The Review and the Update of the Management Plan Framework for Kondoa Rock Art World Heritage Site in Tanzania

Objectives

As a tool that documents the overall management system, a management plan constitutes an opportunity to describe and assess a given management system, and demonstrates how the State Party is going to maintain the Outstanding Universal Value of a property.

Kondoa Rock Art Site has been inscribed on the World Heritage List since July 2006. Its management plan was prepared during the nomination process for a ten-year implementation. But since its expiry date in 2016, the management plan has never been reviewed.

The objectives of the project were:

• To provide training to the two site managers and other heritage officers and technical staff in assessing, reviewing and developing a management plan framework for Kondoa Rock Art Site;
• To assess and review the old management plan and develop a new updated management plan for the Kondoa Rock Art Site.

Results

A total of 30 participants from all seven World Heritage sites in Tanzania attended a five-day training held in Kondoa and led by an international expert from Malawi, Dr. Oris Malijani. During the training, participants were able to understand the different charters for conservation as well as the concept of Outstanding Universal Value and its importance.

Moreover, a new management plan for the period 2021-2031 was produced and published following an inclusive consultation process. Two meetings took place upfront, to allow 50 stakeholders to provide their views on the issues of management and conservation of the property for incorporation into the coming management plan. The stakeholders were the local community, local government authorities, village government, schools, shaman (local medicine man), tour operators, local enterprises (Kondoa Cultural Tourism programs), Central Government (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism), District Governments, youth group, police and political parties. Their involvement in the preparation of the management plan was of paramount important for its future implementation.