Link for direct access 

A capacity-building workshop on the elaboration of nomination files for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding is taking place from November 30 to December 02, 2016. It aimed at providing the participants with knowledge of the general guidelines of the Convention, explaining and presenting the process and the modalities for inscription on the Lists, giving the participants tools to master the nomination criteria and raise awareness on good safeguarding practices.

Link for direct access 

Incorporating intangible heritage in education ‘a win-win situation’

Co-organized by the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Section and the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, a roundtable event on ‘Learning with Intangible Cultural Heritage in Education’ took place in the context of the eleventh session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Video recording of the event: Original

During her opening statement, moderator Jyoti Hosagrahar, Director of UNESCO’s Culture Sector Division for Creativity, noted that ‘incorporating intangible cultural heritage in education is a win-win situation for education and culture and can make a significant contribution to achieving sustainable development goal 4 and its targets such as peace education and global citizenship’.

The Director emphasized that the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage highlights transmission of intangible cultural heritage through formal and non-formal education as part of the proposed safeguarding measures.

Yumiko Yokozeki, Director of the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa observed that: ‘learning with intangible cultural heritage leads us to respect each other and helps us “learn to live together” – one of the four pillars of learning’.

After remarks from the co-organizers, Mahama Ouedraogo from the African Union Commission emphasized the clear linkages between culture and education and their importance for the Agenda 2063: The Future We Want for Africa. Panelists then discussed a range of on the ground experiences from Belize, Uganda and Pakistan.

Learning with intangible heritage

An innovative UNESCO project on learning with intangible heritage for a sustainable future in four countries in Asia was presented by UNESCO facilitator Sajida Vandal, who spoke on her experience coordinating the project in Pakistan. The project underlined that we need to promote learning with and not only learning about intangible cultural heritage, if we want to foster transmission. Ms Vandal shared the message that ‘infusion of existing subjects with intangible cultural heritage was something teachers accepted and perceived as the best approach’.

Susanne Schnuttgen, Chief of the Capacity-Building and Heritage Policy Unit in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, pointed out that ‘the innovative part of what panelists said is that you can integrate intangible cultural heritage without an overhaul of the curricular system’. Incorporating intangible heritage in education can happen at the school level to improve learning and teaching processes within existing curricular.

Reconnecting schools and communities

All the speakers showed how incorporating intangible cultural heritage in schools reconnects the school with the community and strengthens a sense of belonging among the learners and teachers.

In Belize, educational materials were developed based on inventories done in tandem with schools and communities. Nigel Encalada, Director of Belize’s Institute for Social and Cultural Research of the National Institute of Culture and History, described that ‘the positives are when you produce the education materials with the communities, and the children see themselves and their grandparents in the materials. That is a source of pleasure. It provides the opportunity for the survival of the heritage into the future.’

The experience in Uganda has also been very positive according to John De Coninck from the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda: ‘Young people are yearning to reconnect with their heritage. They don’t necessarily know how to do it, and schools are a useful mechanism to allow this to take place.’

Working together for quality education

A key message from the event was that intangible cultural heritage provides content and methods and fosters the relevance and quality of education, while education provides important spaces for transmission. Both of the co-organizers expressed their intention to continue their work on this topic: ‘we know that we have to work together from the education and the culture field in order to really make this a mutually beneficial relationship’.

Link for direct access 

A three-day workshop on intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development, with implications for policy and programme development, was
held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. As part of the global capacity-building strategy under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the UNESCO Office in Almaty had carried out a series of activities to strengthen capacities for the implementation of the Convention at the national level in four countries in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan. Most of these activities were carried out under the project period 2012-16), supported by contributions from the Kingdom of Norway to the Intangible Heritage Fund.
During the project period, Kazakhstan authorities elaborated and adopted several key documents related to intangible cultural heritage, including the ‘Conception on the Safeguarding and Development of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Republic of Kazakhstan’ in 2013, and the ‘Conception on
Cultural Policy for 2015-2050’ and its Action Plan in 2014. In addition, a working group of parliamentarians was created and is currently working on
revisions to culture-related laws.

