Lao’s national capacities to safeguard its intangible heritage are increasing, thanks to an eight-day workshop organized from 11 to 18 June 2013 within the UNESCO capacity building strategy for the effective safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. Made possible by a generous contribution from the Republic of Korea, the workshop is part of a project that specifically aims at enhancing the national capacity of Lao PDR, both in government institutions and in civil society to safeguard its intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on a long-term basis. The workshop will be facilitated by UNESCO trained experts Shubha Chaudhuri and Paritta Koanantakool.

The Heritage Department of the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, in coordination with the UNESCO Office in Bangkok, has been very active in the organization of the forthcoming workshop in order to maximize the participation of local community members and practitioners. To accomplish this, some key village officials and practitioners will participate in the workshop that will be held in Thalat, Vientiane Province near the Pakkayong Village where also two days of field documentation and inventorying will be conducted.

Structured around case studies from the region, the meeting aimed to provide a platform for experts and practitioners to discuss how best to strengthen communities’ capacities to control and manage their own Intangible Cultural Heritage in the face of increased tourism. The key themes under which the case studies were organized include:

• Handicrafts in the context of sustainable cultural tourism
• Performing arts in the context of sustainable cultural tourism
• ICH in the context of environmental, agricultural and eco tourism

The meeting has been organized by the Hue Monuments Conservation Center (HMCC), the Department of National Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Viet Nam, the Korean Establishment Initiative for the Intangible Heritage Centre for Asia-Pacific (EIIHCAP) and the Office of the UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific.

• Meeting page on UNESCO Bangkok website
• Final report: English

This project aims at building up a critical mass of national capacity, both in government institutions and in civil society, and to provide general programmatic and managerial support to the Organization’s activities in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Lao PDR and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

To that end, the project has started to implement an integrated capacity-building strategy, including a series of well-prepared workshops and activities, tailored to respond to the identified needs of Lao PDR. Themes covered in training workshops are the implementation of the Convention at the national level and community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage. There is also a workshop designed for preparation of nominations files to the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Representative List, proposals to the Register of Good Practices and International Assistance requests. Likewise, assistance is provided for the field activities to inventory intangible cultural heritage in pilot sites which will be organized by the implementing partner after the training workshop on preparation of files.

Many elements of Cambodia’s rich living heritage are in danger of disappearing mainly due to long-lasting conflicts, the declining number of performers and the clear tendency among the younger generation to cultural influences from outside the country. In this context, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in Cambodia launched, in collaboration with UNESCO, a project for the establishment of a national system of Living Human Treasures.

This project aimed at ensuring and supporting the continuous transmission of traditional knowledge and skills from one generation to another within communities and within education institutions.

A National Working Group, created for this purpose, first developed detailed procedures including the definition of the Living Human Treasures and criteria for their selection. Field research was conducted in various provinces in order to identify masters of prioritised performing arts of Cambodia. A Commission of Experts was created, whose task is to examine the information collected on masters and to provide recommendations to the Minister of Culture and Fine Arts regarding the selection of Living Human Treasures. Once the Living Human Treasures are nominated, an official nomination ceremony takes place, and the Living Human Treasures is involved in transmission activities at the community and national levels, such as holding regular classes for young students in pagodas and organizing workshops at University.

This is a project to establish in Fiji a national Living Human Treasures system so as to provide support to bearers of traditional knowledge and skills in danger of disappearing, and to ensure their effective transmission to young people.

The objectives of the project are to:

• Establish the Living Human Treasures system in Fiji in a sustainable way and with a culturally sensitive approach;
• Formulate mechanisms to identify Living Human Treasures using a systematic approach;
• Formulate and implement a system to ensure the transmission from the Living Human Treasures to younger generations.

The main activities include:

• Develop detailed procedures for the identification of target domains of intangible cultural heritage, the definition of the Living Human Treasures, and criteria for their selection;
• Conduct field research in each province in Fiji to collect and examine information on masters;
• Organize provincial workshops to raise awareness about the system among practitioners and other stakeholders.