Cultural Heritage Researcher – Chemonics عودة إلى الفرص

Title: Cultural Heritage Researcher

Length of Assignment: Short-Term

Reports to: Chief of Party

BACKGROUND

The USAID-funded Visit Tunisia Activity is a 5-year project designed to enhance Tunisia’s tourism potential, with the goal of generating revenue and jobs, particularly for women and youth, and for populations in underserved regions of the country. The overall vision behind USAID’s investment in Tunisia’s tourism sector is to capitalize on Tunisia’s natural, cultural, heritage and historical sites to develop a more diversified and high-quality tourism sector that contributes to broad-based economic growth. Through this activity, USAID seeks to contribute to Tunisia’s growth and development to offset the negative economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. The project will seek to achieve the following four objectives:

• Objective 1: Enhance Tunisia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination;
• Objective 2: Increase tourism-related investments and revenue;
• Objective 3: Improve the enabling environment for sustained growth in the tourism sector;
• Objective 4: Private sector engagement to expand the offer and quality of alternative tourism.

This project will collaborate with the relevant ministries, private sector, and donors to advance the objectives while contributing to the following high-level results:

1. Increase in the number of tourists.
2. Increase in the number of jobs in the tourism sector.
3. Increase in tourism revenue.
4. Increase in private sector-led investment and innovation in the tourism sector.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Visit Tunisia Activity is partnering with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to develop cultural heritage tourism in target geographic areas. These geographic areas are still to be confirmed, but potentially include the following areas: Djerba, Dahar, Kairouan, Sousse, Tabarka, and Tozeur. Smithsonian’s tourism product development process utilizes research and presentation methods developed over more than 50 years of producing the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where tradition bearers from around the world present their traditions to the American public. Through these methods, Tunisians will share their own living and evolving cultural traditions and practices with visitors, contextualizing cultural heritage within their own personal and community history. This approach ensures that visitors walk away with a deeper, more nuanced understanding and appreciation of Tunisian culture. Further, it employs practices research ethics and inclusive representation, ensuring that a diversity of voices participate and benefit from the opportunities and revenue generated through tourism. The Cultural Heritage Researcher will work with our team to set the foundation for the development of engaging, inclusive, and sustainable community-based cultural heritage tourism experiences.

This short-term position will bring knowledge of Tunisia’s cultural heritage and relationships with local scholars to draft key cultural heritage themes and research questions, while identifying gaps in current cultural heritage documentation.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Maps cultural heritage research institutions or organizations/agencies working with Tunisia’s cultural heritage at the national, regional, and local levels, covering both public sector and civil society.
2. Collects and summarizes existing documentation about Tunisia’s intangible cultural heritage.
3. Prepares summary profiles of cultural heritage (folklore, crafts, foodways, music, and dance) in each of the target geographic areas of the Visit Tunisia Activity.
4. Provides research, documentation, and other information about Tunisia’s artisan sector to inform development of future trainings and other activities to support the sector.
5. Works with the Cultural Heritage Tourism Program Manager to identify cultural themes and research questions for each of the target geographic areas.
6. Develops a research plan to fill gaps.
7. Identifies tradition bearers representing cultural heritage domains (folklore, crafts, foodways, music, and dance) in each of the target geographic areas.
8. Participates in assessment trip to advise on cultural heritage tourism development.

• QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in conducting cultural heritage research and/or working in Tunisia’s cultural sector.

• Master’s degree in ethnography, anthropology, or related field. 
• Experience developing research plans.
• Demonstrated experience working with cultural heritage as a living and transforming practice. 
• Relevant experience working with communities.
• Skilled at relationship management, with strong interpersonal skills and commitment to research ethics.  
• Fluent English. Arabic and/or French is required. 

REPORTING:

The Cultural Heritage Tourism Program Manager will report to the Chief of Party.

During the Period of Performance, key deliverables or outcomes will be:

• Summary report mapping entities engaged in cultural heritage documentation, research, and preservation.
• Summary reports of cultural heritage in each of the target geographic areas of Visit Tunisia, including list of tradition bearers in each location.
• Research plan

LEVEL OF EFFORT AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The duration of this short-term assignment will be up to 35 days to take place from September 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021.

LOCATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

This assignment will initially be performed remotely, with travel within the project’s target geographic areas in Tunisia as pandemic restrictions allow.