The aim of the project described in this paper is to improve and strengthen the preservation of tangible African cultural heritage, which is fundamental to the development of cultural identity. Collaboration between Namibia and Finland was established in the form of an academically supervised student internship. Students were chosen from three different conservation disciplines in order to cover the broadest range of objects representing typical Namibian material culture. The students worked at museums throughout Namibia, laying the foundation for active and preventive conservation. Workshops organised by the students were found to be very useful. The subjects studied clearly improved the participants’ knowledge and understanding of material cultural heritage and strengthened their sense of cultural identity.