The Centre for Heritage Development in Africa is pleased to announce that the 11th Africa 2009 Directors’ Seminar will be held in Mombasa from 28 September – 2 October 2009. The Africa 2009 programme is an international partnership of African heritage organisations whose main aim is to build the capacities of African heritage institutions in the management and conservation of immovable cultural heritage in the sub-continent.

The week long bilingual (English and French) seminar will mark the end of the 11th regional course of Africa 2009. on the conservation and management of immovable cultural heritage in sub-saharan Africa as well as the formal end of the Africa 2009 programme The Regional Course has been going on at the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA), Old Law Court, Mombasa, from 13 July to 2nd October 2009. The 22 course participants are from 19 African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

An implementation partnership between the National Museums of Kenya and the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa, for the course ensures that the course includes field work which supports the mandate of the NMK in preserving Kenya’s rich heritage. The 22 participants are currently on the Pate Island of the Lamu archipelago developing a management plan which the Ministry of National Heritage through the National Museums of Kenya will use for the protection of heritage resources on the Island.


The Africa 2009 programme has been in existence since 1998 and over 2000 heritage professionals from across the continent have benefitted directly from the different types of training programmes and projects. The 3 month training programmes were held in alternate years at the Ecole de Patrimoine Africain in Benin and the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa in Kenya. Kenya has benefitted greatly from the various draft managements plans prepared for different sites in the past (Fort Jesus, Leven House, Mama Ngina Drive, Shimoni, Jumba la Mtwana, Rabai). The National Museums of Kenya has used these plans to fundraise and develop income generating projects for the benefit of the local communities within the sites.

The closing of the Program marks the unveiling of a new phase in capacity building for heritage professionals on the continent. We wish to invite you to amongst the first to be informed about the way forward.

For more information about the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa and the current Africa 2009 Course on Immovable Cultural Heritage, please visit our website, www.heritageinafrica.org