UNESCO convenes Virtual Brainstorming to strengthen World Heritage higher education in Africa

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre concluded a two-day Virtual Brainstorming on Strengthening World Heritage Higher Education in Africa, held on 23–24 February 2026, with the generous support of the Korean Heritage Service of the Republic of Korea and under the Korea Funds-in-Trust initiative to institutionalise capacity development for World Heritage in Africa.

The meeting gathered over 100 experts from 28 African countries, alongside partner universities from 13 countries outside Africa. The workshop’s context is rooted in UNESCO’s Priority Africa and the Strategy for World Heritage in Africa, which call for empowering African institutions, fostering South-South and North-South partnerships, and making heritage an enabler of sustainable development.

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The brainstorming was framed by the follow-up to the 2018 regional workshops in Great Zimbabwe and Senegal, and reflected upon current World Heritage discourse, including the Nairobi Outcome Document on Heritage and Authenticity. Across thematic sessions and roundtables, participants explored how university-anchored programmes can move beyond short-term capacity-building workshops toward training and long-term capability-building to advance the empowerment of African institutions in higher education.

Discussions addressed curriculum frameworks for the World Heritage Convention; linking cultural and natural heritage approaches; harmonizing heritage with the built environment; digital technology and innovation for documentation and learning; and integrating tangible and intangible dimensions into education and capacity development. They also highlighted mentoring, job-creation/employability and more inclusive, Africa-informed approaches to teaching and practice.

“UNESCO will produce a shared roadmap that translates today’s exchanges into concrete curriculum content, pedagogical approaches and partnership arrangements.”

Lazare Eloundou Assomo, Director, UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

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“The outcomes of this workshop should be translated into concrete actions, including curriculum reform and new academic programs at African pilot universities.”

Yoonjung Lee, Director of the World Heritage Division of the Korean Heritage Service

Building on the exchanges, UNESCO will now work with African and partner universities, UNESCO Chairs, CHDA and EPA, the African World Heritage Fund and Advisory Bodies to support the five pilot universities in Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania,  to strengthen World Heritage courses and to establish campus-based heritage resource centres, while advancing a pan-African network for sustained peer learning and cooperation.

For further information, please contact:
Rouran Zhang, Programme Coordinator, UNESCO World Heritage Centre ([email protected])