APLA Launches the 2025 Cultural Heritage Preservation Training Program

As part of its efforts to promote sustainable practices in cultural heritage preservation, APLA launched the first sessions of its 2025 Cultural Heritage Preservation Training Program, implemented jointly with the French organization “Sites et Cités Remarquables”, and with the participation of staff members from the engineering, cultural heritage, and public relations departments of 15 local authorities.

Held virtually via Zoom, the program includes a series of specialized training sessions designed to build the capacities of local governments in documentation, inventory management, and community participation — all aimed at protecting national identity and reconnecting local communities with their cultural and historical roots.

The program’s opening sessions focused on key issues and best practices related to heritage conservation and community engagement.
The first session, titled “Heritage Preservation Techniques and Inventory Management,” explored tools for historical documentation, field surveys, and database management. Sylvain Schonbert, Project Manager in the Urban Planning Department of Bordeaux Municipality, presented advanced inventory management models, while Sally Abu Bakr, Director of the Cultural Development Department at Ramallah Municipality, shared the city’s experience in documenting traditional houses by engaging youth in mapping buildings and their associated social histories. In addition, Adel Ladawi, Head of the GIS Department at Beit Jala Municipality, showcased the municipality’s initiative to name streets based on geographic information systems, as a model for reviving cultural identity through toponymy.

The second session, titled “Community Engagement and the Formation of Heritage Ambassadors,” provided an inspiring space to explore models emphasizing the role of communities, especially youth, in safeguarding heritage and strengthening local belonging. Maelle Desbois, Project Officer for Participatory Democracy in the Directorate General for Proximity and Citizen Relations of Bordeaux Municipality, presented an advanced vision for youth engagement in urban planning. Eng. Ohood Enaia, Programs and Policies Director at APLA, discussed APLA’s participatory approach to heritage preservation in historic centers through community-driven methodologies. Maud Baccara, Heritage Development Officer at Rouen Normandie Municipality, shared the “Heritage Ambassadors” experience, which uses storytelling and oral traditions to revive collective memory. Meanwhile, Amani Abu Ziyad, Projects and Planning Director at Al-Eizariya Municipality, presented the “Hospitable Al-Eizariya” initiative as a model that integrates heritage preservation with sustainable community development.

This program represents a strategic step toward building local authorities that are more aware of the importance of heritage as both a pillar of national resilience and a tool for redefining the human–place relationship. Through expanding international partnerships and adapting global experiences to the Palestinian context, APLA seeks to empower local governments to become key actors in protecting cultural identity — not merely as custodians of the past, but as innovators shaping heritage into a living, future-oriented public resource that strengthens collective memory and social continuity.

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