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5th Regional Course on the Conservation and Management of Immovable Cultural Heritage
Kenya 2003

Place: Mombasa, Kenya
Dates: 25 Sept. – 14 Nov.
Partner: Programme For Museums Development in Africa (PMDA), National Museums Of Kenya (NMK)

Course Aim and Objectives: The aim of the course was to bring together a group of African heritage professionals to work towards the creation of a greater awareness of the most important issues in the area of conservation planning and management. The main objectives were to:

• give participants the tools to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a given immovable cultural heritage place and its management system;
• develop appropriate and realistic solutions, taking into account the specific context;
• examine some of the issues facing conservation of immovable cultural heritage at the national level, with the aim of introducing gradually, the most relevant approaches within the participants’ home organizations.

Structure: In terms of content the course was divided into two broad pedagogical divisions:

• Introduction to Heritage Management Issues: Themes in this section were designed as miniature workshops dealing with specific issues in the management of immovable heritage. The aim was to introduce participants to some of the current issues pertaining to heritage conservation and management on the sub-continent. One of the new topics introduced during the course was HIV/AIDS and Culture.
• The Management Planning Process: This involved eight weeks of hands-on site management planning. The aim was to build up among the participants, the necessary skills for the development of simple, appropriate, and realistic management plans for immovable heritage sites. This year the participants worked on two related sites, Shimoni Village and Shimoni Sacred Cave. The first comprises the village with its historical structures associated with the colonial occupation, and the other is a cave and forest associated with the East African slave trade.

Results:

• 21 professionals from 17 countries successfully completed the training including 8 women.
• 84% of the resource persons used for the course were professionals from Africa including 7 women and 3 former course participants from 1999.
• 7 previous participants (from 2001) were used as course assistants including 3 women.
• Draft management plans were developed for 2 sites in Shimoni, Kenya
• Reflections by the participants on the course themes were developed and distributed. These will be available on the AFRICA 2009 web site.
• Equipment and didactic material for the course were purchased and left at PMDA.
• Professionals and other stakeholders in Kenya benefited from working on the management planning exercise and other course activities.

For more information on the course, see the final report (Pdf 1,50 MB).