ACT4Prespa project has been implemented under the program EU for Sustainable Development of the Prespa Lake Area, as a restricted call for proposals implemented under the EuropeAid/178154/DD/ACT/MK, Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development, and it is dedicated only to the activities that are supposed to be implemented in Prespa Lake Area, Republic of North Macedonia.
This project fully corresponds to the objectives and priorities of this Call for proposals as it addresses environmental, social and economic challenges closely connected to protection and promotion of natural and cultural heritage and values, thus enabling sustainable socio-economic development of Prespa Lake area.

Taking into account the above stated, the ACT4PRESPA project proposals sets its specific objectives as follows:
▪ To enrich the knowledge about the existence of underwater archaeological heritage in Prespa Lake and to valorise the most prominent cultural heritage elements in the area;
▪ To protect cultural diversity and to contribute to better quality of life in Prespa area by using digital technologies in order to improve public access to different forms of cultural assets;
▪ To give a wider recognition of the most valuable monuments in Prespa region as a main cultural heritage and civilizational markers and to promote conservation activities for the benefit of present and future generations;
▪ To raise public awareness on the policies and best practices for protection of cultural heritage in order to secure its sustainable development.

Besides these specific objectives, the project activities are closely connected and include:
• Underwater archaeological research in Prespa Lake;
• Immediate conservation of the roof of the Saraj (III phase), one of the most valuable monuments in Prespa Lake area, located in Resen;
• Conservation of the fresco paintings in St. Paraskevi church, Brajcino village;
• Valorization of several tangible and intangible heritage elements including field research;
• Digitalization: Development of Interactive 3D map of cultural heritage and digitalization of oral traditions and expressions from Prespa region;
• Organization of exhibitions;
• Organization of study visits, international conferences, public events etc.
In order to give a greater importance and public inclusion, and in order to make the results more accessible to the general public, by the end of the project, all the materials will be available at the reconstructed Old School building “Dimitar Vlahov” in Ljubojno village.

ACT4PRESPA partnership pays great attention to the target groups in terms of their needs and constraints, at the same time, carefully choosing the best approaches to ensure their active involvement thus addressing the following target groups:
▪ Cultural institutions (museums, libraries, cultural centres; etc.) will make their contribution through their active participation in the proposed activities, using the opportunity to start new collaborations and cultural exchange across the borders.
▪ Cultural heritage experts (museum curators & conservators) will play important role and will be involved within all proposed actions.
▪ Students of architecture and ethnology and anthropology will have the opportunity to participate within the research of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Prespa Lake area to gain basic skills and knowledge about the protection of cultural heritage.
▪ Tourism related stakeholders will give their feedback and actually become strong supporters of the action as it upgrades the potentials of protected cultural heritage and expands current tourist offer of Prespa Lake area.
▪ Civil society organizations can provide additional value to the project and bind communities together by promoting and preserving their identities, traditions, and values. Representing a grassroot organizations that have a long-term contact with the local communities they will secure above all good local contacts and safe project implementation.
▪ Local & regional governmental units have a key role in terms of strategic support, not only to preservation and promotion of cultural heritage, but also on all aspects that influence sustainable socio-economic development on local, national and regional level.

ACT4PRESPA project will be implemented by five project partners as follows:
• NI Institute and museum – Bitola, North Macedonia – Lead partner;
• Civil Society Organization for development of Alternative tourism LjUBOJNO, Ljubojno village, Municipality of Resen, North Macedonia – Partner;
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece – Partner;
• National Museum of Medieval Art Korce, Albania – Partner;
• IDEA FOR CULTURE, Greece – Partner.

Total budget of the project: 443.400 Eur
Period of implementation 36 months