTO members in good standing. Projects might include formal training for staff, developing a community event, or publishing an informational leaflet.  50% match funding is required, which can include “in kind” resources of staff time or other organisational resources.

Previous award recipients include the National Trust of Zimbabwe – for their Cultural Education Heritage Project at the Rhodes Nyanga Historical Exhibition engaging local communities and schools in practical craft skill projects, such as sculpture, spinning, weaving and pottery – and the Czech National Trust’s pilot project.

Photo: Czech National Trust pilot project by Eva Heyd