Many countries in southern and eastern Africa share a similar range of rock art and archaeological sites and a similar philosophy regarding their conservation and the intangible heritage related to them. It is therefore possible, at least theoretically, to apply lessons learned in one country to issues that arise in another. Several programs stimulated by the World Heritage Centre, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD), the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA), and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) over the past two decades have begun to build capacity and integrate heritage research practice and conservation at a regional level in southern Africa. This paper discusses the Southern African Rock Art Project (SARAP), which has identified rock art as a shared resource in the region and has played an important role in encouraging participating countries to nominate rock art sites for World Heritage listing and to develop appropriate conservation management plans. To succeed, archaeological conservation programs require close cooperation with local communities, as well as an external stimulus, agreement on appropriate behavior toward the sites or resources, and a governmental infrastructure capable of funding, implementing, and monitoring management plans.