On 16 and 17 February, participants of our Preserving the Past, Securing the Future (PPSF) project met for the programme’s first capacity building workshop, ‘Environmental Sustainability in Remembrance Practice’, in Normandy, France.
The PPSF project supports professionals in the WWII cultural heritage tourism sector with the skills and strategies needed to integrate sustainability into their remembrance sites. The Training Programme features e-learning modules, expert-led workshops, and peer-to-peer learning and mentoring.
Following completion of three e-learning modules, participants of the programme came together at the Juno Beach Centre for the first workshop and study visit. This dedicated group of professionals from museums and memorials from France, Germany, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands met to discuss and learn more about sustainability in their sector and how their organisations can play their part in ensuring that heritage sites remain meaningful, resilient, and accessible for future generations.
We began with introductions from the participants and partners, LRE Foundation, Juno Beach Centre and Fondazione Campus, before handing over to our expert partner, sustainable tourism consultants Mascontour, to lead the training. Mascontour took us through not only the importance of sustainability in the cultural heritage tourism sector, but also its potential, highlighting good examples and methods we can use to implement positive change.
This was followed by a fascinating tour of Juno Beach Centre by their team, demonstrating many sustainable initiatives they have been implementing through their four-pillar strategy:
- Reduce our direct and indirect environmental impact and create a circular economy.
- Engage with visitors and commit to employees.
- Taking action to protect biodiversity.
- Work with others.
The Juno Beach Centre team presented the challenges they’ve faced, solutions they’ve found, and their key advice and suggestions for the participants. As shown by point 4 of their strategy, cooperation is key, and the study tour was a valuable exchange of discussion among partners and participants, sharing knowledge and supporting each other as we work together on improving sustainability within our own organisations.
Finally, it was back to the classroom to get planning! Inspired by the measures highlighted at Juno Beach Centre, participants each set out three short term actionable goals they will implement at their organisations in the next months of the project. The progress of these goals will be followed up on and discussed in the next workshops and mentoring and peer-learning sessions, to support participants in making these goals a reality.
The next workshop, ‘Social Responsibility & Community Engagement in Remembrance Tourism’ will take place on 23 to 24 April in Gdańsk, Poland, with a study tour of the World War II Museum of Gdansk. The workshop will be the next in-person training of the PPSF programme, focusing on social sustainability initiatives and incorporating the needs of the participants outlined during the workshop in Normandy.
PPSF is a Creative Europe programme co-funded by the European Commission.