Link for direct access 

Nepal has more than 100 ethnic/caste groups, each with its own and unique culture. The 2011 census identified 123 spoken languages. Nepal’s rich cultural heritage, evolved over centuries, largely manifests itself in music and dance; arts and traditional crafts; oral traditions, folklore and folktales; spiritual belief and religions; festivals and celebrations, and rituals and social practices.
Aware of the importance of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH), Nepal ratified the 2003 Convention1 in 2010 recognizing that the living traditions are a central part of the country’s collective inheritance and adopted a ‘national cultural policy 2067’, which inter alia includes a reference to the identification, research, promotion, protection and management of intangible cultural heritage. It also acknowledges the important unifying role of ICH among the diverse and numerous ethnic minorities and indigenous groups. Nevertheless, Nepal struggles to identify and recognize the enriching elements as traditions, customs, religious practices, festivities. There has been no independent ministry to develop and manage the culture sector.
Over the last years, Nepal’s Ministry of Culture and UNESCO Office in Kathmandu have worked closely in organizing three UNESCO standard training workshops on the implementation of the 2003 Convention (April 2012), community-based identification and inventorying of ICH (January 2013) and preparing nomination files to the UNESCO ICH Lists (September 2013). These were carried out within the framework of UNESCO regional capacity building project made possible through the generous financial support from the Government of Japan.
Therefore, building on the activities already undertaken, the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu consulted with Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and identified a capacity building workshop on developing plans for safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage (hereinafter referred to as SAFE workshop) as most timely for Nepal to benefit from.
The proposed SAFE workshop is the fourth to be held in Nepal among the series of specifically designed capacity building workshops developed within the framework of UNESCO’s global capacity building strategy that aims at creating institutional and professional environments for enhancing capacities worldwide for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
The SAFE workshop will be held from 21 to 25 November 2016 following the newly developed training, combining the use of interactive scenarios and role-playing games and drawing upon the dynamic network of UNESCO-trained facilitators. Two facilitators who already delivered three capacity-building services in Nepal will be conducting the SAFE workshop due to their familiarization with the local context that will enable better adaptation of the materials as well as better understanding of the contributions of participants to the discussions in order to be better able to guide them.
The Ministry of Culture has given approval to co-organize the event as the main national implementation partner. The current workshop is being supported by the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP).
The workshop will provide knowledge required for the development of safeguarding plans through review of the Convention’s key concepts, participants’ engagement in an interactive role-playing game, case studies, discussions and field exercise that can be used to improve competencies needed for developing safeguarding plans. The workshop is also expected to explore many related questions and sharing of the participants’ own experiences of ICH. The participants will be such that a new group of diverse representations from communities, governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in safeguarding the intangible heritage combine with a segment of former participants coming from Tharu, Jirel, and Pahari, Dhimal etc. backgrounds who will come handy in supporting this workshop through their experience, expertise and commitments.

Link for direct access 

This training workshop facilitated by UNESCO Tanzania with expert support from UNESCO accredited ICH trainer, Deirdre Prins-Solani was held between 21 November – 30 November. Its objective was to build the capacity of staff members within the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Information in;(i) providing an overview of the UNESCO 2003 Convention, its key principles, spirit and State Party obligations, the ICH Convention and sustainable development and most importantly, inventorying as a safeguarding measure.

Link for direct access 

This workshop is an activity of a two-year (2014-2016) project financed by UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust, to support effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Nigeria. The objective of the workshop is to develop the capacities of the local community members through community-based inventorying training.

The workshop was facilitated by a UNESCO-trained facilitator Silverse Anami.

A total of 15 practitioners participated at the workshop and 10 were selected to conduct a six-month pilot inventorying of intangible cultural heritage in Oyo state.

