“It is important to have capacity building, to have knowledge sharing, to have networks to increase solidarity in what is very challenging work.”

Justin Garrett Moore, Director, Mellon Foundation’s Heritage in Place Program 

Last month, we held our first Online Networking Convenng of the 2024 Africa Grants Programme. The meeting, which was attended by representatives from 49 organisations, was a fantastic opportunity for grant recipients to share the successes of their projects with other grantees. It was also a chance to celebrate the projects and thank everyone involved including representatives from the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place Program and the Re-granting Committee members. 

Richard Brown opened the meeting by outlining the positive impact of the Africa Grants Programme which has provided over $1,000,000 to 75 organisations in 32 countries across Africa. HERITAGE Director, Evangelos Kyriakidis, then emphasised the importance of the meeting itself as an opportunity for grantees to learn from other heritage professionals across the continent to build a stronger heritage sector saying “it is the only continent where there is such enormous diversity and wealth of heritage alive”. 

This diversity was emphasised in the following presentations where 12 organisations outlined what each grant had been used to fund. These projects included tangible and intangible heritage, natural and built, covered a range of cultures, varying religions and spanned eight different countries including Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa.* You can read more about the specific projects on our Africa Grants page, but it was a great opportunity to hear directly from the teams who have worked so diligently to champion their heritage. We look forward to hearing from more organisations in the following meetings!

*The 12 projects presented at the first meeting included: 

Mahmoud Malik Saako | Ghana: ‘Islamic Heritage in northern Ghana’

Vitalice Ochieng | Kenya: ‘Cultural Heritage Promotion and Conservation of the Kaya Forests, Kenya’

Chifundo Dalireni | Malawi: ‘Protecting Chongoni heritage sites through community participation and effective governance’

Getinet Fetene Engida | Ethiopia: ‘Protecting Heritages in monasteries of UNESCO Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve’

William Mutta Tsaka | Kenya: ‘Restoration Work and Museum Establishment at Masee House in Kenya’

Moses Mkumpha | Malawi: ‘Restoration of Anti-Slave trade buildings and opening of Museums’

Daniel Ishaya Mwada | Nigeria: ‘Rehabilitation of Rabih’s Fort, Dikwa National Monument’

Kamya Stephen Kyobe | Uganda: ‘Uganda bark cloth revitalization Consortium; promoting communal Conservation / protection’

Eunitah Viriri | Zimbabwe: ‘Towards the Preservation and Promotion of Matendere Ruins in Zimbabwe’

Didas Mzirai | Kenya: ‘Bustani Resort – The Taveta Cultural and Agro-Ecotourism Center’

Njung Gislane Bih | Nigeria: ‘Solarization of National Museum Onikan (Lagos)’ (presentation  delivered by her partner Tolulope Falola)

Tracey Viljoen | South Africa: ‘The Fisher Child and other stories. Sites of memory project’