Interview
Souayibou Varissou
World Heritage Convention
Souayibou Varissou is a heritage specialist from the Republic of Benin. He holds a master's degree in cultural resource management from Senghor University in Alexandria.
Mr. Varissou worked as an archaeologist from 1992 to 2003 on field research linked to the period of the transatlantic slave trade in his country, before teaching at the National University of Benin and at the École du patrimoine africain (EPA) from 1998 to 2005. During the same period, he also directed the Jardin des Plantes et de la Nature de Porto-Novo, Benin for which he initiated and managed the rehabilitation program. He joined the African World Heritage Fund in 2009, and became its director between 2018 and 2023. In 2023, he became Director General of the National Tourism Heritage Agency in Benin.
Mr. Varissou has been involved in World Heritage for over twenty years. Since 1999, he has participated in a series of capacity building programs in Africa such as Africa 2009, as well as training on nomination preparation, site management, risk preparedness and sustainable development. He also took part in various World Heritage expert meetings, nomination evaluations (Grand Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire) and reactive monitoring (Djenné, Mali). Mr. Varissou is the author of dozens of publications including “The sacred groves in the Bight of Benin, a misunderstood heritage?” in Ndoro, Chirikure and Deacon (ed.), Managing Heritage in Africa: who cares? (New York: Routledge, 2017).
Interview with
Souayibou Varissou
December 2022
The following audio extracts are taken from a virtual interview conducted with Souayibou Varissou by Christina Cameron and Mechtild Rössler in December 2022. Mr. Varissou shares his extensive experience in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the African context. He discusses in particular the mission and effectiveness of Category 2 Centres, with a focus on the activities of the African World Heritage Fund, and calls for an intensification of their role.
- 1. The World Heritage Convention
- 1a. Involvement of Souayibou Varissou in World Heritage
- 1b. Key objectives of the World Heritage Convention
- 1c. Cairns reforms, Global Strategy and representativity of the List
- 1d. Policies and decisions that influenced the implementation of the Convention
- 1e. Successes and failures of the Convention
- 2. The World Heritage Committee
- 3. Category 2 Centres
- 3.a Effectiveness of Category 2 Centres
- 3.b African World Heritage Fund (AWHF)
- 4. The commitment of States Parties
- 5. Intentional destruction of World Heritage
- 6. The role of civil society
Oral Archives of the
World Heritage Convention
Under the leadership of the Canada Research Chair on Built Heritage at the University of Montreal, an international team of researchers conducts interviews with pioneers of World Heritage to capture memories of important moments in the history of UNESCO Convention.
Launched in 2006, this initiative is part of the UNESCO History project that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the creation of UNESCO. The Oral Archives project records the precious witness of people closely associated with the creation and implementation of the Convention. Their recollections and views have greatly enriched the book by Christina Cameron and Mechtild Rössler, Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention (Ashgate/Routledge, 2013).
