Building Capacity for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in the Pacific
(c)CRIHAP
Over the years, the Member States in the Pacific have actively engaged in the safeguarding of traditional expressions, practices, knowledge and skills or Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). ICH provide us a sense of belongings and continuity. It also contribute to socio-economic and sustainable development and community well-being. As of today, eleven Pacific member states are parties to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
CRIHAP - the International Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region, a Category 2 Centre of the UNESCO, organized a training workshop on ratification and implementation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Convention from 9 - 13 May 2017 in Auckland in cooperation with the New Zealand National Commission (UNESCO).
The workshop brought together delegates from States Parties and States-Non-Parties to the Convention in the Pacific region. The delegates presented a progress report in its respective country. This allowed the delegates to share information on good practices in the effective ICH safeguarding measures and address issues specific to the Pacific such as cultural sensitivity and community participation with "Free, Prior and Informed Consent" for inventorying sacred and secret knowledge and practices present in the region.
The delegates attended the sessions conducted by the UNESCO accredited facilitators. They learned the principles and guidelines in the Convention especially its spirit of cooperation and mutual respect and human rights-based approach. The explanation on the benefits and implications by joining the Convention was particularly found useful for the countries that consider joining the Convention in the near future. Under the guidance of the facilitators, the delegates discussed a broad range of ICH safeguarding measures contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals based on the understanding of ICH as a mainspring of cultural diversity that is a cornerstone for sustainable development.
In light of the wealth of ICH that are being practices as living heritage in the region, the delegates agreed to the priority of developing national infrastructure - both "soft" dimension such as strategy, policy and capacity and "hard" dimension such as institutional development and the use of digital technology - necessary for ICH safeguarding rather than developing nominations for the Lists and Register established by the ICH Convention. In this regard, the delegates requested CRIHAP for continued partnership in the area of capacity building both at national and regional levels.
They also visited the Māori Hato Petera College / School and the Auckland Museum for interviewing ICH practitioners as a way towards community-based ICH inventorying. The participants had the opportunity to see the Museum's Pacific Collection and the Māori Cultural performance as well.
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