Across Southern Africa, UNESCO’s work on World Heritage is deeply rooted in the people who live in and around these properties and those who dedicate their efforts to protect them. Communities and practitioners play a vital role in protecting and interpreting World Heritage as well as transmitting knowledge, skill and values associated with it. UNESCO works closely with governments, communities, experts and partners to safeguard and protect cultural and natural World Heritage sites, ensuring that heritage contributes to local sustainable development. Across the region, protection has been strengthened through conservation programmes, capacity‑building for site managers and inclusive heritage governance, while expanding opportunities for education, tourism and sustainable livelihoods.
Key achievements include improvements on site management as well as community, youth and women’s engagement in heritage-related livelihoods. They also include enhanced capacities of Member States in preparing successful World Heritage nominations and reinforcing community-based conservation approaches that ensure heritage remains protected and meaningful for future generations. In complex contexts marked by climate pressures, resource constraints and changing community needs, UNESCO’s technical expertise has been critical. A combination of conservation strategies, World Heritage interpretation for sustainable and respectful tourism development and youth engagement has evolved the protection and safeguarding sites from monument‑centred protection to community‑anchored stewardship. UNESCO’s interventions across the Southern African region show that when communities are recognized as knowledge holders and co‑creators, safeguarding becomes more resilient and meaningful.
Recent World Heritage inscriptions in Southern Africa reaffirm the region’s outstanding contributions to humanity’s shared history and cultural resilience. In 2024, South Africa celebrated the inscription of the Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites, recognizing places that shaped struggles for freedom and social justice, highlighting Africa’s contribution to global human rights narratives. The same year, the Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa underscored Southern Africa’s central role in understanding humanity’s origins through outstanding archaeological evidence. The inscription places the region at the forefront of scientific research into the emergence of modern human behavior, strengthening Africa’s visibility in global scientific discourse. In 2025, Malawi marked a historic moment with the inscription of the Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape. The site reflects a deep interconnection between spiritual practices, biodiversity conservation and centuries‑old community custodianship. Its recognition supports ecosystem protection while validating traditional knowledge systems and cultural identity at national and regional levels.
World Heritage in Southern Africa is lived, valued protected and interpreted by communities. The communities, ranging from site custodians, local residents, artisans and young creatives, play a central role in safeguarding heritage while redefining how it is understood and shared across generations. At the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site, UNESCO, with support from AFD, has worked closely with local communities, young creatives and heritage practitioners to challenge narrow interpretations that focus only on architecture while silencing local voices, to reclaim narratives, restore traditional walling techniques, and connect heritage skills with economic opportunities.
The Creative Entrepreneurship workshops organized by UNESCO have been transformative. They have helped me see the connections between safeguarding our cultural heritage and our local resources. I have come to understand the importance of our cultural heritage including sites such as the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments World Heritage site. I have now a broader appreciation of how our history and identity, natural resources intertwine with our culture, and the role we, as artists, and young people play in safeguarding and celebrating that.
Young creativeGreat Zimbabwe World heritage site
These efforts demonstrate how heritage can support livelihoods, cultural pride and intergenerational knowledge transfer. As one young creative involved in UNESCO‑supported initiatives explains, the way heritage stories are told matters because they shape who feels seen and represented at these sites. Another young participant describes Great Zimbabwe not as a silent monument, but as a “living” place whose stories must be retold from local perspectives so that more people, especially Africans, can recognize themselves in its history. These reflections have directly informed UNESCO‑led work with national institutions and partners to rethink interpretation and storytelling at the site. Beyond built heritage, cultural expression continues to thrive. Young performers and cultural practitioners, including artists like Mhofukadzi, demonstrate how heritage‑inspired creativity strengthens resilience, identity and intergenerational continuity when supported through safe cultural spaces and professional opportunities.
States Parties in the region have also received support in preparing nominations, strengthening site management frameworks and aligning heritage governance with local development priorities. UNESCO is also supporting regional collaboration and coordination to protect shared heritage. This support has been improving national expertise in heritage conservation, documentation and reporting, while gradually embedding community participation into World Heritage processes in Southern Africa. By strengthening national and local capacities and encouraging more inclusive heritage narratives, these initiatives have contributed to making World Heritage more meaningful for communities and more responsive to contemporary African realities.
In the context of the Africa-Europe Partnerships initiative, the Khomani San community plays a central role in safeguarding ǂKhomani Cultural Landscape through Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and cultural practices that sustain its heritage. Implemented by UNESCO and funded by the European Union across Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the initiative promotes culture and heritage‑based sustainable tourism. At the ǂKhomani Cultural Landscape in South Africa, baseline studies, participatory planning and community‑led heritage tourism have strengthened local stewardship and coordination, while also revealing persistent challenges, including limited economic opportunities, fragile intangible heritage and capacity gaps.
With support from UNESCO in the framework of the Africa Europe partnerships for Culture project we will address inclusive governance and management issues and enhance sustainable tourism offers for the benefit of communities living in proximity to the property.
Site managerTsodilo Hills (Botswana)
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