Open Call for participation in Workshop on World Heritage and Educational Institutions in Africa. Deadline: 14 September 2018

In collaboration with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), the World Heritage Centre is organizing a francophone workshop in Saint-Louis (Senegal) from 6 to 8 November 2018. This event will mark an important milestone in the involvement of African institutions of higher learning in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

The three-day francophone workshop will feature information exchanges on existing curricula related to heritage conservation and management as well as a working session on different aspects of cultural and natural World Heritage.

This highly interactive event will bring together key African academics, site managers and African World Heritage experts. The recommendations of this workshop will culminate in an action plan for future activities and the creation of a regional network of institutions of higher learning.

The workshop welcomes a range of theoretical and practical working papers based upon experiences in education and research on World Heritage in Africa. In this way, the participants will present the current state of the curricula as well as the results of innovative educational practice and research.

The workshop is structured around a three principal themes, which will be illustrated by concrete examples from various institutions throughout the continent:

• Nomination and state of conservation of World Heritage properties. The threats to Africa’s natural sites and cultural sites will be examined as well as past, present and future contributions from institutions of higher learning, through educational practices and research studies.
• Alignment of university curricula with the interdisciplinary needs of heritage sites, particularly World Heritage properties. A pressing contemporary issue for heritage capacity-building in Africa is the need to link theory and practice with a view to increasing employment opportunities.
• The contribution of universities in the sustainable development of heritage resources. Under this theme, related topics on innovation, inspiring curricula on traditional knowledge systems, the promotion of quality tourism as well as opportunities to create synergies between educational institutions both within and beyond the region, will be examined.

The workshop will be hosted by the Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis (Senegal) and is the second part of the project entitled “Integration of World Heritage Curriculum in African Educational Institutions”, implemented by the World Heritage Centre and financed by UNESCO/Netherlands Funds-in-Trust. A first English-speaking workshop took place in April 2018 at the University of Great Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe).

Interested academics, site managers and African World Heritage experts are invited to submit their CV (two pages max) along with an outline (300 words max) of their proposed working paper corresponding to one of the themes of the workshop. Additionnaly, academics are also invited to describe their institution’s existing curricula and/or research related to heritage. Please send all documents to WH-Africa@unesco.org by 14 September 2018.

Open Call Universities