INTO Africa’s heritage education crowdfunder

In the last quarter of 2016 INTO members in Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe began working together on a joint heritage education project.

‘Encourage African Youth to Embrace their Heritage’ became our crowdfunding pilot project within the GlobalGiving Winter Challenge. GlobalGiving provides a platform alongside an in-depth training programme for charities starting their crowdfunding journey and we benefited hugely from their handholding over the course of the campaign.

Young people are the future for protecting and preserving heritage all around the world. This project will educate and enthuse African youth to actively learn about and appreciate their cultural backgrounds – and those of their continental neighbours.

In Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe, heritage can be seen as something for the elite – or as an irrelevant harping back to the past. Its economic value is not widely recognised. In fact, heritage is often associated with poverty. And yet culture, historic buildings, landscapes and traditions are essential to shaping our future wherever we are in the world. They form a vital part of our identity and we must keep alive even the most hard-to-tell stories to avoid making the same mistakes.

Catherine Leonard wrote a blog on 20th November, the UN’s Universal Children’s Day, which explains why INTO is getting involved in this project.   (You can still donate towards the project on the GlobalGiving site!)

She also wrote about the crowdfunding experience.