Making heritage relevant for today
Our programmatic focus is dedicated to featuring local Addis Ababa history, via projects such as producing virtual tours, and supporting spaces for intergenerational conversations and engagement with heritage through recently launched heritage clubs and toolkit.
Heritage Clubs
The Heritage Clubs in Schools became necessary because Ethiopian children of all school ages, have very little opportunity to learn about their heritage while at school. Heritage Watch Ethiopia Association (HWEA) aims to provide students this vital opportunity through creative, hands-on educational experience offered within heritage clubs.
Collaboration with Teachers |
Toolkit Development
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Youth Engagement
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Restoration of Built and Ecological Heritage
This project’s central objective is to design and execute a rehabilitation plan of 2 historical buildings of the same era and in next to each other, that will showcase the value of urban heritage for residents of Addis Ababa. The blueprint is grounded in the principles of Ethiopian horticultural knowledge and will serve as a demonstration of how indigenous ecological solutions can directly address climate change. This project represents a first-ever grassroots investment in heritage preservation, led by a civil society organization and steered by citizen participation, which marks a change from established models of top-down, government funding.
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Revisiting Narratives of Yekatit 12, 1937: In Search of Survivors at the American Gebbi
Heritage Watch Association Ethiopia (HW) is partnering with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa University) to locate and interview individuals who survived the Yekatit 12 massacre and looked for shelter at the American Gebbi (Merkato).
Community-based research is an emerging research approach in Ethiopian knowledge-making and an exciting one for Heritage Watch Association as it strives to do its work in collecting narratives around Addis Ababa and the making of Addis Ababa. By elevating public memory and individual testimony, through carefully conducted oral history interviewing, these forms of heritage will be recorded and available as wisdom and insight for present and future generations.
Community-based research is an emerging research approach in Ethiopian knowledge-making and an exciting one for Heritage Watch Association as it strives to do its work in collecting narratives around Addis Ababa and the making of Addis Ababa. By elevating public memory and individual testimony, through carefully conducted oral history interviewing, these forms of heritage will be recorded and available as wisdom and insight for present and future generations.
Digital Initiatives & Open Access
Virtual Tours
360 degree digital capture of 6 landmarks in Addis Ababa, paired with original audio tours in Amharic. Project funded by INTO group.
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Maps of Addis
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Participatory Online Documentation
A collaboration with a project of Wiki World Heritage to produce and edit Wikipedia articles and media on Harar Jugol, UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Heritage & Climate Change
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Rural Heritage Developemt in Oromia
We facilitate projects that address climate change, by partnering with individuals, organizations and businesses locally and resources all over the world. We connected two former Peace core volunteers to water resource department at Wollega University. Beginning in May 2021 - to June 2022 . This local group with the generous technical and financial support have built the Basho and Dangi water development. This has enabled over 2,000 people in that area to have drinking water. HWEA connect worlds to try and solve some of the issues of climate change facing rural Ethiopia. |
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