Text of speech of Mr Joseph King, Manager Sites Unit, ICCROM, on the occasion of the closing ceremony of the 11th Africa 2009 Directors’ Seminar
Fort Jesus, Mombasa
2 October 2009
Representative of the Minister of National Heritage of Kenya
Director of the National Museums of Kenya
Ambassadors representing their countries to the Republic of Kenya
Representative of the Swedish National Heritage Board
Representative of the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage
Representative of the Director General of ICCROM
President of CRATerre-ENSAG
Directors of EPA and CHDA
Current and former members of the AFRICA 2009 Steering Committee
Directors of Immovable Cultural Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa
Representatives of the Local Community of Mombasa
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ladies and Gentleman,

It gives me great pleasure to stand before you tonight, 11 years after the first time we came together here in this beautiful fort in 1999 for the launch of the first AFRICA 2009 regional course on conservation and management of immovable cultural heritage.  Since that first activity, we have had 11 of these regional courses, 6 of them here in Mombasa and 5 in Porto Novo Benin.  
 
The programme has been a success above and beyond the expectations that ICCROM had at its start in 1998.  During that time, AFRICA 2009 have trained over 300 professionals from sub-Saharan Africa either in the regional courses that I have already mentioned or in their sister technical courses which have taken place in many different countries in region.  We have also carried out a large number of regional and national seminars, published 5 books to serve as resources for institutions in the region, and carried out more than 30 site projects with activities ranging from preparing nominations for the World Heritage List, to preparing management plans and carrying out maintenance and conservation for heritage sites in the region.  

All of these activities have been carried out with strong partnerships among the operational partners, ICCROM, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, CRATerre-ENSAG, the Ecol du Patrimoine Africain (EPA) and the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA).  But, even more important has been the partnership of the national heritage institutions who are represented here, this evening by their directors of cultural heritage.  These national heritage institutions have hosted numerous events, provided resource persons and participants, contributed financial or in-kind resources, and participated in the important Directors Seminars and Steering Committees which helped guide the programme implementation and evaluation.  It is this participatory spirit that has characterized AFRICA 2009 throughout the life of the programme, and something that, I think, makes it relatively rare for international projects of its kind.  The spirit that has been developed can also be seen in the strong network amongst the professionals in the region.  This is one of the successes of the programme which it is hoped, will last for a long time to come.   

Many people have been involved in the implementation of this programme.  The success that we have achieved would not have been possible without the hard work of very many people and institutions both in sub-Saharan Africa and from other parts of the world.  There are too many to name here, but if you will bear with me, there are a number of people that ICCROM does want to acknowledge for their important role in the programme.

Most people know about the programme from the time that it was launched in 1998 in Abidjan, but there was much work done in the 2 years before that meeting.  A needs assessment was carried out and a first draft programme was developed including a proposed management structure before the meeting in Abidjan.  People involved in that process included Thierry Joffrey and Galia Saouma Forero who are here with us tonight, and others such as Hugo Hoban from CRATerre, and Gael de Guichen, Jukka Jokilehto, and Marc Laenen, the Director General of ICCROM at the time.  All of these people played a part in this pre-programme phase, and without this early planning, the programme would never have been able to achieve the success it did.

Once the programme was launched, the first years were crucial to its development.  I would like to acknowledge my three key partners in this phase, Thierry Joffroy of CRATerre, Galia Saouma Forero of UNESCO, and George Abungu who was the founding Chairperson of the Steering Committee.  These people worked very hard to ensure of the excellence of the content of the programme, and worked with potential financial partners, made sure that programme had the necessary resources to be a success.  

This group was followed by a “second generation” of staff came in to continue work on the programme and make its stronger and more sustainable.  Amongst those people are Lazare Eloundou first of CRATerre and of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Webber Ndoro who worked with me at ICCROM and is now the Director of the African World Heritage Fund, Baba Keita of ICCROM, and Bako Rakotomamonjy at CRATerre.  

The financial and advisory partners were also crucial to the success of the programme.  As many of you know, the financial partners included Sida through the Swedish National Heritage Board, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Finland, and Italy, along with the UNESCO World Heritage Fund and ICCROM.  These partners gave us the necessary resources to carry out the programme, and more importantly did not impose undo administrative difficulties on us.  In short, they allowed us to concentrate of delivering a good programme and quality activities rather than having to “jump through hoops”.  We couldn’t ask for better financial partners, and on behalf of ICCROM and all of the operational partners of AFRICA 2009, we thank think you very much.  Thanks are also due to the partners working in an advisory Role, the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the Swedish National Heritage Board.  There advice was invaluable and helped us on many aspects of the programme over the last 12 years.

I’ve already mentioned the role of the national heritage institutions and their directors, but the strength of AFRICA 2009 can also be found in the role that local communities have played in the project.  One of the guiding principles of the programme has been to ensure that all of our activities had a positive benefit for local communities.  Here tonight, we have the local community of Mombasa.  The local community of Mombasa has been an important partner in the implementation of Africa 2009.  You have welcomed us into your community, participated fully in stakeholder meetings, and showed us the real hospitality of Mombasa.  But we hope that we have also been able to bring you some benefit through our presence in the Old Town, through the strengthening of contacts with the NMK, in working with you on your heritage sites such as the Old Town, Fort Jesus, Mama Ngina Drive, Jumba la Mtwana, and Mtwapa to name a few.  There has also been a strong partnership on the Leven House project.  The work on Leven House was something that we began planning long before the AFRICA 2009 programme existed.  Dating back to the late 1980s, when the National Museums developed the first conservation plan for the Old Town, the idea has been in place to restore Leven House.  I’m very happy to say that through the AFRICA 2009 programme almost 15 years later, this project was finally realized.  Most importantly, it was done in partnership with the local community and for the benefit of the local community.  To the Mombasa community, I would like to say, Asante Sana.  

Tonight as we have the official closing the course, we can all be proud of the work that we have accomplished together.  Africa is often thought of as a continent which is in need of aid from the outside.  But through AFRICA 2009, it is Africa that is leading the way; developing a programme that is a model for the rest of the world.

So, where do we go from here, the AFRICA 2009 programme is now coming to an end after 12 years.  The programme leaves behind a strong network of professionals from around the region who, it is hoped, will continue to work together in the same spirit.  The two regional training institutions, CHDA and EPA have also been strengthened and are ready to play the primary role in a new programme aimed at enhancing implementation of the World Heritage Convention and promoting sustainable conservation and development in the region.  The details of this programme have been the subject of this week’s final directors seminar, and significant progress has been made.  But these two institutions will still need the support of everyone who is a friend of African Heritage; be they individuals, NGOs, national heritage institutions, or intergovernmental organizations such as ICCROM and UNESCO.  All of us have a role to play, and together, we can continue to make progress toward the conservation the cultural heritage of Africa.  

Thank you very much.