World Bank Document

Report No. PID8773 Project Name Eritrea-Cultural Assets Rehabilitation (@) Project Region Africa Regional Office Sector Non-Sector Specific Public Disclosure Authorized Project ID ERPE58724 Borrower(s) GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF ERITREA Implementing Agency Address Cultural Heritage Secretariat, Ministry of Finance P.O. Box 6513, Asmara, Eritrea Contact Person: Naigzy Gebremehdin Tel: 291-1-122059 Fax: 291-1-123691 Email: [email protected] Public Disclosure Authorized Environment Category C Date PID Prepared January 3, 2001 Projected Appraisal Date November 14, 2000 Projected Board Date July 1, 2001 1. Country and Sector Background Eritrea is the site of some of the oldest human settlement in Africa. Though the beginning of recorded Eritrean history dates to the accounts of trade with its Red Sea ports from around the first century AD, relatively recent discoveries have shown that it has a rich prehistory as well. Early Christian influences date to around 400 AD, Islamic influences followed Public Disclosure Authorized several hundred years later, and these have had a profound impact on Eritrean culture and tradition. A rich civilization flourished around Adulis until the 5th century AD which was an amalgam of indigenous culture and external influences, notably from Southern Arabia. Massawa and the Dahlak islands were inhabited by Muslim communities from the early 10th century, and Turkish influences were entrenched, particularly on the coastal strip, by the 16th century. More recent Egyptian control was followed by Italian colonization, in the 1890s, and then by British administrative rule after-World War II. Federation with Ethiopia, and then Annexation, lasted another four decades until independence in 1993.Evidence of Eritrea's rich past is found not only in ancient monuments, cities, and prehistoric sites, but also in the work of traditional artisans who have long contributed to its material culture by producing leatherwork, jewelry, woodwork, and pottery. Rich oral traditions have also contributed to the life of the community, Public Disclosure Authorized strengthening ties to the past -- and enriching the life of the present. Much of this important heritage was virtually ignored during previous regimes, and remains of archaeological sites, marketplaces, and historical and religious structures have in many instances been forgotten. Building and crafts skills, healing traditions, and language skills are similarly being lost with time. Paradoxically, a strong emphasis on literacy in the educational system has undermined the traditions of oral poets -- dependent on a system of memory and recitation which is not captured in written texts. Ancient cities, such as at Qohaito and Sembel, have been slowly disassembled by people in nearby villages who quarry these sites for cut building stones. More recent colonial influences in Asmara and other cities have left a remarkable collection of architectural styles which is unique in Africa, and this too is under threat as new development crowds out the older parts of the urban fabric. Until recently few of Eritrea's historic sites have been managed with the view that they have much to offer to the national, regional, and local economies.Concern for the preservation of its cultural assets has been a major preoccupation in Eritrea, both during the period of the armed struggle and after independence. Activities which are already underway attest to a keen level of interest among a diverse set of actors. The Research and Documentation Center (RDC), originally established during the independence war, holds an exhaustive collection of material from the war and seeks to expand its collection to cover the colonial and pre-colonial period. The History Project (implemented under the auspices of the PFDJ) is documenting the oral and written history of Eritrea. Local interests are seeking increasingly to protect historic Asmara's rich collection of modernist and rationalist architecture. The Ministry of Tourism has prepared a National Tourism Development Program which outlines a strategy for capitalizing on the country's cultural assets. Other institutions, such as the National Museum, the University of Asmara, and the Ministry of Education, are similarly struggling to establish programs in their areas of expertise. The level of progress made in these individual activities underscores a commitment, both on the part of the Government as well as in civil society, to accord the management and rehabilitation of cultural assets a place of prominence in Eritrea's development agenda.In 1999, Government created a multi-sectoral and high level Steering Committee on Cultural Heritage under the authority of the Ministry of Finance to begin to coordinate responsibilities and to develop a strategy for cultural asset management activities across institutions. The Steering Committee has prepared a series of policy notes which address national concerns such as the preservation of historic architecture, archeological sites and museums, Eritrean historical documents, folklore, and oral history. These policy notes articulate progress made to date and propose activities to address cultural asset management in each of these areas. Concurrently, draft legislation is being prepared to address issues such as historical preservation, the conservation of cultural sites, and the establishment of a national archive. The Steering Committee remains the locus of much strategic thinking about the direction of Government's approach to cultural asset conservation and management. 2. Objectives As the Government of Eritrea begins the process of rebuilding its economy after the close of the conflict with Ethiopia, it is seeking Bank support with a Learning and Innovation Loan to assist it in testing out and developing the means for more fully integrating the conservation and management of its cultural assets into local and national economic development. The request comes coincident with the progress which is being made in launching post-conflict activities which are oriented toward economic reconstruction and recovery, and other social and economic programs with poverty reduction objectives.The decision to process it as a LIL is because of strong capacity building elements, the pilot nature of individual components for which viable technical, financial, and social - 2 - solutions need to be tested and developed, and the need for experimentation with different partnership arrangements with respect to the involvement of government, communities, local institutions, and groups of artisans, craftsmen and builders.The project would provide support for testing several approaches, on a pilot basis, for integrating poverty reduction and growth objectives with the conservation and rehabilitation of the country's cultural assets, focusing in part on the unique architectural heritage of Asmara and other urban centers, as well as on selected historic sites, and on its rich written, oral, and artistic traditions. The project would work closely with communities in historic areas, and in urban sites, to revitalize the life of communities through conservation. The project would also strengthen the management of public records both to contribute to the development of a historiography of Eritrea while improving the efficiency of the public sector. By providing support for building skills development, and for small- and medium-size building enterprises, the project would also contribute to the revitalization of economic activity in this reconstruction period. It would support job creation and skills development through a modest civil works programs, and would lay important groundwork for capitalizing on local tourism potential (which had started to blossom before the conflict). 3. Rationale for Bank's Involvement 4. Description The project comprises four components: a) Site planning and conservation. This component will focus on developing pilot community-based conservation of selected historic sites, in particular around Qohaito and Asmara which are suffering from severe degradation as a result of natural and human forces. The component will also introduce community-based conservation approaches to assist in the management of cultural assets created during the independence struggle prior to 1991 (underground theaters, clinics, libraries and other structures, including trenches and fortifications.) This component will also seek to strengthen the National Museums of Eritrea by upgrading and improving its facilities and establishing linkages through specialized programs between the National Museum and educational institutions, on a pilot basis, in Asmara. It is expected that this activity will contribute to educational curriculum development. b) Conserving the built environment. This component will focus, in selected pilot areas, on integrating poverty reduction and growth objectives with the conservation of the unique architectural heritage of Asmara, and for developing future interventions in Massawa and other sites. The component is expected to strengthen the institutional and legal framework for protecting and conserving historically and architecturally important buildings, neighborhoods, and streets, particularly by focusing on supporting enterprise development and economic growth under a variety of innovative arrangements, for example through custodial assignments and private-public partnerships; improving the delivery of community and public services, by focusing on the conservation and use of community assets and public spaces in a manner

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