As part of the celebration of Yaounde as 2022’s Culture Capital in the Islamic World for the African region, the Culture and Communication Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), launched a capacity-building training session for the benefit of sixteen (16) cultural heritage, in partnership with the Ministry of Arts and Culture of the Republic of Cameroon and the Cameroon National Commission for UNESCO.

The opening ceremony of the training session, which kicked off on Monday, October 24, 2022, at the headquarters of the Cameroon National Commission in Yaounde, began with a presentation on ICESCO’s activities in the field of the preservation, safeguarding and protection of tangible and intangible heritage, through the inscription of heritage sites and cultural elements on the ICESCO Islamic World Heritage List, and a review of the Organization’s strategic orientations in the African continent.

Dr. Mahamat Abba Ousman, Expert at ICESCO’s Culture and Communication Sector, and two local experts, are moderating the three-day session which brings together specialists and officials in the field of cultural heritage from several regions in Cameroon, and experts from the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
The session is geared towards strengthening the capacities of sixteen (16) heritage specialists in Cameroon, by developing their competencies in preparing eight files for the inscription of four heritage sites and four elements of intangible heritage, in accordance with the requirements for inscription on the ICESCO Islamic World Heritage List, establishing monitoring and follow-up mechanisms by the Cameroonian Ministry’s officials and ICESCO experts, and submitting the files to the 11th session of the Islamic World Heritage Committee to be held in 2023.