Volunteers Across The World Converge In Sukur For The Unesco World Heritage Volunteers Initiative In The Recovery March For Africa’s First Cultural Landscape
AFIDFF .
The African International Documentary Festival foundation, working together with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Commission for UNESCO, the Adamawa State Government and other implementing partners, again successfully implemented the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Initiative 2022 for the second year running in the recovery march for the restoration of Sukur Cultural landscape, Africa’s first Cultural landscape and Nigeria’s first World Heritage site inscribed by UNESCO.
Sukur, located on the Mandara mountains in Madagali LGA, Adamawa State, was selected by UNESCO as Africa’s first Cultural Landscape and Nigeria’s first World Heritage Site in 1999. This year 2022, Sukur was again selected to be among the 59 action camp projects to be implemented from February to December 2022 at 56 World Heritage properties and sites on the tentative list by 44 Organizations in 29 countries around the globe with the theme, Resilience and Re-mobilization towards World Heritage.
The general goal of the 2022 World Heritage Volunteers project which was held from 29th October to 7th November 2022 was to build on the progress of the 2021 WHV Programme which is focused on protecting history, strengthening resilience and re-mobilization to hastening the social, cultural, and educational and economic recovery of the Sakun people of Sukur kingdom in the Mandara mountains in Madagali LGA, Adamawa state, Northeastern Nigeria. This project aimed at raising awareness among young people, volunteers, local communities and concerned authorities on the need to protect and promote the cultural uniqueness and beautiful landscape of the Sukur World Heritage Site and involving young people in hands-on and awareness activities in the World Heritage preservation.
It is also to empower young people allowing them to learn skills in basic preservation and conservation techniques and raise their capacity as future decision-makers and global active citizens and mainstream gender equality in all stages of the projects and geographical diversity among the World Heritage properties where the action camps take place.
The 2021 edition of the WHV Initiative with the theme Fostering youth commitment towards World Heritage recorded huge success in the restoration of the integrity of this cultural Landscape. This year, the programme has recorded even more interventions and development with the engagement of more Stakeholders and more Volunteers who took part in this event. The programme began with a documentary screening event at the Korean Cultural centre Abuja, with the aim of bringing all stakeholders together including representatives of the local community in achieving the ultimate goal of the project and a planned 10-day action camp in Yola and the Sukur Kingdom saw about Seventy-five (75) International, National and Local volunteers participating.
The Director General of, the African International Documentary Festival Foundation (AFIDFF), Malame Ngamariju Mangzha disclosed that Sukur Cultural Landscape has been restored back to the world map during the welcoming ceremony for the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteer Initiative (WHV) 2022, which was flagged off at a dinner hosted by the Adamawa State Governor, Rt. Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri in the Banquet Hall, Government House Yola.
Mangzha said AFIDFF launched the 2-year recovery project in 2020, aimed at restoring the cultural landscape that was devastated by activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast part of Nigeria.
“During the insurgency period, Boko Haram went up to the hilltop and destroyed some monuments preserved for centuries and that is why we took up this initiative to restore some of these things that were lost during the insurgency,” She says.
The Sukur Kingdom in its over 600 years of existence had lacked intervention but the UNESCO WHV Initiative implemented by AFIDFF with support from both National and International partners within the 2-year period has achieved a lot in the restoration and rebuilding process and also in improving the livelihood of the Sakun people by building and renovation of schools in Sukur, provided a well-equipped library and learning resource centre, installation of Solar power for the school, a solar-powered borehole, a cooling kiosk, empowerment program for 120 Sukur indigenes among other key achievements recorded.
This Is SUKUR
