African World Heritage Fund
The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) strives towards the effective conservation and protection of Africa’s natural and cultural heritage. AWHF is for African Union (AU) member states that signed the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention in support of these goals. The AWHF is the first regional funding initiative within the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
The AWHF was launched in May 2006 under South African Trust Law in order to provide finance and technical support for the effective conservation and protection of Africa’s natural and cultural heritage of outstanding universal value. The fund was established as a result of work undertaken by African member states of UNESCO with the objective of developing an ongoing strategy to deal with the challenges that most African countries have in implementing the World Heritage Convention.
Mission Statement
AWHF pursues the identification and preparation of African sites towards inscription on the World Heritage List; the conservation and management of sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List; the rehabilitation of sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and the training of heritage experts and site managers. Through effective and sustainable management, Africa’s world heritage sites will be catalysts in transforming Africa’s image and act as a vehicle to stimulate economic growth and infrastructure development.