Celebration of the African World Heritage Day - ICOMOS EPWG & ICCROM webinar
In celebration of African World Heritage Day, celebrated each year since its establishment at the 38th UNESCO General Assembly in 2015, the ICOMOS Emerging Professionals Working Group for the Africa region (ICOMOS EPWG Africa) partnered with ICCROM through its Youth.Heritage.Africa (YHA) programme to organise a webinar on 5 May.
Entitled "Heritage and youth: climate action, entrepreneurship and digital technologies", this webinar gave voice to 4 young African professionals behind inspiring initiatives to promote African cultural heritage.
Moderated by Djimmy Djiffa EDAH (ICCROM) and Affoh GUENNEGUEZ (ICOMOS EPWG Africa), the webinar opened with remarks from Espéra DONOUVOSSI, Head of ICCROM's Youth.Heritage.Africa programme, and Alyssa K. Barry, Coordinator of ICOMOS EPWG Africa, who spoke about the 2 institutions' shared objectives towards the involvement of African youth in heritage preservation. The floor was then given to the panelists who presented their respective initiatives:
- Scovia AMPUMUZA (Rwanda) presented the project " Engaging local stakeholders in climate-smart conservation of Nyungwe National Park " dedicated to the promotion of climate change resilience by youth and women in this World Heritage site;
- Ibrahim TCHAN (Benin) presented the Tata Somba Ecomuseum, a community museum dedicated to preserving the traditional architecture and ancestral know-how of the Batammariba people;
- Doria TOUNSI (Algeria) presented Shédio design, a creative agency which uses immersive and interactive technologies to promote the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage;
- Efosa ONAGHINOR (Nigeria) presented Afro-Art Studios, a project that aims to preserve and enhance African culture through the digitization of objects.
The presentations were followed by lively discussions, demonstrating once again the active role played by African youth in the preservation, promotion and enhancement of their heritage.