Africa programme

Training and capacity building

Museum staff provided training to staff of the Sudan National Museum across all areas of museum work: conservation, display, design, communications, marketing, security, education, IT. The focus on improving the museum’s capacity to implement its own programmes and changes.

Other British Museum training workshops have recently taken place in Kenya, Senegal, Mozambique and Ghana. And future plans include a training programme in collection management in Nigeria.

A course on Collections Care in Addis Ababa, given in conjunction with the Horniman Museum, was opened by the Director General of the National Museum of Ethiopia, Jara Hailemariam, as part of an ongoing partnership.

In October 2007 workshops took place to train colleagues in managing photographic archives and museum collections. Eight west African countries participated, including Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

The Museum's training programmes in west Africa are sponsored by the Ford Foundation.

On-going fieldwork and research projects

(Individual funding details are given on each research project page)

Amara West, Sudan
A new fieldwork project, in co-operation with the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, magnetometrically surveying the extensive Ramesside settlement.

Berber-Abidiya Archaeological Project
This is a joint project with the Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM).  The project has focused on the late Kushite city of Dangeil (third century BC - fourth century AD). 

Excavation in Egypt at Tell el-Balamun
An archaeological excavation in Egypt seeking to recover the history of a major site in the Egyptian Nile Delta.

Money in Africa project
Working with partner museums in east and west Africa to provide specialist training on the preservation of coins. Improving the research base and scholarly networks for the subject.

Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project
Amri to Kirbekan Survey (AKS)
The project set out to recover as much information on ancient settlement in the region as time allows through the study of all remains up to the immediately pre-modern period as well as documenting some aspects of the life of the present-day inhabitants.

The Nile Delta of Egypt: Kom Firin
Aims to investigate, through excavation and non-destructive survey, the site of Kom Firin.

Memoranda of Understanding

  • National Museums of Kenya
  • West African Museums Programme, Senegal
  • Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Mali
  • Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the National Museum of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
  • Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Mozambique
  • University of Ghana at Legon
  • Ministry of Culture of Ghana (August 2006)
  • Golden Stool (Asantehene) in Kumasi (Ghana)
  • Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
  • National Museums of Zimbabwe (NMZ) in Harare - all activity is postponed

Exhibitions in Africa

Hazina - Traditions, Trade and Transitions in Eastern Africa National Museums of Kenya
March 2006 – March 2007

Exhibitions and events in London and the UK

Atlantic Trade and Identity season
22 February 2007 - 6 April 2008

  • Word from Africa (Saturday 2 June 2007)
  • Inhuman Traffic (24 May 2007 – 6 April 2008)
  • The Caribbean before Columbus: The Taíno Universe
    (3 May – 17 June 2007)
  • Resistance and Rembrance day (Sunday 25 March 2007)
  • La Bouche du Roi (22 March – 13 May 2007)
  • Fabric of a Nation: Textiles and Identity in Modern Ghana
    (22 February – 10 April 2007)

Africa '05 season

  • Throne of Weapons (9 February 2005 – 25 October 2006) touring 31 venues
  • Garden for Africa (constructed 27 April – 30 April 2005)
  • Made in Africa (27 January – 3 April 2005)
  • Views from Africa (14 April –  24 July 2005)
  • Africa Now (21 July – 30 October 2005)
  • The Tree of Life (in the Great Court during Summer 2005)
  • Africa Live (26 June 2005) attended by over 24,000 people

Sudan: Ancient Treasures
(9 September 2004 – 9 January 2005)