The project “Safeguarding, Digitizing and Enhancing the Heritage of Lebanese Media” was submitted to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in December 2020. The financing of the project, via the Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (FSPI) was validated in March 2021. It closed in June 2023.
Implemented between 2021 and 2023 by the French National Institute of Archives (INA) and the cultural services of the French Embassy in Lebanon, it aimed to strengthen the Lebanese audiovisual heritage sector through (1) the networking of the main actors (Radio Lebanon, TV Lebanon, Directorate of Studies and Publications, National Information Agency); and (2) the optimization of their technical resources. The project was carried out in close collaboration with the Minister of Information.
The project has three distinct components:
- Analysis of the existing situation through an audit phase;
- The implementation of a capacity-building plan resulting from this analysis (in particular through the implementation of archiving and digitization policies); and
- The archiving of pilot collections.
Through these components, the strategic objective of this project was to contribute to the structuring of the heritage and cultural sectors in Lebanon by encouraging the safeguarding and enhancement of audiovisual archives by relying on the know-how of the INA, thus strengthening France’s influence in terms of cultural cooperation.
ITAR led a two-month evaluation of the project following OECD DAC criteria.
