Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat, chaired on Monday October 14, in Rabat, the meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, in the presence of the Board members.
In Her address, Her Royal Highness highlighted the main achievements of the Foundation for the years 2022-2023.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors approved the financial statements, based on the statutory auditor’s opinion certifying that the financial statements are regular and transparent and, in all material respects, give a true and fair view of the results of operations for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
Her Royal Highness noted the Foundation’s continuous work with its local partners in the culture and national education sectors in primary schools and junior high schools, to sensitize learners to the rich heritage of their city and the need to preserve it, by designing educational tools that facilitate access to the concepts of cultural heritage and employ a flexible and comprehensive approach.
Her Royal Highness also presented the model of the Foundation’s innovative activities that are adapted to the geographical and historical context, as is the case with the educational programs implemented in the city of Taroudant.
Her Royal Highness recalled the efforts of the Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat in promoting international cooperation, noting the partnership with UNESCO, which praised the Foundation’s work to promote the role of culture, art and education within educational institutions.
In Her speech, Her Highness also emphasized the Foundation’s commitment to promoting research in cultural heritage sciences and raising public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage. Through its cultural mediation initiatives, the Foundation seeks to encourage the creation of a dynamic for safeguarding and transmitting cultural heritage, involving experts, institutions, civil society, and the public.
The year 2022-2023 has been a rich one for the Foundation, in line with its missions of education, awareness-raising, and uniting the efforts of various actors in the following areas:
- Education: The Foundation continued to implement its two educational programs, “I Draw My Heritage” and “I Discover My Heritage”, thus enhancing the presence of heritage in educational processes. As for the “I Draw My City’s Heritage” program, in its second edition, participants worked on the theme of heritage and climate, while intangible heritage was the subject of their artistic and literary creations in the third edition of the program. Primary school learners participating in the program benefited from exploratory visits to World Heritage sites in Rabat, under the supervision of experts in the field. As for the “I Discover My Heritage” program, its pedagogical toolkit has been developed in terms of activities, visual content and through exploratory visits that allowed high school learners to get to know heritage sites closely, with the aim of facilitating their access to heritage, within a new educational approach based on artistic and cultural education.
- Awareness-raising: As part of its “The Digitization of Heritage” program, the Foundation digitized the Qasba des Oudaïa and launched an exclusive virtual visit to the Qasba des Oudaïa. In addition, the Foundation organized the exhibition “The art of the Rabat carpet” as well as a travelling urban exhibition “Rabat: A Heritage for Humanity”. It also produced podcasts that focus on documenting collective memory, most notably “the Qisas Rbati” podcast.
- Federating: The Foundation organized 5 expert meetings, bringing together dozens of local and international actors who addressed various topics related to cultural heritage, including “Heritage and Climate Change” which was the theme of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28), where the Foundation held two side events in the UN-managed Blue Zone.
On this occasion, Her Royal Highness thanked all partners for their continued support and unwavering commitment to the Foundation’s initiatives.
About the Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat:
The Foundation for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage of Rabat was created by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to preserve the tangible, intangible and landscape heritage of Rabat. Indeed, the city has been included since 2012 on the Unesco World Heritage List under the title: “Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage”.
The Foundation develops programs around three main themes – educating, raising awareness and federating. As a powerful lever for inclusion and cohesion, Rabat’s heritage is a real driver of social, economic and cultural development. The Foundation conducts regular heritage discovery activities among the Rbatis, especially the youngest, in order to create an emotional bond that guarantees respect and preservation of their heritage.
The Foundation’s programs are aimed at several target groups : the general public, professionals, institutions, especially the youngest. The Foundation sets up educational kits within the framework of its educational programs, digital platforms for the mediation of cultural heritage through the “digitization of heritage” program, and organizes scientific workshops to which experts from all continents are invited to share, exchange, and advance the precious cause of preserving modern and ancient cultural heritage.
The work, carried out in a partnership approach, combines expertise and resources, and federates institutional as well as public and private actors with the aim of affirming the necessity of heritage protection in the Kingdom.
The Foundation for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Rabat is presided by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa.
