In 1997, 25 museum professionals from English-speaking Africa, met at the University of Ghana and formulated this vision of African museums:
African museums in the new millennium 2000 will be Attractive, Dynamic, Fruitful, Communicative, Creative, Autonomous and Educational ICCROM, through the PREMA 1990-2000 Programme (Prevention in Museums in Africa), and other international and national institutions have been supporting museums and museum professionals to achieve this vision.
Nevertheless, the current situation still needs to be improved.
- Collections continue to deteriorate. Many are not fully documented and are stored in unsafe conditions;
- Exhibitions are rarely changed and are of poor standards
- Collections are under-utilised for research, publication, exhibition and public programmes
- Museums suffer from a low public image at local and international level
- There are few opportunities for specialised training or staff development in the region
- Any single African country cannot reasonably justify the creation or ensure the viability of such specialised training.
- Resources are too scarce and scattered to ensure continuous museum development
National efforts alone cannot meet these challenges. There is a need for permanent international institutions like CHDA and EPA to:
That is why ICCROM created:
- Organise and co-ordinate viable training programme
- Provide advice and technical support
- Diffuse data and information about museum development
- Work with national institutions to conceive, develop and implement special projects in the field of museum and cultural development
- Work with and complement other regional projects and programmes to ensure the success of the respective activities
- Consolidate the necessary financial and human resources for training and development
- in 2000: PMDA - Programme for Museum Development in Africa, renamed CHDA – Centre for Heritage Development in Africa in November 2005, based in Mombasa, Kenya. Covers English speaking sub–Saharan Africa.
- in 1998: EPA - École du Patrimoine Africain, based in Porto-Novo, Benin. Covers French speaking sub–Saharan Africa
- Both CHDA and EPA share coverage of Portuguese speaking sub–Saharan Africa.