“Community-Based Heritage Indicators for Peace: A tool for measuring peace” is a tool created by ICCROM’s “First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crises (FAR) Programme” following PATH – Peacebuilding Assessment Tool for Heritage Recovery and Rehabilitation. The tool provides a bottom-up approach to engage local communities to identify heritage indicators for the measurement of peace in areas of conflict.
The tool answers the need for heritage indicators and metrics for high-level peace agreements and for the work of professionals ensuring their interventions safeguard peace as well as cultural heritage. Heritage carries information about communities being therefore a valuable resource on their feelings of peace and how interventions are interpreted.
The tool offers a step-by-step approach for each stage of the methodology and application. Moreover, the tool includes examples of how to apply the methodology in diverse settings, along with challenges and opportunities.
In brief:
“This methodology privileges two questions –
- How can changes in the way heritage is used and perceived by communities help us evaluate the impact of our interventions for building peace?
- How can concerned practitioners build this knowledge into their work to enhance the peacebuilding capacities of their interventions and identify potential instances of worsening conflict?”
The methodology follows 3 steps:
- engaging participants
- organising two workshops with the community offering specific exercises and questions
- analysing the indicators and their integration in projects monitoring community participation.
Our take
Community-Based Heritage Indicators for Peace is a fantastic and easy-to-use tool for heritage projects in areas of conflict and for gaining a deeper understanding of peace among cultures. The tool offers a much-needed approach to understanding and ensuring peace with community and heritage at its core. The applications of the tool, as illustrated in the examples within the document, are insightful demonstrating the overall potential of the methodology. We recommend adding it to your toolkit!
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Community-Based Heritage Indicators for Peace: A tool for measuring peace
