UNESCO Office in Windhoek 38-44 Stein Street, Klein Windhoek, P.O. Box 24519, Windhoek, Namibia
World Heritage nomination training course for English speaking countries in Africa
The two weeks training course in Etosha (Namibia) from 15 to 26 November 2010
The most significant feature of the 1972 World Heritage Convention is that it links together in a single document the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The Convention recognizes the way in which people interact with nature, and the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two. It defines the kind of natural or cultural sites which can be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List. One of UNESCO's mandates is to pay special attention to new global threats that may affect the natural and cultural heritage and ensure that the conservation of sites and monuments contributes to social cohesion. The Convention sets out the duties of States Parties which is to identifying potential sites and their role in protecting and preserving them. By signing the Convention, each country pledges to conserve not only the World Heritage sites situated on its territory, but also to protect its national heritage. To date, the World Heritage List recognizes 890 properties of “outstanding universal value,” including 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 States Parties.
In order to increase the number and diversify of African heritage properties on the World Heritage List, the quality of African nomination dossiers submitted to the World Heritage Committee needs to be improved. The best way to achieve such goals is to promote competence among African natural and cultural heritage professionals through training. The Centre for Heritage Development in Africa, African World Heritage Fund, UNESCO World Heritage Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and National Service, Sport and Culture of Namibia organized a World Heritage nomination training course for English speaking countries in Africa focusing on participants who have already started working on a World Heritage nomination dossier and they chose Namibia as the hosting country. The two weeks training course is taking place from 15 to 26 November 2010, the training will not only give participants capacity building opportunity but it will also promote networking among heritage professionals working on African World Heritage sites as well as setting up a support and follow up mechanism to facilitate delivery of expected outcomes.