Link for direct access 

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

Link for direct access 

Institutional capacity building workshop for the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage was organized in Ndjamena, Chad, from October 31 to November 2, by the National Commission, the Ministry of Tourism Development, Culture and Craft and the regional UNESCO office. The workshop was co-facilitated by the Culture specialist of the UNESCO office in Yaoundé and the regional expert, Mr. Jean-Omer NATADY.

Some fifty people took part in the workshop that was held is the National Museum in Ndjamena. There were representative from the Ministry of Tourism Development, Culture and Crafts, from the Ministry of Environment, from Ndjamena University, and from the National Radio and Television Office, some of the young people who attended the regional youth forum on ICH in Brazzaville, the National Youth Advisory Council, the National Commission and the Delegations from the provincial Ministry of Culture.

This workshop was an opportunity for intercultural exchanges between the trainers and the institutions responsible for culture in Chad. The field visit to the site of Gaoui and more precisely in the Kotoko chiefdom where women make pottery was an occasion to insist on the importance of transmission, the communities’ role and on the fact that in accordance to Articles 11 and 12 of the 2003 Convention, the objective of the inventory is to contribute to the safeguarding and the updating of ICH elements.

Among the results, we can note that the fifty people who took part in the workshop (amongst whom were officials from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment) have gained a better knowledge of the 2003 Convention and now know the difference between Objects and Element and are conscious of the role and implications of inventories.

Recommendations have been made to Chad and to UNESCO:

To Chad:

• Give sufficient resources to the directorate responsible for protection, preservation and safeguarding of the national heritage to inventory the representative elements of intangible cultural heritage in the country;
  
• Train culture professionals in the field of intangible cultural heritage
  
• Commit to contribute financially to the international organization

To UNESCO

• Continue to support Chad to strengthen the capacities of professionals of intangible cultural heritage to safeguard and to value the Chadian heritage
  
• Train the Directorate of Cultural Heritage to elaborate projects
  
• Provide expertise to the State to help it inventory its intangible cultural heritage
  
• Continue to support Chad in the promotion of intangible cultural heritage

Link for direct access 

This UNESCO Capacity-Building Workshop on Developing Safeguarding Plan for ICH took place from 24 to 28 October 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
It followed the three earlier workshops on capacity building under the 2003 ICH Convention which took place between 2012 and 2015 with the funding support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust.
The progress of work on ICH in Sri Lanka after the country’s ratification of the 2003 Convention was noted as not being fully satisfactory, with a
recognition of the need to speak to policy makers and legislators to prepare a national policy – if not a national act – on ICH. The purpose of the
workshop was underlined: to understand the intricacy of coordinating with multiple stakeholders who are involved in an ICH element to develop a
mutually satisfactory safeguarding plan.

Link for direct access 

The Center of Cultural Heritage of Mongolia will hold a four-day workshop from 24 to 27 October 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to train cultural policy decision-makers on the digitization of inventory of intangible cultural heritage as part of the directive for the implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
An expert in digitization from China will conduct the training of over 50 provincial officers from all 21 provinces in Mongolia on techniques and methods to transfer the present database of intangible heritage from the current analogue format into a digital one.
The workshop is being organized in partnership with the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO and eight other national facilitators and is based on the current needs of the existing National Inventory and human capacity in Mongolia.
The aim is to offer effective safeguarding of the living heritage of Mongolia, through the digitization of the inventory which has been recommended to conform to the UNESCO framework for inventorying and furthermore to establish a facility of experts to be mobilized in the future for additional training needs and for providing guidance at the provincial and local level in conducting and digitizing inventories.
This activity follows capacity-building efforts carried out within the framework of the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust project ‘Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through Strengthening National Capacities in Asia and the Pacific’ and its specific activities in Mongolia on implementation of the 2003 Convention (2012), community-based inventorying (2013), elaboration of nomination files (2015) and most recently on the preparation of safeguarding plans (2016).
In particular, lessons learned from UNESCO-accredited facilitators in the past trainings will be applied utilizing contextualized UNESCO materials and emphasizing the social function, cultural meaning and viability of intangible cultural heritage elements, as the existing registry focuses rather on individual practitioners. This approach is aimed at facilitating the consolidation of inventories, documentation at the provincial level and access for local communities and national authorities.

