EDUU KICK-OFF MEETING
DIWANIYAH 29-30 MARCH 2017
A two-day meeting, hosted by the University of Qadisiyah in Diwaniyah, opened the EDUU project. Twenty-three representatives from the two European and three Iraqi Universities involved in the project attended the meeting and actively cooperated to set the stage for the project’s agenda and activities.
During the first day (March 29), the sessions were dedicated to the general introduction of the project workplan and objectives to the partners. The project coordination team illustrated to partners the general goals of the project, according to the guidelines of the EuropeAid framework, the schedule and the Work Packages structure. Then, particular focus has been given to the administrative and financial management of the project. The final part of the first day was dedicated to explaining and discussing the activities of the two first Work Packages (1-2), to be completed within the first year of the project.
The second day (March 30) was dedicated to the official presentation of the project, with the intervention of the Head of the EU Delegation in Iraq, Ambassador Patrick Simmonet, and the Qadisiyah Governor Sami Alhasnawi. Then the project coordination team illustrated the development process of the project framework and activities on the basis of the EU Call and according to the long-standing commitment of UNIBO and UNITO in the field of cultural heritage in Iraq.
After that, the partners and associate partners presented their structures and activities specifically in the field of cultural heritage. The Consortium discussed needs and constraints of actions directed towards the enhancement of cultural heritage in Iraq and agreed upon the importance of creating synergies between actors (Universities, policy makers, cultural heritage operators, secondary schools) for involving different sectors of the Iraqi society and in particular younger generations. The last part of the meeting saw the project coordination team present the dissemination, promotion and communication strategy and the Operational and Quality Committees have been created by the Consortium.
Lastly, the Consortium agreed upon a working agenda for the activities of WP 1 and 2, for the administrative and financial monitoring (WP 7), and on an initial set of activities for the dissemination strategy (WP 5). The Consortium also agreed upon scheduling the next project meeting in Kufa, at the beginning of October 2017.
