30 September. The bilingual (English and French) 11th AFRICA 2009 Director’s Seminar is taking place this week in Mombasa, Kenya. 

This seminar marks not only the end of the 11th Regional Course of AFRICA 2009 on the conservation and management of immovable cultural heritage in sub-Saharan Africa but also the formal conclusion of the Africa 2009 programme.

The closing of the Programme also leads to the unveiling of a new programme in capacity building for heritage professionals on the continent.

During the opening ceremony the Director-General of ICCROM, Mr Mounir Bouchenaki, presented a silver plate to the Ms Anne Gakuria, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture, representing the Honourable Minister, William Ole Ntimama, EGH, MP.

Present during the ceremony were: Mr Issa Timamy, Chairman, National Museums of Kenya; Dr Idle Farah, Director-General, National Museums of Kenya and CHDA Chairman; Mrs Birgitta Hoberg, and Mrs Karin Schibbye, Swedish National Heritage Board, representing the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); Mrs Inger Heldal, Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage, representing the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr Lazare Eloundou, Head Africa Desk and also representing the Director-General, UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Mrs Emeline Raharimanana, Chairperson, Africa 2009 Steering Committee, and members of the steering Committee; former Chairpersons and founding members of the  Africa 2009 Steering Committee; Mr Baba Keita, Africa 2009 Programme Coordinator; Mr Thierry Joffroy, President of CRAterre-ENSAG; Mrs Deirdre Prins-Solani, Director of CHDA (Centre for Heritage Development in Africa); Mr Alain Godonou, Director of EPA (École du patrimoine africain);  Representatives of Mombasa Old Town, Pate and Siyu communities, Directors of cultural heritage institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, and coordinators, resource persons and course participants of the 11th Africa 2009 Regional Course. 

Mr Bouchenaki, Director-General of ICCROM, also took part in a tree planting ceremony to commemorate this important event.

Seminar activities
Regional course participants will be presenting to their Directors the results of the work they carried out during the course.  The invited guests will reflect on the achievements of the AFRICA 2009 programme, look at the possible directions for the future and present a draft programme with their conclusions.

Member States represented: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

updated on: 5 October, 2009