Building Capacity Without Borders

Abstract

Heritage Without Borders (HWB) is a UK charity that works internationally to build capacity in museum skills. We aim to develop the capacity of heritage industry professionals in regions where specific skills such as object conservation, interpretation and community engagement are in short supply. We are a volunteer organisation, so the UK professionals with whom we work give their time for free. We also cover the costs of our international participants who cannot afford to pay.The present article will describe two projects we have worked on since 2012 in partnership with the British Council and University College London. The aim of both projects was to build capacity through international exchanges between museum professionals. The first project focused on the Middle East and North Africa, and the second project on South East Europe. Overall, we have found that our model of international knowledge exchange changes lives and builds skills in two directions insofar as international colleagues learn best practices from museum professionals in the UK, while UK professionals improve communication skills through collaboration in an international context. This article provides a critique of the model we have developed through case studies and a discussion.

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