The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), founded in 2006 by the African Union and Africa Group at UNESCO supports African States in implementing the 1972 World Heritage Convention, addressing underrepresentation and conservation gaps. The African continent is the ‘cradle of humankind’ and home to impressive biodiversity and wildlife, as well as cultural treasures from ancient and modern times. Our
focus is on sites that are inscribed on or have the potential to be inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. These are sites of Outstanding Universal Value to humanity, and as such as been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, to be protected for the benefit of present and future generations. The sites of Kilimanjaro, Timbuktu, Lake Malawi and the pyramids of Egypt are among the African sites that are among the African sites already inscribed on the List. The effects of climate change, unsustainable development and lack of resources and knowledge threatens the preservation of many heritage sites on the African continent. Our strategy is to deal with these challenges on an immediate and local level. With our mandate from UNESCO and the African Union we team up with international and local organizations to build capacity needed for taking care of our heritage. Our capacity-building programmes focus on the training of local site managers. Contributions to our work support an organization that covers the whole African continent and is ‘owned’ by the people of Africa.
