Since 2000, year of the inscription of the Island of Saint-Louis
on the World Heritage List, conservation activities have been
carried out with the support of France under the France-UNESCO
Convention for Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This support comprises the provision of French expertise to the
World Heritage Centre, as well as decentralised cooperation
between the town of Saint-Louis (Senegal) and the urban
community of metropolitan Lille (France), in order to strengthen
conservation and presentation efforts for the site. At the time
of its inscription, the property had no appropriate management
mechanism to deal with the preoccupying state of the built
heritage. In order to respond to this need, several technical
assistance and capacity-building operations were undertaken and
a site manager was trained in the framework of the Africa 2009
Programme. The elaboration of a Conservation and Presentation
Plan for the town, under the authority of the Senegalese
Directorate for Cultural Heritage,