Category: notizia ITA

WEBINAR: The Italian Cooperation and the Sustainable Cultural Tourism as an opportunity for local development in the framework of the Agenda 2030 in Jordan

AICS Amman at the Sustainable Development Festival on Tuesday, Oct 6, 10:00 am (Rome time)

The Sustainable Development Festival represents a further step to encourage Italy to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), that brings together over 270 organizations from the economic and social spheres, organizes the Festival together with its members and with the support of the partners and tutors, over a period of 17 days, as many as the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda. The initiative constitutes a single widespread and inclusive event, comprising hundreds of events organized throughout the national territory.

The Webinar focuses on discussing the complex relations between culture, heritage, sustainability and tourism. It displays the different methods and trending strategies for preserving, spreading, and improving cultural and architectural heritage for the following decades. Provided that the tourism sector is becoming more and more willing to engage in the sustainable development scheme, key concepts and topics shape this Webinar’s agenda starting with different interventions in Jordan funded by the Government of Italy.

“Sustainable cultural tourism is the integrated management of cultural heritage and tourism activities in conjunction with the local community creating social, environmental and economic benefits for all stakeholders, to achieve tangible and intangible cultural heritage conservation and sustainable tourism development”.

From the beginning of time, human movement and settlement patterns were solely dependent on basic human needs such as food, water, and trade. Today, and as we progressed into the 20th and 21st Centuries, these factors continue to influence patterns of the diaspora in different forms and with different motivations such as education, social betterment, and financial restrictions that were all usually coupled with necessity. However, in the contemporary and developed world, essential travel developed into a widespread activity of the masses supported by diverse services. As a leisure activity, Tourism represents an exchange of culture and plays a significant role in understanding the world we live in. Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 by the United Nations, the international development agenda refers to culture for the first time. The safeguarding and promotion of culture is an end in itself, and at the same time it contributes directly to many of the SDGs — safe and sustainable cities, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, the environment, promoting gender equality and peaceful and inclusive societies. The indirect benefits of culture are accrued through the culturally-informed and effective implementations of the development goals. In recent times, the inter-relationships between tourism, culture, and heritage have been the center of discussion at both national and international levels. Yet, there remains a need to better comprehend this link existing between culture and natural environment as a way of protecting and re-creating its resources. This link between culture, environment, heritage, society, and economics, known as the inextricable link, forms the basis of sustainable development and cultural tourism. With a current failure to put theory into practice and words into action, there is a persistent need for practical solutions to achieve sustainable cultural tourism. The Webinar on “Sustainable Cultural Tourism as an opportunity for local development” focuses on discussing the complex relations between culture, heritage, sustainability and tourism. It displays the different methods and trending strategies for preserving, spreading, and improving cultural and architectural heritage for the following decades. It focuses also on addressing the existing tensions in the assessment of cultural meanings and values to better understand tourism in the context of and in relation to preservation and sustainable development of cultural diversity and heritage resources. Provided that the tourism sector is becoming more and more willing to engage in the sustainable development scheme, key concepts and topics shape this Webinar’s agenda starting with different intervention in Jordan funded by the Government of Italy. Heritage sites cannot be managed in isolation. Tourism functions through a long supply chain and there is a range of transportation, accommodation, information and tour operation services that are delivered before a tourist actually arrives at the gate of a heritage site; tourism can be influenced at any of these points. Cooperation must take place to combine forces, so as to build capacity to deal with the growing visitor management pressures in a rich country of cultural heritage sites like Jordan.

Find the Event on the Festival website

Check the Webinar Agenda

Calendar of AICS Events at the Festival

Interested? Register now

Contacts

amman@aics.gov.it

segreteria.amman@esteri.it

AICS and UNOPS Partner to Rehabilitate the Basic Services for Returnees in Sinjar, Iraq

Baghdad, March 11, 2021 – The Italian Cooperation and UNOPS launched a new project to support the Government of Iraq in rehabilitating basic services to returnees in Sinjar.

The project will support the Government of Iraq in rehabilitating the basic water services for returnees in Sinjar district in Iraq, through a partnership with the Government of Italy. The project will contribute to achieving the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Iraq: Post-conflict transition towards durable solutions by supporting access to basic services to increase the resilience of returnees in target locations.

Since 2018, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) office in Amman has also been responsible for implementing international cooperation initiatives in Iraq. “Our support has focused on the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) and neighbouring areas such as the Ninewa plains, which experienced high rates of return after the massive displacement of the resident population,” said the Head of AICS Amman office Mr. Michele Morana. “This project comes in line with the Italian Cooperation’s aid priorities targeting the health and protection sectors in the Country, as it addresses immediate recovery and aims to improve accessibility, inclusiveness and quality of basic services for minorities and local communities”.

“The Government of Italy fully supports the urgent need to rebuild Sinjar, through the restoration of basic services as key to incentivizing the return of still displaced people. Every effort should also be taken to reintegrate returnees within their communities and provide them with tangible support to rebuild their lives” said the Ambassador of Italy to Iraq Bruno Antonio Pasquino.

“Thanks to the support from the Italian Cooperation, UNOPS is able to lend a hand to the people returning to Sinjar District in Iraq. Access to water supplies is one of the many challenges faced by returnees and their families. The rehabilitation of basic services in the district will contribute to improving Sinjar water infrastructure and eventually improving people’s lives.” said Mr. Muhammad Usman Akram, the Director of UNOPS Operational Hub in Amman.

Through this project, the targeted populations will benefit from improved and rehabilitated basic water facilities. UNOPS will focus on the improvement of water services in Sinjar district. The main focus would be to rehabilitate damaged water facilities, such as potable and/or storm water pumps, generators, parts of water treatment units. The intervention will also include innovative technologies, such as renewable and hybrid systems, where applicable, in target locations. It is envisaged that this project will support the Government in its efforts towards the realization of Agenda 2030 and more specifically contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); specifically, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being and SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

Sinjar is one of the four districts in Ninewa that presents a higher severity of needs, whereby the well-being, living standards, and ultimately resilience and recovery capacity of the local communities, as well as their social cohesion and safety, are all severely impacted as a result of unmet needs.

About AICS – Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development

The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) established the Amman office in July 2016, with the aim of implementing international cooperation initiatives in Jordan and – since 2018 – in Iraq, to improve people’s living conditions, promote sustainable development, promote cultural heritage, strengthen democratic institutions and rule of law, as well as sustain post-conflict stabilization with particular attention to the Syrian crisis.

 

About UNOPS

UNOPS helps the UN and its partners provide peace and security, humanitarian and development solutions. The organization’s mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development. UNOPS services cover infrastructure, project management, procurement, financial management and human resources. Partners call on UNOPS to supplement their own capacities, improve speed, reduce risks, boost cost-effectiveness and increase quality.

UNOPS Operational Hub in Amman covers projects in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, UAE, and Yemen and implements work in partnership with bilateral donors, national governments and other UN agencies.