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For two decades, UNESCO has been giving priority to two aspects in its global work: promoting gender equality and strengthening the African continent. Against the backdrop of these priorities and the reorientation of the German government towards the African continent since 2008 ("Action Africa"), the German Commission for UNESCO has established reliable and long-term cooperation with African partners, in particular the African UNESCO National Commissions.
The cooperation between the German Commission for UNESCO and selected African National Commissions is based on a roadmap that was jointly developed in 2008 and has since been adapted and revised several times. The aim of this cooperation is to strengthen the structures and capacities of the individual National Commissions and to improve collaboration between them. This is intended to help African National Commissions build reliable working relationships and trust among themselves, thereby contributing to the strengthening of peace in the region. The focus lies on Eastern and Southern Africa.
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In addition, the German Commission for UNESCO supports African National Commissions through cooperation in specific programmes. This includes, in particular, the promotion of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Southern Africa. The German Commission for UNESCO has been implementing this programme since 2017 with the support of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). From 2010 to 2024, the German Commission for UNESCO also worked to reduce youth unemployment by strengthening the entrepreneurial spirit of students (Student Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion - STEP). During the COVID-19 pandemic, it implemented an emergency aid programme for UNESCO sites in Africa in 2020 and 2021 to deal with the dramatic consequences of the pandemic (#SOSAfricanHertitage).
