DOUROUB: Promoting Syrian Intangible Cultural Heritage | Third Edition

 Supporting and Empowering Organizations Working in the Field of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2024

Ettijahat – Independent Culture has launched a framework to support and empower financial, institutional and institutional knowledge for entities and SMEs working in the fields of the intangible cultural heritage of Syria, mainly located in Syria and Lebanon. This component aims to provide institutional support, enable program design and management expertise, documentation and archiving skills, and to promote the basic principles of heritage conservation which include ensuring active engagement with local communities, social impact, sustainable and non-exploitative economic integration, etc. It also seeks to enhance the intersection between contemporary arts and the various forms of intangible heritage.
In the past years and for more than a decade, independent organizations and groups active in the field of intangible heritage have played an important role in safeguarding and protecting heritage against various threats (economic, security, and environmental). They have strived to promote the role of this heritage in alleviating societal division. They have warned against the dangers of attacks, distortion, and threats targeting intangible heritage from the various ruling forces on the ground. These actors have also designed frameworks based on intangible heritage that contribute to the adaptation of Syrian societies to the social and economic conditions and the consequences of migration and displacement.

Selected Entities

Rafekatuna 

Rafekatuna is an independent non-governmental, non-profit organization focused on preserving and protecting tangible and intangible heritage. A public benefit organization, Rafekatuna strives to build the capacities of civil organizations and individuals through diverse development programs highlighting the significance of heritage and antiquities connected to tangible and intangible heritage. It seeks to develop skills in order to meet current and future needs according to international standards. Rafekatuna aims to create an independent and active civil society. 

Sama Handmade

Sama For Handmade Crafts was established in 2014 as a relief initiative to meet the needs of displaced persons. The concept quickly developed to offer job opportunities for women who could weave wool and cotton to create handmade winter products for school shelters. Today, Sama is a non-profit project specializing in creating handmade crafts supporting 5 key professions: crochet, embroidery, cross-stitch, sewing, and weaving using a loom. Women are working in eastern and western Ghouta, thus enabling the restoration of decent living in areas devastated by war where women have long been absent. Sama focuses on handmade products since artwork requires effort and innovation. Designs are connected to Syrian culture to showcase beauties that mean a lot to Syrians. They rely on handmade raw materials from Syria to support local production and promote the Syrian economy. 

Harmony Cultural Forum

The Harmony Cultural Forum is a volunteer-based artistic project aimed at building peace and promoting social cohesion through art and culture. Its vision is to have a cohesive humane society that believes in the value of every individual in creating the one’s and others’ self, with a particular focus on the active and capable role of youth. The project values are respect, accepting difference, simplicity, singularity, humanity, and participatory processes.

Makani

Makani is an organization working in Lebanon with Syrian and Palestinian women in Beirut, Sabra, Shatila, and Mount Lebanon primarily. It also works in London, UK with women refugees and asylum seekers from around the world. Its activities span over several spaces including economic empowerment, art therapy, and skills development, in addition to offering women the platform and opportunities to tell their stories. Makani’s economic development program is built on two axes: creating job opportunities for professionals working in popular crafts while simultaneously protecting these crafts, with a special focus on embroidery, woodblock printing, and crochet. 

Mauj Development Foundation

The foundation was legally established inside Syria under the name “MAUJ” at the end of June 2020 in the form of a local, civil, non-profit foundation. It opened its first headquarters in Al-Nabk in rural Damascus in early October to provide a civic space for the youth and women. MAUJ is committed to feminist principles and non-discrimination. It applies a participatory approach to tackle societal and development issues and connect them to grounded media content in order to create change. 

Bait El Hakaya 

The workshop was founded in Shahba, As-Suwayda in 2018 by Mountaha Nassif and Siham Amer. It mainly seeks to develop the concepts of charity, peace, participatory action, and respecting the opinions of others among children and youths. It aims to distance them from violent rhetoric and forms of violence that spread during the conflict and war by creating a safe space for them to express themselves and showcase their skills in storytelling, writing, painting, and drama. The workshop’s objective is to consolidate the principles of partnership, constructive dialogue, and collective work. Participants included children who were displaced from other governorates and moved to As-Suwayda. After 2018, the workshop received children who survived the ISIS attacks on the northern villages of the governorate.

