23 September. AFRICA 2009 10th Regional Course on ‘Conservation and Management of Immovable Cultural Heritage’ began on 1 September.

Twenty heritage professionals from seventeen countries are participating. They will be reflecting on immovable cultural heritage planning and management issues as well as enhancing their knowledge of  the challenges of developing conservation activities in Africa.

Training activities will include the development of management plans for the Aguégué lagoon site located 45 minutes from Porto-Novo. The last week of the course will include a seminar entitled ‘Cultural heritage and decentralization’ for cultural heritage directors in Francophone Sub Saharan Africa.  In addition to the heritage directors from countries represented, thirteen Mayors from Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso are attending the seminar. This year, the seminar is organized in collaboration with the Africities project and France-UNESCO Convention

The course is being coordinated by EPA, in collaboration with the Benin Cultural Heritage Directorate and ICCROM. Funding has been provided by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the National Heritage Board of Sweden, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, UNESCO World Heritage Center, and ICCROM.

Member States represented: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Togo

updated on: 23 September, 2008