This 8th issue of our newsletter is the first of the year 2004: another hectic year at EPA - you will realise this when you read our programme of activities. Our ambitions remain high, and the difficulties considerable. But we would be wrong in thinking that the odds are against us, as Mr Alpha Oumar Konaré, President of the African Union Commission, pointed out in his introductory speech at the heritage experts' meeting he organised in Addis Ababa, at the ex-AUO headquarters. This was the first meeting of its kind to be held for many years in this very symbolic place; we will tell you more about it soon. The third edition of the Africities summit that took place in Yaoundé in December hosted, at the request of MDP (Municipal Development Partnership), a special session on "African Cities and Heritage", organised by UNESCO. The objective of this session was to discuss the increasing role of African local authorities in the management of cultural heritage. The visit of Mr de Bonnecorse, Advisor on Africa at the Elysée, underlines the importance of heritage issues in international cooperation.

Whatever the tendencies of our times, at EPA we remain watchful. But our strength is limited: we need your support.
Enjoy!

Our ambition for 2004 is to consolidate our achievements. Very few new activities will be initiated.
Our fundamental mission, training in conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, will mainly be completed through major projects, in partnership with the institutions that support us.

With ICCROM and thanks to the Getty Grant Programme in the framework of the Generation 2 programme, we have already brought together our trainers for a teachers training course which took place in two stages: in Rome at ICCROM's headquarters, and then in our headquarters in Porto-Novo.
With the CNED (National Centre for Distance Training, France), partners of Campus Cultura and the France-UNESCO Cooperation agreement, we will launch for 2004-2005, the distance training programme of our first promotion of professionals in museum enlivenment.

With Inp - Institut national du patrimoine (National Heritage Institute, Paris, France) we will organise in May and in December two seminars of major importance for African senior executives working in the field of heritage and urban planning. The first seminar will be on the Scientific and cultural project of museums and related institutions, the second on issues concerning Territories and heritage.

With CRATerre and ICCROM, we will organise Africa 2009's 6th Regional course and 6th Seminar of directors.

With our various academic and technical partners (University of Paris 1, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, ICCROM) we plan to organise the recruiting of the next promotion of African curators, after amending the course so that it fits the needs of archivists and documentation specialists.

This year again EPA will be involved in many countries. In Benin of course, our host and the laboratory for our projects. However, our new office in Libreville, Gabon, will help to revitalise the central African area.

Paris, Rome and Turin, with our most important partners and supporters, will continue to be key stages in our progress. New York where we now have a 501c3 organisation, FAH - Friends of African Heritage, should become, as from April, an important location for the development of new partnerships.

In 2004 EPA has already been to Asia, in Laos, to learn from the experience of Luang Prabang, World Heritage Site. We will soon give you details of this experience.

See our planning for 2004 on our web site and don't hesitate to contact us and to come back often to our site to follow up the development of our activities.

Mr Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi is currently coordinator of the MDP and Secretary General of the Coordination of World Towns and Local Authorities Associations (Geneva). Urban planner by training, he is one of the founders of the Municipal Development Programme in Africa.

Mr Mbassi, could you please tell us briefly about the Programme you are coordinating?

The Municipal Development Programme (MDP) was created in 1991 on the initiative of the World Bank, followed by some bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements with Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, European Union and UN Habitat, to name a few. The objective was to help governments in their political wish to decentralise and to reinforce the capacities of local collectivities to master the competencies which are left to their care according to decentralisation laws. For more effectiveness in this help, two regional offices were set up: the regional office for East and Southern Africa, based in Harare, Zimbabwe, (MDP-East); and the regional office for West and Central Africa, based in Cotonou, Benin (MDP-West). In 1997, MDP-West changed into an association grouping together national associations of local collectivities of its areas of activity, and in 1999, this association chose to be called the Municipal Development Partnership.

The third edition of Africities (Yaoundé, December 2003) whose theme was "basic services", included sessions specialised in culture. It is a pioneer idea in Africa, to talk of culture as a basic service. What observations brought you to this and are you satisfied with the results?

Culture is an essential part of people's lives. Any socialisation goes through a series of codes, rites, customs, ways of life, which form, as one might say, the software through which we go to encounter the world. If this software is out of order, we are out of order. This software is our culture. It is the base of our life in society and of our capacity to go to encounter others. It is surprising that one payed so little attention to culture in the management of our societies, when in fact, culture is all around us. It is really the most basic of basic services. Taking it into account in local policies seems to me essential.
What I noticed during the Africities summit is that the two sessions devoted to culture and to cultural heritage were among the most attended. It's therefore a sign that there is a need for culture and that local authorities are looking for strategies to promote local cultural policies. Of course the approach is new and the interest that it gave rise to shows its success. That is a motive for satisfaction. Now we must meet this expectancy, suggest methods of intervention, set objectives, find means to act. But we don't start from nothing. Everyone realises that cultural goods can be a lever for development. Think about the FESPACO in Ouagadougou or the FITHEB in Cotonou. But there aren't only cultural goods or cultural heritage. There is also all the things we can extract from our cultures to manage conflicts, to protect the environment, to promote peace between communities (does one realise the importance of the joke relationship that exists in some cultures as a tool to maintain peace?), etc.

