Following the first African World Heritage entrepreneurship training workshops, which took place in Ghana and Senegal in May 2014, an Anglophone Entrepreneurship Field Training Workshop for World Heritage site managers and community representatives from Africa was organized from 22 September to 10 October in Livingstone, Zambia.

This Field Training Workshop was devoted to developing a Business Plan and budget for seven pilot projects aimed at bringing direct economic benefits to communities living in or near World Heritage properties, including:  Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe); the Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara (United Republic of Tanzania); Tsodilo (Botswana); the Cape Coast Castles (Ghana) as well as Kakum National Park (on the Tentative List in Ghana); Maloti-Drakensberg Park (South Africa/Lesotho); Lamu Old Town (Kenya); and Vallée de Mai (Seychelles).

This entrepreneurship training has been implemented in three phases, including an initial two-week training workshop, which provided an introduction to entrepreneurship and business planning; three-months of follow-up and mentorship; and this three-week field workshop. In addition to focusing on their own pilot projects, all of the participants in the field workshop were paired with a local stakeholder or community representatives in order to collectively draft the Business Plan for Zambia’s mixed-farming project near Victoria Falls.

Organized by the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) and the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA), this workshop is part of the UNESCO - AWHF “Implementation Programme for the Second Cycle of Periodic Reporting in the Africa Region” financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the AWHF and UNESCO. A francophone field training workshop is being organized for early 2015.

For more information, or to offer financial support to the pilot projects developed through this training, please contact the Africa Unit of the World Heritage Centre or the African World Heritage Fund.