Khami National Monument is the country’s second most important historical site, after Great Zimbabwe. This stone city succeeded Great Zimbabwe as capital of the Shona civilisation in the 16th century. The site is formed by an arrangement of substantial platforms built with dry stone walls, on top of which “dagas” (clay buildings) were erected. Registered as a National Monument in 1937 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, Khami has nevertheless received much less care and attention than Great Zimbabwe. National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) thus elaborated a management plan for the site, which was approved by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

The idea of a volunteer project at Khami came out of a visit made by the French embassy and NMMZ to a volunteer conservation project on the island of Reunion in the framework of a museum and heritage cooperation programme between France and Zimbabwe. Afterwards NMMZ, the French Embassy and the regional UNESCO office asked CHAM to make a study trip and then initiate a volunteer project at Khami.

AIMS
- to contribute to the restoration of a World Heritage site in a poor state of preservation requiring urgent action.
- to transmit the French concept of and know-how in volunteer projects to be applied in the context of Zimbabwean and southern African heritage.
- to develop French-Zimbabwean and southern African regional heritage exchanges.


Aims for improvements and evolution:
- to transform the Khami volunteer projects into a veritable regional and international training programme
- to develop similar actions in other African countries
- to host more Zimbabweans on heritage conservation projects in France.