MDP's new president, Mr Simon Compaoré, Mayor of Ouagadougou, stressed the necessity to recruit and train senior executives to manage issues relating to culture and heritage management in African towns. What do you think about this?

I think that more and more municipal leaders realise that their towns don't do enough to promote themselves on the cultural level. When I visit a town, I above all like to see what makes its personality, its cultural identity. I would like to discover its history through its museums, see what gives it its personality through its architectural or urban heritage, see how people live and divert themselves through its cooking, its music, its dances, its arts and its customs. All this is little enhanced in African towns whose cultural richness is unknown to even their inhabitants. One must take stock of these riches, promote them, take care of them. This cannot be achieved without professionals. But this will not be done either in one day. We must no doubt give ourselves a line of conduct in this respect. And there also, we need professionals. I think that it is up to professionals in the field of culture to suggest how we can best make this political wish expressed by the mayor of Ouagadougou become a reality.

What does your programme expect of a structure like the Ecole du Patrimoine Africain - EPA, which played an active role at the Yaoundé summit and that you know relatively well by now?

Unesco announced at the Yaoundé summit the launching of the "African Cities and Heritage" initiative. I can see the development of a partnership between MDP and EPA to carry out this initiative. It is necessary to carry out inventories of tangible and intangible heritage in relation with the World Heritage Center. I imagine a proposition towards African local collectivities to launch inventories, to train relevant professionals, to promote museums and cultural venues which enhance the cultural identity of the different collectivities. I also imagine help towards municipalities for the structuring of cultural practitioners and their wider insertion in the management of the town's image. I say 'I imagine', because imagination must have a right to express itself, and emotion and creativity must at last have their place within the management of our local collectivities.

In the framework of the Africities 2003 summit in Yaoundé, Cameroon, UNESCO's World Heritage Centre organised on December 4th 2003 a special session entitled "African Cities and Heritage". The session brought together African and European town representatives, academics, technicians, experts and representatives of international cooperation organisations. The objective was to open a discussion on the importance of heritage in African cities and to demonstrate that the enhancement of cultural heritage can be a driver for development in African towns. The session also provided the occasion to describe the various legal and planning tools that municipal authorities can develop to preserve their heritage.

UNESCO's objective was to encourage the commitment of each and everyone, at the municipal, national and international levels. That is why the World Heritage Centre launched "the Yaoundé initiative for the protection and enhancement of the urban heritage and cultural diversity of African towns". A follow-up committee was created in close collaboration with the Municipal Development Partnership - MDP to ensure the follow-up of the resolutions.

The presence and achievements of EPA were very much appreciated during official and informal debates. This should provide impetus to the city-to-city partnership between Porto-Novo and its partners (Lyon, Cergy-Pontoise) and encourage them to develop new larger-scale heritage enhancement projects.

Mr Michel de Bonnecorse, Advisor on Africa at the Elysée, accompanied by their Excellencies Mr Christian Daziano, Ambassador of France in Benin, and Mr Edgar Yves Monnou, Ambassador of Benin in France, was at EPA on March 12th 2004. He had a meeting with Mr Godonou, Director of EPA, concerning the support of France to EPA since its creation, not only for its reinforcement but for its development (staff (voluntary service), special contributions...), and concerning the EPA Endowment Fund and EPA's future activities.

He then visited the Agboton palace, dwelling of one of the main dignitaries of the ancient Kingdom of Porto-Novo.

Mr de Bonnecorse expressed his satisfaction concerning EPA's activities: "I have the honour of greeting, in Benin, the success of EPA. A very young institution - but already a very large reputation!"

Mr de Bonnecorse held diplomatic posts in Senegal from 1978 to 1982 and in Madagascar from 1982 to 1985. He was Deputy Director-General of UNESCO in 1987, then Ambassador in Kenya from 1990 to 1993, and Ambassador in Morocco from 1995 to 2001.

To date, EUR 800,000 has been collected for the EPA Endowment fund during the first fund raising campaign, a third of our target. For the second campaign currently under way, we hope to be able to announce good news soon! The Fund is vital for EPA's survival. Please continue to help us by contributing.

You can also help EPA by contracting services in our area of competence: training in heritage, heritage rehabilitation and enhancement projects, cultural web sites, exhibitions, studies and surveys, etc.

For more information please contact:
- At ICCROM: Jérôme Nhan or Gaël de Guichen, Adviser for the EPA Endowment fund, epa.fund@iccrom.org
- At EPA: Alain Godonou, Managing Director, epa@epa-prema.net
- At the FAH (Friends of African Heritage, our 501c3 in the USA): Kevin Gray, fah@epa-prema.net