Who are we training? And for what purpose?

Posted on August 17, 2009

The ability of the baobab tree to grow, thrive and survive is surely a combination of a number of environmental, social, cultural and unknown factors. The rains, the sun, the nutrition in the soil, the quality of air, the protection of them because of their cultural purpose, the uses of the tree from food to bowl. When one imagines the ecosystem which creates and sustains such life through centuries of change which has been mediated either by humankind and natural phenomena, the value of these lessons can certainly be applied to the nature and notion of 'training' within the heritage sector on the African continent.

Over the last few days, the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa (CHDA) and its French counterpart, EPA, has hosted a group of leaders in the Heritage sector, in Mombasa, from the African World Heritage Fund, World Heritage Centre, ICCROM, Directors of Immovable Heritage on the continent and the two African Training Institutions, CHDA and EPA. Our deliberations have been intense as we plan for a new program to follow the ending of the Africa 2009 Program for the Conservation of Immovable Heritage.

For me, a strong undercurrent for the duration of the meeting and beyond - remains - Who are we training? And for what Purpose? And what of the cycle of Life; birth, growth and attrition has taken place with all of the continent wide interventions from various quarters? And no one intervention could ever claim the success factor or measure of impact without acknowledging the forces which are unknown, unassociated or environmental.

As with the baobab, perhaps we need to be thinking very carefully about the ecosystem in which our training takes place. Just how responsive are we in the planning of our interventions; to changes in the environment, when the soils nutrition thins out, when pollutants poison the air, when demand is greater than supply? And are these training interventions embedded in a larger, broader national and regional context? Who can say without any doubt that each country on the continent knows what it has in terms of people resources to manage the heritage resources of those countries adequately? Who can say that these countries have as a component of their National Capacity Development Strategies a focus on competency development in the field of heritage and that the valuing of these competencies within a national agenda is cognisant of the transferability into improving the lives of its citizens?

Perhaps once we have begun to better understand the ecosystems of our context and the necessary scientific interrelations between survival and strengthening those competencies needed, we would be able to judge that Africa's heritage resources are secure.

Deirdre Prins-Solani
Executive Director, Centre for Heritage Development in Africa
These thoughts expressed are the independent thoughts of the author and does not necessarily reflect that of the Institution