UNESCO launches collaboration with the College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania to safeguard African heritage

On 25 August 2025, the College of African Wildlife Management (MWEKA) in Tanzania and UNESCO officially launched a collaboration initiative that aims to support capacity development to strengthen conservation of Africa’s natural heritage. This new partnership is designed to help train the next generations of African heritage professionals through university-anchored programmes.

Supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea, this initiative is part of UNESCO’s project “Institutionalize and strengthen capacity development to sustain identification and safeguarding of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Africa”, developed under UNESCO’s Operational Strategy for Priority Africa (2022–2029) and its Flagship Programme 3, “Promotion of cultural heritage and capacity development.” It proposes to move beyond one-off workshops to embed curricula, professional training and advisory services in African higher education institutions, linked through a pan-African network.

Designed to advance the implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention in Africa, the project involves close collaboration with pilot universities in Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania to strengthen and expand World Heritage curricula, provide targeted professional training, and establish university-based resource centres that share expertise across regions.

“This project arrives at the right moment to institutionalise and strengthen capacity so that Africa can identify and safeguard its cultural and natural heritage—not as something static, but as a living resource for our societies and economies.”

The autor of the quote, Professor Alex Kisingo, the Deputy Rector, College of African Wildlife Management – Mweka

As a key partner, MWEKA is recognised across Africa for training wildlife and protected-area professionals. Building on this legacy, UNESCO and MWEKA will add World Heritage-specific content and services that bridge cultural and natural heritage, integrate community engagement, and reinforce tools for nomination, conservation, management and monitoring.

The launching event held at MWEKA in Kilimanjaro brought together representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania, the Deputy Rector and faculty of MWEKA, the Tanzania National Commission for UNESCO, the UNESCO mission team from Headquarters and the UNESCO Dar es Salaam Office, alongside members of heritage site managers and the local media. On this occasion, all participants voiced their shared commitment to strengthen MWEKA’s teaching and training capacities through the new collaboration.

In addition to the ceremony, technical discussions were held and a tour of the college was conducted as part of the UNESCO mission, providing valuable insights into MWEKA’s current curricula, facilities, and resources—essential for identifying areas where UNESCO and its partners can provide targeted support.

Building on today’s launch, UNESCO and MWEKA will now co-lead a structured, year-long scoping phase. This will allow to map existing curricula and assets, conduct further consultations and brainstorming with partner universities, the Advisory Bodies and UNESCO Chairs to produce a practical guideline for an Africa-relevant World Heritage curriculum; and establish a light, responsive advisory resource centre at MWEKA to support nomination road-mapping, management planning and monitoring. In parallel, MWEKA will designate a focal point and a small task team, schedule pilot activities with the Tanzanian authorities, and host peer exchanges as a core anchor in the emerging pan-African university network.