Ventana Adelante initiative: “Cultural Routes for the Development of Territories”

Cultural routes are valued as one of the model strategies for collaboration between different bodies and entities, serving as tools for innovation, revitalising territories and promoting new models of governance based on entities to set up collaborative alliances as drivers of territorial development.

In this sense, this Alliance recognises the “Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme” as a reference which, throughout its more than 35 years of history, has generated a solid and successful methodology, which allows the implementation of cultural routes under criteria of quality and sustainability, demonstrating highly positive impacts on the territories both in the preservation and appropriation of heritage and in the social, economic, and environmental dimensions.

PARTICIPANTS AND ROLES

The alliance responsible for carrying out the project is composed of:

• The European Institute of Cultural Routes – EICR (Luxembourg), which acts as the technical agency of the programme, hosting the knowledge and experience generated over the years.
• The Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture - OEI (Spain), a regional organisation with a long experience in the field and with a strong relationship with the EICR in compliance with the commitments made at the XIX Ibero-American Conference on Culture in 2018.
• The Autonomous University of Zacatecas Francisco García Salinas - UAZ (Mexico), with a strong experience in the field of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and a proven academic capacity (teaching and research) in the field.
• The Ministry of Culture and Heritage of Ecuador, which has requested support from the EICR, the OEI and the UAZ, thus generating this Triangular Cooperation Alliance.
• the Metropolitan Institute of Heritage of Quito (Ecuador) and the Secretariat of Culture of the Metropolitan District of Quito  (Ecuador).
• The Yuste Foundation (Spain), a reference entity in Spain and Europe in this field, with a long experience and a great role in the promotion and management of the “European Routes of Emperor Charles V”, a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.  
• The support and collaboration of public entities of reference in Europe and Latin America, such as the Ministry of Culture of Spain, the Ministry of Culture of Peru and the National Secretariat of Tourism of Paraguay, as well as specialised universities, such as the Compostela Group of Universities (Spain).

OBJECTIVES

Thanks to this Triangular Cooperation Initiative, the knowledge and experience of the member entities of the Alliance, as well as that of the collaborating entities, in the field of cultural routes will be used to strengthen and consolidate three existing routes in Ecuador and generate a model of sustainable development in territories through tourism: the “Cocoa Origin Route”, the “Florida Tulipe Route” and the “Route of Cultural Actions”. This model will be applied in the rest of the country, seeking the consolidation of other existing routes and the creation of new ones.

All this in pursuit of inclusive and sustainable development within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 10, contributing to them by “developing and implementing policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes culture and local products”, “promoting development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation”, “enhance and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all people” and “progressively achieve and sustain income growth for the poorest 40% of the population at a rate above the national average”.

ACTIVITIES

The initiative will be based on three pillars:

 a) capacity building process through the exchange of successful experiences, in order to train the actors of the current cultural routes,

b) dissemination and awareness raising process, in order to involve a larger number of public, private and social actors,

c) advisory process, in order to promote research to establish the basis for the future creation and implementation of routes.

The first two pillars will consist of a series of five workshops that will take place in Ecuador, in the cities of Quito, Loja and Manta. These workshops will be attended by representatives of all the provider entities, as well as the collaborating entities, complementing their knowledge and particular experiences. The public will include representatives of the beneficiary entities, as well as other actors with special competencies or interest in the field in Ecuador, thus promoting dissemination and awareness on the subject.

These workshops will be complemented with a consultancy that will define a specific rotation sheet for the reinforcement of each of the three cultural routes selected as a pilot experience in this Initiative.

The third pillar will be based on a study, coordinated by the UAZ, in which the reference bases will be established for the design, creation and implementation of cultural routes in Ecuador, with an innovative approach based on governance, generating bridges and synergies between all the actors present in the territory.

The Initiative will end with a congress to be held in Spain, in the region of Extremadura, led by the Yuste Foundation, which will aim to reinforce the capacity building initiated with the workshops (first pillar) and validate the study conducted by the UAZ (third pillar). Participants will be able to visit Cultural Routes in Spain and to meet key European actors interested in the possible creation of collaboration frameworks with Ecuador or other countries in the region.

This Initiative will count the participation and involvement of around 100 direct beneficiaries, all of them authorities and technical staff of the Alliance's member entities. In addition, more than 100 people from various countries, who are not members of the Alliance, will be invited to the workshops and the congress as a strategy for dissemination and awareness-raising on the issue.

BUDGET 

EU contribution: 195,000.00 € 

Alliance contribution: 65,000.00 € 

Total budget: 260,000.00 €