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About Us

Heritage for Peace and Sustainability Foundation

The Heritage for Peace and Sustainability Foundation is dedicated to protecting and activating cultural heritage as a force for peace, resilience, and sustainable development. We work with communities to safeguard the places, traditions, knowledge, and cultural expressions that shape their identity, while creating opportunities for dialogue, connection, and a more sustainable future.

3 Focus Areas
3 Team Members
6 Partners
3 Donors
01

Our Vision

A world where cultural heritage connects people, strengthens communities, and contributes to lasting peace and a sustainable future.
We envision societies in which heritage is not only preserved as a record of the past, but actively used to build understanding, resilience, inclusion, and cooperation.

02

Our Mission

To protect, preserve, and activate cultural heritage as a powerful resource for peacebuilding, reconciliation, community resilience, and sustainable development.
We empower communities to safeguard their heritage, strengthen cultural identity, encourage dialogue, and ensure that cultural resources continue to benefit present and future generations.

What We Do

01

Heritage Protection

We support the documentation, conservation, and safeguarding of cultural sites, objects, traditions, and knowledge at risk.

02

Peacebuilding Through Heritage

We use shared cultural heritage to create spaces for dialogue, rebuild trust, and strengthen relationships between communities.

03

Community Empowerment

We place local communities at the center of heritage initiatives, helping them develop the skills and resources needed to protect and benefit from their heritage.

Our Approach

How We Work

  1. Community-Led: We listen first. Our work begins with the people who live with, care for, and give meaning to cultural heritage.
  2. Research-Informed: We combine local knowledge with research, documentation, and professional expertise to develop responsible and effective initiatives
  3. Collaborative: We work alongside communities, cultural institutions, researchers, governments, civil society, and international partners.
  4. Inclusive: We seek meaningful participation from women, young people, marginalized groups, heritage professionals, and diverse community voices.

Our Foundation

Our Principles

  • Community Ownership — Heritage belongs first to the communities that give it meaning.
  • Do No Harm — Heritage work should protect people, dignity, identity, and social relationships.
  • Cultural Respect — We approach every culture, tradition, and community with respect and sensitivity.
  • Inclusivity — Heritage should bring people together rather than reinforce exclusion or division.
  • Participation — Communities should actively shape decisions concerning their own heritage.
  • Integrity — Our work is guided by transparency, accountability, and professional responsibility.
  • Sustainability — Heritage protection should consider long-term cultural, social, environmental, and economic impact.
  • Knowledge Sharing — Knowledge becomes more valuable when it is responsibly documented, exchanged, and passed to future generations.

What Guides Us

Our Values

Peace

We believe cultural heritage can create common ground, encourage dialogue, and help communities build peaceful relationships.

Respect

We respect cultural diversity, local knowledge, community perspectives, and the many ways people understand and value their heritage.

Inclusion

We strive to ensure that different voices—especially those often overlooked—have opportunities to participate and be heard.

Sustainability

We make decisions with future generations in mind, seeking lasting cultural, social, environmental, and economic benefits.

Shukria Neda

Founder and Director

Shukria Neda is the founder and director of the Heritage for Peace and Sustainability Foundation. She holds a Master in Public Policy from Simon Fraser University (SFU), where her research has centered on integrating culture for peace and sustainable development in war-affected countries — with a particular focus on Afghanistan. Drawing on lived experience and policy scholarship, she leads the Foundation’s work to safeguard cultural heritage as a pathway to reconciliation, community resilience, and long-term sustainability in places recovering from conflict.

Founder Perspective

When young people from two divided villages repoint the same ancient wall together, they are not just restoring stone. They are restoring trust.

Shukria Neda Founder and Director

Our Partners

Our Donors