On 25 August 2025, the College of African Wildlife Management (MWEKA) in Tanzania and UNESCO officially launched a collaboration initiative that aims to support capacity development to strengthen conservation of Africa’s natural heritage. This new partnership is designed to help train the next generations of African heritage professionals through university-anchored programmes. Building on this legacy, UNESCO and MWEKA will add World Heritage-specific content and services that bridge cultural and natural heritage, integrate community engagement, and reinforce tools for nomination, conservation, management and monitoring. On this occasion, all participants voiced their shared commitment to strengthen MWEKA’s teaching and training capacities through the new collaboration. Building on today’s launch, UNESCO and MWEKA will now co-lead a structured, year-long scoping phase.