Reflections and words of advice from the audience at the panel discussion Work with cultural heritage makes the young engage with the history of their own place, and brings the memories of the past into the future. It is a process which generates something positive in many aspects, not only jobs on the sites. The power of constituencies should be utilised and one has to look for new ways to increase the involvement of the private sector. One has to work with the business communities and the business owners. Job creation is the main objective of most development efforts. It is a fact that the youth participation in the
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labour market is alarmingly low in countries of the Middle East and Africa and here is also where one encounters issues of weak governance and corruption. Therefore the efforts must address the emergent markets and develop the appropriate skills and talent. Cultural heritage and urban development programmes is one place to start. Even though there is evidence for a direct link between cultural heritage development, job creation and poverty reduction, cultural heritage has to be moved up on the list of priorities among policy makers. Policy made lending is prioritised before project lending and one has to build the data and evidence.
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