Message from Mr Khaled El-Enany Director-General of UNESCO for African World Heritage Day 5 May 2026

African world heritage constitutes an essential part of human history. Every 5 May, African World Heritage Day (AWHD) encourages us to acknowledge its richness, diversity and universality.

AWHD 2026 marks the start of the fourth phase of the Mentorship Programme for African Heritage Professionals, aimed at training the next generation of African experts in this field. It also includes the launch of the “Voices & Eloquence of African Heritage” initiative, a new forum which invites people to make their voices heard so that they can express what this heritage represents today and what it should continue to stand for in future.

This year’s edition of AWHD also marks the 20th anniversary of the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), the category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO which was founded in 2006 and whose mission is to support the protection of Africa’s cultural and natural heritage. The results speak for themselves: today, the continent has 154 sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Since 2022, more than 1,000 professionals have been trained, numerous institutions have been reinforced, and communities have become more actively involved in the protection and management of their heritage.

This momentum was consolidated in 2025. That year, four African sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List, while three sites, located in Madagascar, Libya and Egypt, were removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The International Conference on Cultural Heritage in Africa took place in Nairobi in May 2025. The representatives of 54 African countries were in attendance, and the Conference constituted an important step in collectively rethinking the way in which we identify, understand and manage African heritage. As well, last August we entered into a new partnership with the College of African Wildlife Management (Mweka), in the United Republic of Tanzania, whose purpose is to boost the preservation of natural heritage.

Nonetheless, these advances should not lead us to ignore persistent imbalances. Africa still accounts for only 12% of all the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, and nine African States still have no properties inscribed on the List. Sixteen African sites remain on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

This is why we must increase support for these States and make heritage one of the continent’s most important priorities. For heritage can constitute a resource for education, for employment, for sustainable tourism, for social cohesion and for adaptation to the effects of climate change. It must therefore be fully integrated into development strategies.

On this day, together, let us reaffirm the conviction that Africa must be fully recognized as a force for knowledge, conservation and transmission. Only then will it be possible for Africa’s heritage to realize its full potential – for the continent and for humanity as a whole.