Link for direct access 

The needs assessment was implemented and funded by the Regional Bureau of UNESCO in Venice and was performed in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova. The study aimed to assess the legal and institutional frameworks for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Republic of Moldova; to outline the needs in terms of professional and institutional capacities for the safeguarding of ICH; and to develop a multi-year action plan for implementation of recommendations, including proposals for capacity-building in the country.

Link for direct access 

This workshop is an activity of a two-year (2014-2016) project financed by UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust, to support effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Nigeria. The objective of this workshop is to develop the capacities of the local community members through community-based inventorying training. A team comprising some UNESCO staff, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and its parastatals. The workshop was facilitated by UNESCO-trained facilitator Silverse Anami and national facilitator Professor G.G Darah.

The workshop was attended by 15 practitioners and 10 of which were selected to conduct a six-month inventorying exercise.

Link for direct access 

What is policy development for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage? What are the needs in this field in Latin America and the Caribbean? How does the topic fit in UNESCO’s global capacity-building programme for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage? These questions will be addressed at a training workshop in Lima, Peru, from 3 to 7 October 2016 on supporting policy development in the field of intangible cultural heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 35 participants will participate, including 12 members of UNESCO’s facilitators’ network that has accumulated experience in providing training and advisory services under the global capacity-building programme as well as 12 UNESCO colleagues from field offices in charge of programme coordination in the region.

Organized by UNESCO and co-hosted by the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL), this is the third workshop in the region dedicated to strengthening the network of expert facilitators. Aiming to equip them with the knowledge and tools required to provide policy support and to take stock of the implementation of the capacity-building programme in the region since 2013.

Documents

• Agenda: English|Spanish
• List of participants: English
• Workshop note: English|Spanish

Link for direct access 

1. Dans le cadre du programme de l’UNESCO pour le renforcement des capacités pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel (PCI) financé par le programme régulier du Secteur de la culture du Bureau Régional de l’UNESCO à Dakar (UNESCO-BREDA), une expertise a été fournie entre octobre et décembre 2016. Celle-ci a eu comme objectifs d’analyser les besoins du Sénégal en matière de renforcement des capacités pour la sauvegarde du PCI dans le but de proposer un projet futur. Dans ce contexte, une mission à Dakar a eu lieu entre le 13 et le 20 novembre 2016. En collaboration avec les institutions responsables pour la sauvegarde du PCI au Sénégal, cette mission a cherché à identifier sur le terrain les besoins et les objectifs clés pouvant être abordés dans le cadre de la stratégie de renforcement des capacités de l’UNESCO pour la sauvegarde du PCI.

Link for direct access 

This activity is part a second phase of the ICH project financed by the Government of Flanders and implemented by the UNESCO Field Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at the UNESCO Headquarter provided technical support throughout the process of the activity.

Co-facilitating the training were Mr. Sam Ishmeal – an Ethnomusicologist, Mr. Cornelius Engelbrecht and Mr. Helon Muhaindjumba. The three day training of trainers workshop was attended by 37 participants (23 males and 14 females) from 14 regions in Namibia.

Link for direct access 

The training workshop was jointly organized by UNESCO Beijing Office, the National Authority for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (NAPCH), and the National Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for UNESCO, with the financial contribution from the International Training Centre for Intangible Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP). The workshop was part of CRIHAP’s work plan for FY 2016 and was organized under the framework of UNESCO’s global capacity-building programme on strengthening capacities to effectively implement the 2003 Convention of the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Since the ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2008, a number of capacity building training workshops were organized in Pyongyang by UNESCO Beijing in 2010, 2011 (National Safeguarding Awareness-Raising workshop) and 2013 (Training Workshop on the Implementation of 2003 Convention). This workshop was a follow-up to the past workshops and focused on ICH inventorying through community participation.

