WHO WE ARE
The African Museums and Heritage Restitution (AFRIMUHERE) was established in 2021 in Nairobi Kenya in response to calls by the African heritage community for a continental heritage and museums association. It was launched during a well-attended webinar in November 2021. AFRIMUHERE’s mandate is to safeguard, promote and facilitate restitution of African heritage. In the short to medium term, AFRIMUHERE will focus on its restitution objectives. It will provide coordination, spearhead new programs and enable the continent to speak with one voice on matters of restitution. Restitution is currently globally topical and of great significance to Africa as 90% of its heritage is outside the continent and urgently needs to be restituted back to countries of origin. Current work includes membership recruitment, resource mobilization, development of Friends hubs in countries with significant holdings of looted African heritage, design of the AFRIMUHERE flagship restitution project and other projects, staff recruitment and participation in the AU’s experts working group responsible for drafting and popularizing the common African position on restitution and coordinating a restitution baseline study in 16 African countries. AFRIMUHERE is looking for technical and funding partners to ensure a sustainable organization and the achievement of its objectives.
Our mission
Our mission
To contribute towards the restoration of African dignity and identity through the promotion of the restitution, safeguarding and conservation of all forms of African cultural and natural heritage.
Our vision
To become the premier pan-African organisation exclusively dedicated to issues of heritage restitution and conservation in Africa.
Core values
1. Collaboration:
Placing value on the participation and engagement of all stakeholders on matters of heritage conservation. AFRIMUHERE recognizes the critical roles played by international and regional agencies, national governments, heritage professionals, contemporary artists, and traditional communities as well as diaspora supporters and pledge to uphold a spirit of active collaboration with all to effectively accomplish its mission.
2. Integrity:
AFRIMUHERE pledges to conduct its affairs with intellectual honesty and within ethical, legal, and professional standards and norms.
3. Advocacy:
We will maintain consistent and relentless communication to all stakeholders extolling the value of heritage recovery and conservation, while building a support base of our work at all levels institutional and community.
4. Stewardship:
In realization that restitution and conservation is for Africa’s posterity, AFRIMIHERE will optimise efforts for heritage restitution for the benefit of communities and citizenry.
5. Sustainability:
Considering identification and recovery procedures are painstaking processes AFRIMUHERE will ensure that strategies adopted are sound, non-discriminatory and sustainable by building capacity of individuals and institutions for long-term viability of restitution and conservation efforts.
main objectives
Main Objective: –
To promote, conserve and safeguard African Cultural and Natural Heritage
Areas of work
- Fight against the illicit traffic of African Heritage,
- Restitution of looted heritage back to African countries, museums, other heritage institutions and communities of origin,
- Development of African Heritage, museums and related institutions in Africa for the benefit of African people,
- Development of professions to ensure proper documentation, storage and interpretation of restituted material,
- Strengthening the collaboration and co-operation among Heritage and Museums Institutions and their professionals in Africa, and abroad for the proper conservation and protection of African cultural heritage;
- Promoting the participation of all components of the society in the protection and enhancement of cultural and natural heritage;
Donate
Support our mission here at Afrimuhere.