Selection Committee

Dima Dayoub

Architect and urban researcher based in Berlin. Formerly, she worked in a consultancy office on rehabilitation projects in the Old City of Aleppo before moving to Germany, where she completed her master’s degree in 2015, on the social and spatial resilience of Aleppo during the armed conflict at the Technical University of Stuttgart. Currently, she is involved in coordinating several initiatives at the Museum for Islamic Art at Pergamon-Museum in Berlin, researching and archiving Syrian Cultural Heritage with a primary focus on Aleppo.

Rama Najmeh

Freelance journalist and cultural researcher, with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and another in Theater Studies. She specialized in investigative reporting and worked as a trainer on research skills and data journalism. She participated in several trainings by international organizations such as Thompson Reuters, Arij, Center for Development Communication in Geneva, and the Edward Murrow Program at the University of North Carolina. She has led several investigative stories on economic, cultural, and social cases in Syria. Rama participated in drafting the Manual for Investigative Journalists published by UNESCO and the Training Manual on Cultural Research Design for Ettijahat. She undertook several cultural research papers including The Role of Culture in Achieving Reconciliation and Civil Peace in Countries with Violent Countries, the Art Path to Develop Interventions Targeting Children with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dynamics of Civil Change in Syria and Future Scenarios, etc. She has had contributions recently in 5 research papers under the umbrella of Breaking the Mould: Arab Civil Society Actors and their Quest to Influence Policy-Making, a project launched by the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut. She is currently a content director at the IRADA organization. 

Hiba Al Khalaf 

Experienced architect with extensive expertise in both academic and professional fields in architectural conservation and cultural heritage management. Hiba works as an international consultant specializing in cultural heritage and the protection of historical sites and places, in addition to their conservation and management tasks. She has collaborated with several international organizations, in addition to her academic work at King's College London. Within her work, she has effectively contributed to the implementation and development of various projects in the field of heritage conservation in the Middle East and North Africa, including Tunisia, Libya, Turkey, and Syria. She has also worked on documenting and managing World Heritage sites and the built environment, assessing damages resulting from armed conflict and natural disasters, as well as assessing the cultural and historical values associated with them. She has developed capacity-building programs for professionals in the field of cultural heritage conservation, including architects and archaeologists, and worked on empowering local communities and increasing their awareness of the importance of culture and heritage. She has contributed to numerous research projects related to tangible and intangible heritage and traditional knowledge, including the role of heritage in peacebuilding during the recovery and reconstruction phases.

Selection Committee Statement

On April 3, 2024, the jury convened to collectively consider the applications, and then judge them individually. Having discussed all applications at length, we are pleased to select six organizations and entities from Syria and Lebanon to benefit from the framework aimed at supporting and empowering organizations working in the field of intangible cultural heritage for 2024, under the third edition of the Douroub program.

We were pleased to consider detailed and diverse applications approaching heritage from various perspectives. The modern concepts presented by applicants were interesting as they offered ideas on how to capitalize on heritage to create revenue streams, empower women and girls, and provide community members with useful skills. Some initiatives have a deepened understanding of heritage as well as being aware of the various risks faced by crafts included under the intangible heritage. In addition to the stated judging criteria, we have attempted to strike a balance among the representation of several Syrian regions. 

We have noticed that many applications tackled heritage as a way to build peace or heal and support displaced communities. Despite many challenges, people, and organizations supporting them, are seeking ways to cope and heal through several forms of cultural and intangible heritage interventions. Moreover, multiple organizations use heritage in their activities and tools based on their instinctive knowledge in order to express and protect their identity. 

For any inquiries related to the Douroub program, you can contact us at: douroub@ettijahat.org

This initiative is launched with the support of the British Council's Cultural Protection Fund.