Link for direct access 

Zambia conducted a workshop on community based ICH inventory and inventoried 3 elements. This activity took place from 25-29 July 2016 in Kabwe, Central Province and a total of 18 participants, including 5 community members were trained and awarded certificates of successful completion of the training. The workshop was designed to reaffirm the capacity of some of the experts that were trained in Kabwe in 2014 by allowing them to facilitate different sessions of the community inventory training modules. At the end of the facilitation programme, 5 participants who excelled were awarded certificates to practice as ICH Experts.

This activity is part a second phase of the ICH project financed by the Government of Flanders and implemented by the UNESCO Field Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at the UNESCO Headquarter provided technical support throughout the process of the activity.

Link for direct access 

Ecuador’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and the UNESCO Office in Quito are running the last of a series of three workshops on formulating public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage from 13 to 16 June 2016 in Puerto López (Manabí province).

Initially planned in Portoviejo, also in Manabí province that was dramatically affected by the earthquake of
16 April, the workshop will be based on UNDP Post-Disaster Needs Assessment methodology in relation to the revision of development plans from the perspective of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in a post-disaster context.
Approximately 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry and INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members who will be attending the workshop are from regions that have been seriously affected by the earthquake.

It is part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador.

Last year, community-based inventorying activities were organized in Portoviejo to increase awareness and strengthen synergies.

This next step in the process will enable participants to reflect on the impact of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage from gender and human rights perspectives in the context of Ecuador’s development plan for “Well-Being”.

Link for direct access 

As a state party to the Convention since 2006 and a participant in international meetings and mechanisms (sessions of the IGC and GA, expert groups, regional meetings, submission of nominations and inscriptions on the RL), Romania has already proven its interest in the workings of the Convention. This workshop comes as a step forward in enhancing the implementation of the Convention in more concrete and substantial terms, primarily as regards the issues of community participation, elaboration of safeguarding activities, bottom-up inventorying, roles of different types of stakeholders and the coordination between them.
Despite quite frequent political changes and the understaffed relevant sections in the Ministry of Culture, one can recognize the intention of tracing a coherent national policy concerning the safeguarding of ICH. The above mentioned legal framework contributes toward this direction. The National Inventory and Registry, as two complementary instruments of identification of the ICH, have been elaborated by experts in the field of ethnology and folklore studies, cooperating closely with the officials from the Ministry of Culture, as well as with representatives of communities concerned.
The planned and carried out CB workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at national level proved to be useful. Its objectives touched the core national needs, especially in terms of comprehension of key concepts of the Convention and their clarification through concrete case studies that were thoroughly discussed.

Link for direct access 

The field exercise in Suriname was organized jointly by the National Commission, the Department of Cultural Studies (Directorate of Culture) and the Foundation Na Afrikan Kultura fu Sranan (NAKS). Suriname focused its field exercise on the national dress of Suriname – the koto, and its associated dances and songs by persons who made these dresses. Twelve persons were trained representing 7 females and 5 males who came largely from the youth department of NAKS – Wan Rutu.

The exercise revealed unknown koto experts and practitioners who were willing to contribute, and the interviews revealed that the type of music traditionally performed at ‘Koto Dansi,’ parties where all women are dressed in Koto, needed urgent revitalization.

Link for direct access 

The UNESCO Office in Amman in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Jordan implemented the workshop on “Implementation of the 2003 Convention of Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage” from 29 May till 01 June 2016 in Amman. This training is part of the UNESCO global strategy for strengthening national capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention. The implementation of this workshop was very successful in many regards:
The workshop paved the way for a better understanding of the 2003 Convention and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage among the governmental and community stakeholders. As a result of the workshop, the participants were equipped with information on the importance of ICH, the UNESCO 2003 Convention for Safeguarding ICH, detailed understanding of how to apply for funding, and some other key tools for teaching and promoting ICH through the media.
This initiative attracted a wide participation of stakeholder from NGOs representing various communities across Jordan, Ministries and National Authorities involved on cultural heritage at different levels.

