Activities >> Courses

7th Regional Course on Conservation and management of Immovable Cultural Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa

Place: Mombasa, Kenya
Dates: 15 August - 4 November 2005
Partners:
- Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA)
- National Museums Of Kenya (NMK)

The Aim of the Course
The aim of the course is 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 Objectives were thus:

• to give participants the tools to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of a given immovable cultural heritage site and its management system, and taking into account the specific context, develop appropriate and realistic solutions.
• to 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: This section was 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.

The Management Planning Process: This involved eight weeks of hands-on site management planning exercise. The aim was to develop among the participants the necessary skills for the development of simple, appropriate and realistic management plans for immovable heritage sites. The participants were divided into two groups, which worked on the Rabai Mission and the Rabai sacred forest. The two sites although related and utilized by the same community were initially seen as at conflict. The importance of the site to the community was seen by how prominent politicians in the area were interested in the management plans. This made them attend the stakeholder meetings.

Results
• 22 participants from 16 countries attended the course. The group comprised eleven female and eleven male participants. Thus there was parity in terms of gender.
• 20 resources persons come to the course only one came from outside Sub-Saharan Africa. Among the resource persons 10 were former participants of the regional courses. Two of the former participants acted as assistant coordinator.
• The holding of three stakeholder meetings facilitated community participation in the making of the management plans.
• Draft management plans were developed for the two sites the Rabai Mission and the Rabai Sacred Forest.