Paris, 24/01/2023

The Foundation for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage of Raba and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) concluded a Partnership Agreement on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, in presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Foundation and Mrs. Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO.

This signing comes of a meeting of Her Royal Highness and the UNESCO Director General during the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This first Partnership Agreement, concluded for a five-year period, will primarily enable the Foundation to promote UNESCO’s World Heritage Education program for young people and conduct outreach activities for Moroccan and African youth.  The Foundation, for the first time ever, customized UNESCO’s educational kit to help young people discover and understand the cultural heritage of their city.  This “I discover my heritage” kit was used for a second edition in December 2022 by 4700 students from 62 Rabat-Salé-Kénitra academy middle-schools.  Supported by their teachers and guided by heritage specialists including archeologists, architects, site curators and inspectors of historical monuments, the students studied city landmarks classified as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Actions to raise awareness and promote cultural heritage will then be carried out with the general public, such as the urban exhibition inaugurated by Her Royal Highness on January 8, 2023, as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of Rabat’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  The exhibition showcases the city of Rabat’s exceptional universal value by way of information boards as well as a photo collection of all 8 World Heritage site constituents and the buffer zone.

The Foundation and UNESCO are committed to expanding heritage action across Africa.  This joint action entails deploying the World Heritage Convention to listed sites across Morocco and Africa.

The Partnership Agreement also provides for capacity-building programs for heritage stakeholders that manage and preserve heritage sites in Rabat, Morocco and Africa, and participation in a variety of national and international UNESCO events.

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 bringing people together. 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 headed by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa.