AFRICAN WORLD HERITAGE FUND
Report for the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee
Reporting period: July 2023 to June 2024
1. General Information
Name of the Centre

AFRICAN WORLD HERITAGE FUND (AWHF)

Name and contact
information of theDirector/Head

Dr. Albino Jopela
Executive Director
Email: jopsj@dbsa.org
Tel: +27 11 313 3911
Mr. Jacob Nyangila
Programme Specialist
Email: jacobn@dbsa.org
Tel : +27 11 313 5013 / +27829335243

Designated Focal Point(s)(name, title and contact
information)
Website (if available)

www.awhf.net

2. Institutional and Operational Structure of the Centre(e.g. Governing Board, staffing, operational funding and premises)
The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) consist of two main organs, the Board ofGovernors and the Secretariat. The Secretariat is hosted by the Development Bank ofSouthern Africa (DBSA) in Midrand, South Africa. AWHF is also supported by Patrons
appointed by the Board to promote the Fund on the international stage, including theparticipation in fundraising and advocacy events. AWHF Board is made up of a coregroup of five (5) members representing the five regions of the African Union (Southern,Eastern, Central, Western and Northern Africa). The Board also includes three nonregional representatives chosen for their professional competencies, a UNESCO
representative appointed by the UNESCO Director General and a representative
appointed by the Africa Union Commission (AUC). South Africa, the host country has
three (3) permanent members as trustees of the Fund represented by the Director
General of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Deputy Director General of
the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (the Focal Point for theWorld Heritage Convention) and the Permanent Delegate of South Africa to UNESCO.
The DBSA, and Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee (ICCROM, IUCNand ICOMOS) are Observers on Board. AWHF operation and programme activities arefunded by contributions from the African State Parties and other technical and financial
partners. In the reporting period, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Burkina Faso,
Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea(through WHIPIC) provided financial support to the Fund.
3. Updates on the Management of the Centre(e.g. meetings of the Governing Board and key decisions adopted)
Two (2) board meetings were held in the reporting period. The 33rd Board meeting washeld on 26th July 2023 in Midrand, South Africa. The Board examined the report on1

activities implemented in the past financial year 2023/2024. The 34th Board meeting
was held in Kampala, Uganda on 6th December 2023 hosted by the Government ofUganda. The Board examined and approved the Fund’s activities and budget for the2024/2025 financial year. In both meetings, the Board also approved the appointmentof new Board members. The current Board is composed of representatives fromBurundi, Egypt, Uganda and Namibia as well as representatives of UNESCO and theAUC. The term of Burkina Faso expired in December 2023 and the new representativefor West Africa is being appointed. The 35th and 36th Board meetings are planned totake place in August 2024 in South Africa and December 2024 in Burundi. The
evaluation of AWHF as a UNESCO Category II Centre was implemented between
November 2023 and January 2024 with full participation of key stakeholders including
AWHF Board.
4. Main Programmes and Activities(implemented since July 2023 and planned for the current year)
Since July 2023, the AWHF undertook the following activities in line with three key
objectives of its Strategic Plan (2022-2027) which is aligned with the Action Plan forWorld Heritage in Africa (2021-2027) and UNESCO Operational Strategy for Priority
Africa 2022 – 2029:a) Objective 1: Contribute to a better representation of African properties on
the World Heritage List•

Through its upstream support program, the AWHF provided technical andfinancial support to eighteen (18) African properties during various stages of
their World Heritage nomination processes. Six (6) properties were successfully
inscribed on the World Heritage List (Massif Forestier d’Odzala-Kokoua inCongo, the Gedeo Cultural landscape and Bale Mountains National Park inEthiopia, Memorial sites of the Genocide and Nyungwe National Park in
Rwanda and Djerba Island in Tunisia) and two (2) proposed major boundaries
modifications/extensions (Koutammakou in Benin and Andrefana Dry Forests
in Madagascar) were approved during the extended 45th session of the World
Heritage Committee, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 10 to the 25 September
2023. Through its Nomination Grants the AWHF provided financial assistanceto the State Parties of Uganda and Burkina Faso for the development oftransboundary nomination dossier for Geometric Rock Art of Lake Victoria(including Kenya and Tanzania) and for strengthening the protective
mechanism for the buffer zone of the proposed Royal Court of Tiébélé property
respectively.

•As part of the follow-up of its capacity-building program on World Heritage
nomination for advanced dossiers the Fund continued to provide technicalassistance to five (5) proposed World Heritage properties which nominations
files were successfully submitted to the World Heritage Centre to be consideredby the World Heritage Committee in its 46th session in July 2024. These include
the Historic Town of Gedi (Kenya), Melka Kunture and Balchit Archaeologicaland Paleontological Site (Ethiopia), La Cour Royale de Tiébélé (Burkina Faso),
the Emergence of Modern Humans: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of SouthAfrica, and Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela
Legacy Sites (South Africa). As a direct result of the AWHF ongoing technical2

assistance to African States Parties, three (3) World Heritage nominations files
were submitted to World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2024 i.e. Mount
Mulanje Cultural Landscape (Malawi), Maputo National Park (Mozambique) and
Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape (Cameroon).
b) Objective 2: Contribute to improving the management and conservationof World Heritage Properties in Africa•Together with ICOMOS the AWHF initiated the Strengthening Capacities ofWorld Heritage Professionals in Africa programme aiming at improving theimplementation of the Convention through skills development of heritage
practitioners in Africa. Having successfully completed the initial phase (i.e.,
capacity-building workshop held in South Africa in May 2022), the Fund has
supported the follow up phase of the programme (between July 2023 - March2024) focusing on effective integration of African professionals within thenetworks and processes led by ICOMOS. In this regard, three (3) African
professionals (from Botswana, Mauritius, and South Africa) were integrated into
the ICOMOS-led Evaluation of World Heritage Nominations that took place inbetween September and October 2023 in South Africa (for the Emergence ofModern Humans of South Africa), Kenya (for the Historic Town of Gedi) andSaudi Arabia (for the Cultural Landscape of Al-Faw Archaeological Area).

•The Fund organized an Orientation Workshop for African Members of the WorldHeritage Committee held online between 17 - 19 July 2023 aiming at improving
the Africa experts’ understanding of the 1972 Convention's Operational
Guidelines and that of the Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee.
Sixty-seven (67) participants attended the workshop including representatives
from UNESCO, the Advisory Bodies, African Permanent Delegations atUNESCO, World Heritage Committee members (Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria,Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia) and other African heritage professionals.

•The orientation workshop was followed by the 6th Preparatory African World
Heritage Experts Meeting held in Kigali Rwanda from 14th – 18th August 2023.
The meeting was organized by the Permanent Delegation of Rwanda toUNESCO and the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement of Rwanda
in partnership with the AWHF and facilitated by the State Party of South Africa
as the Chair of the Group 5A. The meeting brought together forty (40)participants and it strengthened the technical capacity of African experts andenabled them to contribute substantially to the discussions on theimplementation of the 1972 Convention around the world during the extended
45th session of the World Heritage Committee.

•Each year, AWHF provides conservation grants to African State Parties toimplement projects and activities which focus on improving the sustainability
and state of conservation of World Heritage properties. During the reporting
period the Fund provided conservation grants to the States Parties of Ghana (tosupport a structural renovation at Asante Traditional Buildings), Malawi (tosupport biodiversity conservation and promote sustainable community
livelihoods at Lake Malawi National Park), Lesotho (to support the community
conservation of the Sehlabathebe National Park), Mauritius (for thedocumentation of the buffer zone of the Aapravasi Ghat), and Madagascar (to3support the setting up of an eco-volunteer program to help conserve
Ranomafana National Park). In addition to the conservation grants, the Fundawarded an Emergency Grant to the State Party of Kenya for the restoration ofThimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site impacted by natural disaster. The projects
in Mauritius, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Kenya will be implemented between
April 2024 and March 2025.
•The AWHF also offers Moses Mapesa Educational Research Grant aiming atencouraging young academics to produce good dissertations and thesis for theirMasters and Doctoral research in the field of World Heritage in Africa. Threegrants were completed: Masters project on Community-Based Conservation inProtected Area of Okapi Wildlife Reserve (Democratic Republic of Congo),
Doctoral project on Tourism development in the Ruins of Loropéni (BurkinaFaso), and Doctoral project on the Effect of Climate Change on the Savanna
Dynamics at Comoe National Park (Côte d'Ivoire). Three additional grants wereawarded to young African professionals for research projects to be implementedbetween April 2024 and March 2025 in Central Africa Republic (Doctoral projecton Gender and issues of participatory management of protected areas in theCAR), Cote d’Ivoire (Doctoral project on Modeling the reconstitution of thevegetation of former agricultural areas in the Taï National Park) andMozambique (Master’s project on Cultural Heritage Management in theQuirimbas Archipelago).

•Together with the International Centre for the Interpretation and Presentation ofWorld Heritage Sites (WHIPIC) and the National Heritage Council of Namibia
the AWHF organized a Workshop on World Heritage Interpretation andPresentation in Africa held online between 19th and 23rd October 2023 and inperson between 30th October and 2nd November 2023 in Twyfelfontein or /Ui//aes, Namibia. The workshop strengthened the capacities of twenty (20) Africansite managers and heritage professional by enabling them to develop tools andstrategies to improve the interpretation and presentation of World Heritage sites
through participatory processes and engagement of local communities acrossAfrica.

c) Objective 3: Stimulate the inclusion of World Heritage properties insustainable growth for local communities, particularly women and theyouth.
•In partnership with ICCROM and the Great Zimbabwe University of Zimbabwe,
the AWHF organized the 7th edition of the African World Heritage Youth Forum
held online from 15th – 19th January 2024 and in person from 4th – 8th March2024 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The workshop brought together African young
leaders to share their perspectives, experiences, and solutions for addressing
the challenges posed by climate change for the effective conservation andmanagement of World Heritage properties in Africa.

•From 29th January to 2nd February 2024, AWHF organized a Workshop onEntrepreneurship at World Heritage Sites in Africa held in Maputo,Mozambique, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism ofMozambique and ICCROM. The workshop aimed at empowering African young
professionals through training and mentorship and equip them with innovative4

and creative entrepreneurship skills in the field of heritage (e.g. business
opportunity identification and evaluation, business management, financialresources mobilization, financial sustainability and innovation, entrepreneurial
mindset skills, communication, and networking). The workshop provided aplatform for the creation of networks, exchange of knowledge, sharing ofexperience and success stories between and among the 25 young
professionals representing various African countries.

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