June 25th – July 25th 2012
On June 25th 2012 the Byblos International Festival begins and thanks to a coordination between the Council of the United Municipalities of Jbail with the Municipality of Byblos and the Festival, the project War Free World Heritage Listed Cities will be active alongside this important event.
Brochures and other informative material will be circulated through the public to promote a widespread awareness on the project that is been implemented in Lebanon pointing out also the important role of each citizen for the protection of Byblos cultural heritage sites.
The Byblos Festival is one of the most important summer events in Lebanon, and it attracts thousands of visitors from Lebanon, the region and all over the world. Different dates are in the calendar this year with special international guests.
Concerts take place at night therefore the awareness campaign will be implemented during night hours and especially when the public arrives. Conducted with support by the Byblos Cultural Centre, the campaign will be implemented on site with contribution from voluntary people who will be involved in the public awareness promotion.
It is expected that around 5000 people will attend each of the Festival events’ and the project will be there to disseminate this very peculiar CIUDAD initiative as well as to inform the public about the activities still to be implemented by the project.
September 2012
Set up of a Risk Management Unit (RMU): in Byblos, as well as in Mtskheta, a unit composed of four highly qualified people from different institutions including the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Interiors and representatives of the Local Authorities will be selected and officially assigned to implement the response measures stipulated in the Risk Preparedness Plans to safeguard cultural heritage enclosed within the established buffer zones during contingent situations of risk and especially war.
Identifying, equipping and setting up an agreed location to “house” the Risk Management Unit and defining stakeholders roles and tasks would be also part of this project component when will be defined protocols of communication, set criteria for the maintenance/upgrading of RPP and a chain of command for ‘immediate response’ management should be confirmed.
October 2012
Public awareness campaign: the PAP kits will be printed and packed for distribution to school children (aged 14-17), each PAP kit will contain a map with description of the most important cultural heritage sites of the two world heritage cities, Byblos and Mtskheta, and comics that will allow children to understand the importance of the actions promoted and supported by the project. This activity will take place between October and December 2012 in secondary schools enclosed in the territories of both cities.
Mtskheta Festival (October 13, 14): as for the Byblos International Festival, WFWHLC Project will join this very popular event that attracts a big public from the region and also at national level to promote public awareness on the project in Georgia.
International Workshop in Rome: this is a crucial activity when project results will be presented for their validation by highly specialised experts, mostly those representing international organisations advising UNESCO on the Hague Convention but also International Military Organisations engaged in Humanitarian law and especially the Convention. Also members from UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOMOS will be invited to participate. The Workshop will consist of a 2 days intense activity and it will include the presentation of results achieved during the concept studies and the following actions implemented during the time span until the month of September 2012 when a synthesis of a comprehensive data collection and elaboration will be conducted driving to the production of an advanced documented and structured data repository elaborated according to the Guidelines for the implementation of the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention would be available. Data that would be discussed within the Workshop with the aim to validate or amend those results achieved and to integrate them with the extra information eventually needed to complete the most advanced version of the two Risk Preparedness Plans. Strategic documents that are preliminary to the compilation of the two dossiers for Byblos and Mtskheta which will be delivered by the end of the project to the concerned High Contracting parties in Lebanon and Georgia for follow up and final submission for evaluation to the 1999 HP committee at UNESCO.
November 2012 – February 2013
Training in Lebanon and Georgia: this activities will be implemented to prepare the Risk Management Unit and those people involved in the Risk Management in Byblos and Mtskheta to face situations of crisis in order to safeguard cultural properties under protection and eventually enhance protection if the two sites will gain this status after the completion of the project. Trainees selected would be affiliated to the RMU, their role and tasks defined both in time of peace and in case of war.
February – March 2013
INFO DAYS and promotion of project results; launching presentation of the project publication on Risk Preparedness planning; Widespread public awareness events.
March 1st 2013
Deadline for submission of candidacy dossiers for enhanced protection to the 1999HP Committee at UNESCO during project implementation. Dossiers eventually not submitted by the concerned authorities will need to be submitted for the next deadline on March the 1st, 2014 at the latest.
End of March or April 2013
Project wrap-up: final partners’ meeting, lessons learned and final project assessment. Coordination between partners for final project report.
April 2013
Final Publication: results on the Risk Preparedness Planning methodology will be circulated.