6 November. On 26 October 2009, the 7th and last Africa 2009 technical course on Impact assessment as a tool for heritage management started in Grand-Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire.

The inaugural ceremony took place in the presence of H.E. Minister Komoé Augustin KOUADIO; the Deputy- Mayor of Grand-Bassam, Mr Jean Michel MOULOD; and several officials of Grand-Bassam.

In his speech, Minister KOUADIO warmly thanked ICCROM and Africa 2009 partners for choosing to hold the course in his country, and in particular at the historical city of Grand-Bassam, a site proposed for nomination for the UNESCO World Heritage List. Mr. Baba Keita, Programme Manager for Africa 2009 spoke on behalf of ICCROM’s Director-General and the programme’s technical partners, thanking the Government of Côte d’Ivoire for its support, and discussing initiatives that will take place after 2009.

The course consists of exercises that build technical skills for carrying out impact assessment studies, which protect heritage sites from the adverse effects of development projects and urban pressure.

The four-week training is divided into three main parts:

• introduction to the concept and the process of environmental impact assessment;
• implementation of an impact assessment on the project of Grand-Bassam (site identification, field works, cultural significance, analysis, decision making, report, follow-up);
• evaluation of results and recommendations for future steps.

The course is being coordinated by Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA), in collaboration with the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Côte d’Ivoire, ICCROM, CRAterre-ENSAG and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC).

It is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the Swedish National Heritage Board, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Development Cooperation (DGCS), the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICCROM. The course also benefited from a strong financial and logistic support of the National Directorate of the Cultural Heritage through the Ministère de la Culture et de la Francophonie, Côte d’Ivoire.

The 17 participants in the course are site managers, architects, archaeologists, historians, urban planners and conservators from 16 African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central Africa, , Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

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

updated on: 4 December, 2009