In order to enhance sustainability of the activity, the workshop facilitated the establishment of a working group devoted to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Jordan which is expected to contribute to the safeguarding of intangible heritage in the country in the future.

The workshop was highly successful in contributing to enhance the capacities of the national stakeholders (governmental and non) to more effectively engage in the relevant safeguarding actions, in line with ER 5 “National capacities strengthened and utilized to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, including indigenous and endangered languages, through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention”.

Link for direct access 

Over twenty participants representing seven countries (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Suriname) will gather in Curaçao from 17 to 20 May 2016 for a workshop on developing plans to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage.

Reflecting diverse communities and practitioners, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in the safeguarding of living heritage in the sub-region, participants are among the first to benefit from a newly developed training combining the use of interactive scenarios and role-playing games that will be delivered by UNESCO-trained experts.

This activity builds on the community-based inventorying training and field exercises recently undertaken in the Dutch Caribbean. Organized by the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean in close cooperation with national partners across the islands, it is a part of a capacity-building project to reinforce safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Dutch Caribbean islands and Suriname. It has been made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of the Netherlands to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Link for direct access 

In the sequence of the workshop held in Loja, The Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and UNESCO’s Quito office are organizing in Riobamba the second of a set of three workshops on the formulation of public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The workshop, which will take place from 16 to 19 May 2016, will gather 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members. Facing the challenges of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, participants will work on mechanisms for revising and adapting development plans, whose implementation falls to local governments in Ecuador.

The workshop is part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador. Last year community-based inventorying activities were organized in Riobamba, increasing awareness and strengthening synergies. This will provide this new participatory space with a base to reflect on the impact and opportunities of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, from a gender and human rights perspectives in the context of Ecuador’s development plan for the “Well-Being”.

Link for direct access 

The regional workshop closes the capacity building project for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Portuguese Speaking African countries, funded by an earmarked contribution from Norway to the ICH-Fund. Professionals from all five PALOP countries gathered for a training on international assistance requests and to take stock of the project’s results in order to develop a strategy for ICH safeguarding in the PALOP region. The meeting was hosted by the Mozambican Institute for Socio-Cultural Research, Arquivo do Património Cultural (ARPAC), a leading institution in ICH safeguarding. Lucas Roque facilitated the workshop

Link for direct access 

In collaboration with the Department of Cultural Heritage and aiming to support Viet Nam’s efforts in ICH inventorying, UNESCO will provide a training of national trainers who can later act as key persons in the inventorying of ICH in Viet Nam from 9 to 15 May 2016.

The training of trainers program will mainly employ the training material package on community-based ICH inventory prepared by UNESCO under its global strategy of capacity building. The training program has the specific objectives:

• To strengthen awareness on safeguarding purpose of ICH inventorying, in line with the 2003 Convention and Law on cultural heritage;
  
• To promote knowledge and practice of community-based approaches in ICH inventorying;
  
• To build capacity for and establish a facility of experts, national trainers on ICH inventorying in Viet Nam.

The important objectives of ICH inventorying are to identify its values, to evaluate its viability and to propose safeguarding measures with informed consent by the local communities.

Following a seven-day training course, the participants will prepare training materials for the target localities. Depending on practical needs, they will act as national trainers in future trainings and in conducting inventories in provinces and cities.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/hanoi/about-this-office/single-view/news/course_announcement_training_of_trainers_on_community_based_inventorying_of_intangible_cultural_heritage_in_viet_nam/#.VqjQWlIXeQH

Link for direct access 

The main objective of this workshop is to sensitize the Samburu community on the significance of their intangible cultural heritage and how they can take part in helping to safeguard their heritage. Participants will also be equipped with the necessary skills for documenting and inventorying their heritage. A UNESCO trained expert, Mr. Julious Mwaunga, will lead the sessions.

Link for direct access 

Participants representing Afro-Surinamese, Javanese, Maroons, Chinese, Jewish, Hindustani and Indigenous communities are joining forces to develop a framework for inventorying their living heritage at a five-day workshop on community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage taking place at the Surinaamsch Rumhouse from 11 to 15 April 2016.

