The European Commission (DG EAC) and the Council of Europe have signed a €300 000 Grant Agreement to promote, through a Joint Project over two years, the principles of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention, 2005).

The Faro Convention particularly encourages the role of civil society and communities in heritage governance, as a way to promote human rights and democracy. Targeted activities shall encourage people-centred, inclusive, forward-looking, more integrated, sustainable and cross-sectorial approaches to cultural heritage, and promote innovative models of participatory governance and management of heritage.

The “The Faro Way” Joint Project will be structured around three major goals:

• to ensure the commitment of all stakeholders, and in particular national authorities, to the Faro Convention principles;
• to showcase concrete examples of implementation of the above principles at all levels;
• to build long term stakeholder cooperation to translate these principles into reality.

Implemented under the responsibility of the Culture and Cultural Heritage Division of DGII Democracy of the Council of Europe, this Joint Project is a concrete contribution to the achievement of the goals of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.