World Heritage site managers of 22 States Parties have been meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon, since 21 June, 2010, to advance in the preparation of periodic reports in French and Portuguese-speaking African countries.
The three-day sub-regional meeting, organized by the World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in Yaoundé, was inaugurated on Monday 21 June 2010 by the Minister of Culture of Cameroon, Mrs. Ama Tutu Muna. This opening ceremony was attended by senior officials in charge of natural and cultural heritage protection in Cameroon, the mentors and focal points designated to supervise and ensure the success of the Periodic Reporting Exercise in Africa, experts from the Advisory Bodies (ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM), the African World Heritage Fund, the School of African Heritage (EPA, Porto-Novo) and the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA, Mombasa).
This meeting is part of a series of regional and sub-regional meetings, which were launched by the World Heritage Centre in Dakar, Senegal, in January 2010, and continued in Nairobi last May, aiming at strengthening site managers' capacities in completing this periodic reporting exercise in order to ensure better management and conservation of the properties for which they are responsible.
This meeting was funded by the World Heritage Fund, with financial support from the Swiss Government and the African World Heritage Fund.
