Faro Convention Network Process: Proposed Indicators for Heritage Community Self-Assessment

Cultural heritage, according to the perspective opened by the most recent international conventions and recommendations such as "Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society" (Faro Convention), Communication of the European Council, "Council conclusions on participatory governance of cultural heritage" and the "Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century" is deemed relevant for its role and capacity in building a sense of belonging, of local identity, cohesion, and in enabling the creation and strengthening of social capital [5-8], and also as a fundamental tool for sustainable development. The involvement of local communities, achieved through a networking process and engagement of different institutions interested in that local context, spreads a new awareness on the cultural heritage role for the local and communities development, understood as the ability of citizens to recognize their identity in that heritage as their own, as commons, and consequently to cooperate for its conservation. The Faro Convention promotes a participative cultural regeneration process based on the synergy between institutions, citizens, and associations. The latter has been defined in art.2 as "heritage communities" made of "people who value specific aspects of cultural heritage which they wish, within the framework of public action, to sustain and to transmit to future generations. The paper analyses the "Faro Process", a Faro Convention's tool, through which heritage communities can affiliate themselves to the "Faro Convention Network". This analysis has shown the lack of evaluation tools related to the "Self-management process", allowing heritage communities to assess their initiatives concerning the Convention's principles and trace their improvements over time. Identifying specific indicators explained through an appropriate rating scale can support an evaluation process, oriented to improve the decision-making and monitor changes over time. An evaluative approach can help build an interactive sharing process that facilitates operating the model of "learning organization", increasing the level of cultural, creative, and social productivity. The methodological proposal was tested for the Friends of Molo San Vincenzo Heritage Community's experience, activated in Naples, Italy.