EMpowering landscapes with Participatory Approaches to Heritage interpretation Skills

<< Objectives >>Policies say heritage must encourage community participation in Heritage Interpretation(HI). Heritage professionals lack competences, practices in participatory HI & ignore its benefits, research says. We aim to:1.Support their work with a systematised participatory HI practice;2.Increase their competences in participation;3.Support VET providers with a replicable training methodology;4.Raise awareness on the benefits of participatory HI, to ultimately foster citizen participation.<< Implementation >>We will-investigate community participation practices with experts inside&outside the heritage sector & develop a new methodological framework for a participatory HI practice-develop a new blended professional training programme on participatory HI-validate the new training programme, methodology and materials by piloting it with heritage professionals and local communities-run dissemination and awareness-raising activities with website, social media campaigns and events<< Results >>EMPATHS Compendium:participatory HI methodological frameworkEMPATHS Training Programme&materialsTrainers’ Methodology ManualDigital platform3 campaigns,12 events 30 heritage professionals trained30 community members involvedIncreased competences in participatory HIEffective activities of participatory HIHigher awareness on the impact of participatory HI on civic engagement&EU valuesUltimately, increased participation of citizens in HI, thus increased civic engagement&social cohesion