During the last week of November, two important visits by the headquarters took place at the AICS Havana headquarters, which strengthened the synergy between the competent offices that collaborate remotely day after day to ensure the correct management and success of the cooperation projects, formulated and coordinated with the entities present in the territories.
The mission of the VDA, Deputy Administrative Directorate of the AICS Rome headquarters, is the third to be carried out with monitoring officials after the Beirut and Dakar offices and involved different managements with their respective managers and assistants. The mission of the VDA delegation was an opportunity to evaluate how the guidelines drawn up by the headquarters are structured and applied in relation to the administrative-accounting sphere and the management of human resources, in the Cuban context with the aim of analyzing the needs local and find a point of balance between the standardization of processes and the customization of practices in the territories, with a view to continuously improving the functioning of the Agency, for effective management.
With the aim of monitoring the ongoing initiatives guided and supported by the Culture and Local Development sector of the AICS La Habana headquarters, understanding the local context more deeply and analyzing the strengths as well as the risk factors, the mission was carried out of Office III “Opportunities and Economic Development”. The experts visited the projects implemented in the capital, starting from the “Habana Vieja” initiative which led to the strengthening of the OHCH strategy on the housing stock, with the collaboration of the Italian-Latin American Institute (IILA), through the intervention on historic buildings for the construction of housing and on an important Escuela Villaboy school building, all located between the Plaza del Cristo and the Plaza Vieja.
The mission met with the partners of the “¡Qué no baje el telón!” project, the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, the ISA (University of the Arts), and the University of Florence (DIDA), in order to analyze the critical issues , the results and plan the future steps for the implementation of the intervention dedicated to the conservative restoration and enhancement of the School of Theater Arts, designed by the Italian architect Roberto Gottardi, and to artistic training in the theatrical field.
Among the projects visited by the experts from Office III, mention is made of the important initiative of restoration and valorisation of the architectural heritage of the Santa Clara Convent, located in the heart of the historic centre, and which sees the fruitful collaboration between the Oficina del Historiador de La Habana con IILA, with the support of AICS La Habana.
The visit was also an opportunity to get to know the “Avenida Italia” project closely, implemented by Union Camere Piemonte with the Provincial Government of Havana and the Municipal Government of Centro Habana, with the aim of visiting the places that will be the setting for the change proposed by the initiative: the sustainable management of public spaces through the promotion of innovative, creative and circular economies, managed above all by young people and women.
Not only the initiatives relating to the cultural heritage sector but also those of Local Development were the subject of technical monitoring. Lastly, in fact, the Culture and Development sector of AICS La Habana accompanied the field mission to visit the “Habana del Este” project which supports decentralization processes in the area and support for local development initiatives such as the “Bachiplan” PDL which dedicates itself to the production of building materials with innovative techniques that involve the recycling of building waste. The visit ended with a lively discussion in the municipality of Habana del Este, where Office III led by the NGOs Cospe and Cedel, promoters of the initiative, met the representatives of the community projects and the dense network of partners who participates in the transformation of the municipality through active citizenship and inclusive, innovative and sustainable management models.
