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| African Federation of Museums | |
|---|---|
| Name | African Federation of Museums |
| Formation | 2001 |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Headquarters | Dakar, Senegal |
| Region served | Africa |
| Membership | National museums, regional museums, community museums |
| Leader title | President |
| Leader name | (various) |
| Website | (official) |
African Federation of Museums The African Federation of Museums is a pan‑African network linking national, regional, and community museums across the African Union area to promote cultural heritage, conservation, and professional development. Founded to address postcolonial challenges in heritage stewardship, the federation engages with a broad constellation of UNESCO agencies, continental bodies such as the African Union, and regional cultural institutions like the West African Museums Network and the Southern African Museums Association. Its activities intersect with major cultural events including the Dakar Biennale, the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and the Cairo International Book Fair while collaborating with legacy institutions such as the British Museum and the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
The federation emerged from dialogues held after high‑profile conferences including the World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT) and the UNESCO General Conference where delegates from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, and Egypt highlighted the need for a continental body. Early meetings referenced precedents such as the International Council of Museums and the ICOMOS charters, and drew on national museum reforms in countries like Ghana, Morocco, and Ethiopia. Founding assemblies brought representatives from the National Museum of Tanzania, the Iziko South African Museum, the National Museum of Kenya, the Museum of Black Civilizations (Dakar), and the Egyptian Museum to formalize statutes, echoing governance models from the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the African Union Commission frameworks.
The federation’s mission aligns with initiatives promoted by UNESCO and the African Union to safeguard tangible and intangible heritage such as collections from the Benin Bronzes narratives and oral traditions documented by the Smithsonian Institution projects. Objectives include strengthening capacity at museums like the National Museums of Zimbabwe, supporting restitution dialogues involving institutions like the Musée du Louvre and the V&A Museum, fostering museum education linked to programs at universities such as the University of Cape Town and the University of Ibadan, and promoting access consistent with the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity discussions. It also prioritizes digitization efforts in partnership with technology initiatives associated with the African Development Bank and foundations like the Ford Foundation.
Membership spans state institutions, city museums, private collections, and community heritage centers from countries including Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. The governance model borrows elements from regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern African Development Community, with an executive board elected from national representatives and technical committees drawing experts from the British Council, the Getty Foundation, and university departments at institutions like Makerere University and Ain Shams University. Assemblies rotate through host cities such as Accra, Cape Town, Cairo, and Dakar.
Core programs include conservation training modeled after the ICCROM courses, exhibition exchanges with partners like the National Museum of Natural History (France), mobile museum initiatives inspired by the Museum on the Move concept, and community outreach paralleling projects by the Prince Claus Fund. It organizes annual conferences in collaboration with festivals like the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and curatorial residencies similar to those at the Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Portfolio projects address repatriation consultancies, preventive conservation in climate‑vulnerable sites such as those on the Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa, and digital cataloguing initiatives akin to programmes at the European Union digital heritage portals.
The federation maintains formal ties with UNESCO, the African Development Bank, the International Council of Museums, and the Commonwealth cultural networks, while engaging bilateral partners including the French Ministry of Culture, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. Regional cooperation involves collaboration with entities like the Economic Community of Central African States and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development cultural desks, and project partnerships with NGOs such as Cultural Survival and the World Monuments Fund.
Funding streams combine member dues, project grants from institutions like the Ford Foundation, the European Commission, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and technical assistance from bodies such as the Getty Foundation and ICCROM. Revenue generation strategies include travelling exhibitions in partnership with museums such as the Royal Ontario Museum, capacity‑building workshops sponsored by the British Council, and collaborative digitization grants administered with universities like Stellenbosch University and the University of Nairobi.
Challenges encompass contested restitution debates involving the Benin Bronzes and other collections formerly held by the British Museum and the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, resource disparities between metropolitan and community museums exemplified in cases from Liberia and Sierra Leone, and risks from climate change affecting sites in the Sahel and on the Mozambique coast. Despite obstacles, the federation has facilitated policy dialogues influencing national cultural legislation in countries such as Ghana and Rwanda, improved professional standards through trainings with ICCROM and the Getty Foundation, and expanded access via digitization collaborations with the World Bank and international archives like the British Library.
Category:Museum organizations