Sudan’s Heritage Gets Recovery Support as UNESCO Trains National Experts

UNESCO is helping Sudan build the expertise needed for that work through training and practical assessments of conflict-affected sites.

Sudan's museums, archives, libraries and places of worship hold the stories and collective memory of communities living through one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises. Since conflict erupted in 2023, damage to cultural heritage has created an urgent need to understand what remains, identify threats and establish priorities for protection, giving national authorities a clearer foundation for planning rehabilitation.

UNESCO is helping Sudan build the expertise needed for that work through training and practical assessments of conflict-affected sites. In an update published on 24 September 2026, the organization outlined efforts to equip heritage professionals with methods for documenting damage, evaluating risks and gathering evidence that can guide emergency measures and future recovery.

Training Professionals to Assess the Damage

A September training programme brought together 72 participants from 15 cultural heritage institutions, organized by UNESCO in collaboration with Sudan's Ministry of Culture, Information, Antiquities and Tourism and the Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture. Maïssa Acheuk-Youcef from UNESCO's Emergency Operations and Programmes Unit led the training, introducing international assessment methods and practical tools that participants could apply to affected cultural properties.

The workshop marked the first launch of UNESCO's Virtual Reality Damage Assessment Tool, which participants tested using 3-D headsets. Beirut's experience following the 2020 port explosion provided a case study in estimating the costs of recovery interventions, helping participants explore how a similar exercise could support Sudan's planning over the medium to long term.

Junaid Sorosh-Wali, Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to Sudan, emphasized that protecting heritage means preserving the history, identity and shared memory of communities as well as safeguarding physical sites. He highlighted culture's potential contribution to recovery, resilience and social cohesion, placing the technical assessment work within the wider effort to help communities rebuild.

Field Visits Identify Urgent Protection Needs

UNESCO conducted rapid damage and risk assessments at 12 cultural heritage sites affected by the conflict, including the Complex of the Republican Palace, the Natural History Museum, the National Museum of Ethnography, the National Archives of Sudan and the National Library of Sudan. Churches, a mosque and other cultural properties were included, reflecting the range of places and collections requiring attention.

Fifteen national heritage professionals joined the on-site assessments to learn how to apply the UNESCO-ICCROM international methodology for rapid damage and risk assessment. Their practical experience covered systematic documentation, identification of existing risks and decisions about which emergency actions should take priority, generating evidence to help national authorities plan immediate protection and future recovery interventions.

Building Expertise for Long-Term Recovery

Following the classroom training and field experience, UNESCO designated 10 Sudanese experts as national resource persons, establishing a pool of expertise to support further assessments and recovery planning. Strengthening this national capacity gives Sudan a foundation for continuing the work as authorities develop a fuller understanding of damage and protection needs across cultural heritage sites.

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Fath El Rahman Ahmed Idris of the University of Dongola's Department of Archaeology, one of the newly designated experts, described the value of learning assessment steps, distinguishing different types of damage and applying the methodology in practice. He highlighted the importance of identifying initial preventive measures after establishing the extent of damage, as UNESCO committed to continued support for evidence-based recovery planning and the long-term protection of Sudan's cultural heritage.