Hosted by the Directorate of Culture of Suriname and the Suriname National Commission for UNESCO, in coordination with organizations and community groups committed to safeguarding living heritage in Suriname, it follows training last year on implementing the 2003 Convention and national consultation with stakeholders.

The workshop focuses on community participation in identifying and defining intangible cultural heritage, data collection, organization and management and will lay the foundation for a field exercise on inventorying in the upcoming months, as well as future safeguarding work.

Organized by the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean in close cooperation with national partners across the islands, the workshop is a part of a capacity-building project to reinforce safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Dutch Caribbean islands and Suriname. It has been made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of the Netherlands to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Link for direct access 

The workshop was prepared by the Regional Centre for Safeguarding of ICH in Southeast Europe under the auspices of UNESCO in Sofia, Bulgaria, and hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Its goal was to respond to the most pertinent needs related to the implementation of 2003 UNESCO Convention on a national level and to facilitate the elaboration of policies for the safeguarding of the extremely rich and still vital ICH in the country.

Link for direct access 

Suite à la mission de liaison en juin 2015 l’activité vise à poursuivre et intensifier le travail de formation et sensibilisation avec les autorités, les communautés et d’autres parties prenantes pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel. Elle s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet de « Renforcement des capacités des pays lusophones d’Afrique pour la mise en œuvre de la Convention de 2003 pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel » soutenu par le Fonds du patrimoine culturel immatériel grâce à une contribution du Gouvernement de la Norvège. Contribuant à la stratégie mondiale de renforcement des capacités mise en place en 2009, l’objectif est de renforcer les capacités des pays en vue d’une sauvegarde efficace du patrimoine culturel immatériel présent sur leurs territoires ainsi que d’exploiter son potentiel pour le développement durable des communautés.

Link for direct access 

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and UNESCO’s Quito office are organizing in Loja the first of a set of three workshops on the formulation of public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The workshop, which will take place from 4 to 7 April 2016, will gather 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members. Facing the challenges of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, participants will work on mechanisms for revising and adapting development plans, whose implementation falls to local governments in Ecuador.

The workshop is part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador. Last year community-based inventorying activities were organized in Loja, increasing awareness and strengthening synergies. This will provide this new participatory space with a base to reflect on the impact and opportunities of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, from a gender and human rights perspectives in the context of Ecuador’s development plan for the “Well-Being”.

Link for direct access 

Following a first workshop in November 2015, the National Cultural Heritage Institute of Angola (INPC), in cooperation with UNESCO, organizes a workshop on the development of community-based inventories of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The workshop addresses some 25 Angolan technical staff and stakeholders including community members and bearers of the living heritage. It introduces methods to gather and adequately store information and documentation as a basis for further safeguarding action. The training will take place from 9 to 19 March in Luanda and includes practical exercises in the community of the Island of Luanda. The pilot project should find replication in other regions of the State later on.

As part of UNESCO’s global strategy aiming to enhance national capacity for safeguarding of living heritage in the Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (PALOP), the project also aims at strengthening regional cooperation among PALOP countries. Together with the senior trainer from Brazil, the training will therefore be co-facilitated by two former trainees of the project from Mozambique and Sao Tomé and Principe.

This workshop is made possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Link for direct access 

This field exercise was organized by the National Commission, following information received that the NGO (Fundacion Herencia Cultural Immaterial) with responsibility for implementing the Convention, had ceased to exist. Aruba chose to focus their field exercise on Dia di Brasil, a cultural festival of the Brasil township. Those trained (10 persons – 8 females and 2 males) represented a cross-section of researchers from state agencies responsible for documenting Aruban heritage, academia, members of the Brasil township and the Ministry of Culture.

Link for direct access 

The second of three agreed upon capacity building workshops. This workshop will focus on community-based inventorying and the appropriate training.

