Following its official launch on the 7th of May 2012 by the minister of Arts and Culture, honorable Paul Mashatile, this professional development course has now gained ground with the first group of participants graduating on the 19th of October 2012. A total of 40 participants drawn from diverse heritage management sectors in South Africa are taking part in the course. The diversity of participants and the experiences which each of them brings into the course provides good ground for learning and adds value to the course. The IHRMP certificate course is aimed at helping heritage practitioners, to improve their practice. And to achieve that the course is structured in such a way that participants work on a Change project located within their every day work practice. And by working on the Change project participants are able to instantly use their newly gained knowledge and skills within their real work practices. An outcome of the Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) and South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) collaborative Research, Education and Training project, this certificate course, described by the director of African World Heritage Fund as “a first of its kind in southern Africa, is bound to reach greater heights.
In the picture course participants are busy within their contact session recently held at ELRC in June 2012.