Benefitting country(ies): Mauritius

Overview:

Implemented by the National Heritage Fund, the main achievement of the project was the elaboration of an ‘Inventory and Documentation of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Republic of Mauritius (A First List).’
The project benefited from extensive support of institutions, groups and individuals in the Republic of Mauritius; primary and secondary approaches to data collection and analysis were used in the process of establishing the inventory. The first component of the project involved bibliographic research to identify elements through publications, whereas the bulk of the research was based on anthropological and ethnographic approaches involving interviews and field work in Mauritius, Agalega, Rodrigues and Diego Garcia over the course of ten months.
Following initial contact with main informants through a research team consisting of seven persons, all of whom were members of different Mauritian communities, the community-based approach of the project was further strengthened to involve direct participation of the communities in the identification and description of their ICH.
The National Heritage Fund will regularly update the inventory in consultation with relevant resource institutions, individuals and the general public. There are future plans to transform the national inventory into a web-based database, where the public will have access to it and be able to provide their feedback and inputs for new additions to the inventory.
The project was implemented according to schedule and closed in December 2011.

31/01/2010 - 31/03/2011 – An inventory of elements of intangible heritage pertaining to the indenture experience in the Republic of Mauritius01/10/2009 - 28/02/2011 – The elaboration of the "Inventories of the Representative list and list in need of urgent safeguarding of Intagible Heritage in Mongolia"