The most recent development in capacity building within the World Heritage framework is the creation of the World Heritage Leadership Programme. The Programme is a partnership between ICCROM, IUCN, and the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS. It aims to improve conservation and management practices for culture and nature through the work of the World Heritage Convention, as an integral component of the contribution of World Heritage Sites to sustainable development.
Taking a new and transformative approach, the programme will not focus exclusively on work within the World Heritage Convention, but rather will take a wider view of the totality of conservation practice. It will consider how working through World Heritage sites and the communities and specialists that support them, World Heritage can provide new and better leadership to achieve and inspire innovation, performance and excellence in practice.
The programme will take a fully integrated approach to nature and culture from the outset, focusing on:
The programme is composed of five modules:
The programme has conducted a mid-term evaluation focusing on:
The Evaluation examined the progress of the programme on aspects of Relevance, Effectiveness, Impact, Efficiency and Sustainability. The Evaluation took place from March to July 2020, and was conducted by E.C.O Institute for Ecology. The results from the Evaluation and the Management response from the Programme can be found here: