Konso Culture, Best Practices and Promotion

Cultural and natural resources, landscape, traditional agricultural techniques, intangible heritage, traditional governance and cultural expressions have strong synergies and are closely related. They can blend productively and effectively in a single project, with a multi-dimensional approach and a broad vision of the cultural dimension. Other lessons learnt from this project are:

• A local cultural centre can become an effective resource centre and development tool through the promotion of cultural heritage and local cultural resources, promoting their use in contemporary life and economic activities.
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• The involvement of school system guarantees a long-lasting impact on behaviour and practices, improving long-term potential for development.
• Eco-cultural tourism creates employment and small business opportunities at a local level. It is also a short term incentive to promote income generating activities in remote regions, and be used as a trampoline towards more value-added economic activities.
• As this project illustrates, mainstreaming of cultural heritage and a cultural sensible approach can lead to strong impact in other sectors of development such as landscape preservation, farming, environmental protection and education.
• A cultural Centre can become a citizens’ space for dialogue and stimulate citizens