Link for direct access 

From 18 to 22 January, the Cultural Heritage Institute of Cabo Verde (IPC) and UNESCO organize the final workshop evaluating the results of the inventory field work. Following a practical training in July last, 17 community members and 13 culture officers pursued with the identification and documentation of xxx elements in the communities of Centro histórico, Salineiro and Calabaceira in Ribeira Grande de Santiago. On the basis of these findings, the actors, beholders and cultural officers can then deduce lessons learnt and develop a national strategy for the safeguarding of ICH in all of Cabo Verde’s territory founded on community-based inventories.
For the sake of continuity and in view of strengthening cooperation among PALOP countries in Africa, the senior expert from the Mozambican Institute for Socio-Cultural Research (ARPAC) will facilitate the workshop. Moreover, a representatives from the Department for Culture of the Secretary of State for Youth, Culture and Sport of Guinea-Bissau and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Angola will participate to share experience with their home institutions who follow the same training programme.
This workshop was made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Link for direct access 

Bangladesh has a rich tradition in cultural heritage, specifically intangible cultural heritage. However, the more recent history and developments have affected and increasingly threatened the viability of these practices and traditions. Aware of these threats Bangladesh is actively implementing the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which it ratified in 2009, demonstrating its commitment to establish mechanisms for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the country. Bangladesh was able to build on the experience of its participation in the former UNESCO programme for the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. At the time, one element was proclaimed as Masterpiece in the process (Baul Songs). With regard to the participation of Bangladesh in the international mechanisms of the Convention, recent developments include the inscription of Traditional art of Jamdani weaving in 2013, Mongol Shobhajatra on Pahela Baishakh in 2016 and Traditional art of Shital Pati weaving of Sylhet in 2017 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The main objective of the project was to strengthen the capacities of Bangladesh to safeguard its intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

These were the specific objectives of the project:

1. To enhance the understanding of the national authorities of the obligations entailed by the ratification of the UNESCO 2003 Convention and its implementation

2. To build up a critical mass of national capacity so that Bangladesh will have a sustainable framework for safeguarding intangible heritage and implementing the Convention

3. To develop an inventory methodology for ICH at the national level

4. To sensitize national authorities about the importance and significance of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, and in particular ICH elements in need of urgent safeguarding, by providing some consultative guidance and advisory on ICH Policy development; and by reinforcing their capacities to prepare nomination files for inscription on the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

A key aspect of the project was the training of relevant Government institutions, NGOs and community representatives in the effective safeguarding measures as well as the development of resource materials for the safeguarding and promotion of ICH in Bangladesh. Activities under the framework of the project were implemented from April 2016 until August 2019 and included three capacity-building workshops, the development of a Compilation of all the training materials as well as of a Guidebook of Community-based Inventorying of ICH, and a policy advice component.

Link for direct access 

The project aims at reinforcing the sub-regional cooperation platform, which was created to support seven countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe) in southern Africa in their efforts to safeguard the living heritage present in their territories. Consolidating the results of previous Flanders funded projects since 2009, this platform will be driven by the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Committees or the bodies responsible for intangible cultural heritage in the beneficiary countries. The project will pay due attention to the adequacy of institutional environments, abilities to set up or improve legislative and policy frameworks and the availability of national expertise. Concrete outputs of the project include the strengthening of a pool of resource persons operational in the region and a number of policy or legislative frameworks for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage as well as quantitative evidence on the impact of the project.

Link for direct access 

The needs assessment was implemented and funded by the Regional Bureau of UNESCO in Venice and was performed in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova. The study aimed to assess the legal and institutional frameworks for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Republic of Moldova; to outline the needs in terms of professional and institutional capacities for the safeguarding of ICH; and to develop a multi-year action plan for implementation of recommendations, including proposals for capacity-building in the country. The work included an exploration of the legislative and policy documents in the sphere of ICH in Moldova, analysis of the institutional policies and measures for the ICH safeguarding, and study of the awareness-raising activities, inventorying procedures, and educational programs related to ICH in the country.