After seven months of field work in the communities of Boa Morte and Santo Antonio the National Directorate of Culture of Sao Tomé and Principe evaluates the results of the Inventory exercise, which was launched in April this year. From 23 to 27 November 2015 some 25 actors involved in gathering the information during this period meet to identify lessons learnt and consolidate an action plan for the future ICH safeguarding efforts in the archipelago. To ensure continuity of the April workshop, UNESCO expert facilitators will provide guidance in taking stock of the findings and developing the national strategy. In the same vein of continuity the culture officer from Cabo Verde will once more participate in Sao Tome to share the experience gained in the process with his colleagues in Cabo Verde who currently develop their own community-based inventory.

The National Cultural Heritage Institute of Angola and UNESCO jointly organize a workshop on the implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at national level. The workshop, which will take place from 9 to 13 November 2015 in Luanda, will discuss the scope and objectives as well as the obligations of the State Parties under this international legal instrument.

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 workshop will gather some 20 Angolan participants, including stakeholders from local to national levels. With the aim to strengthen regional cooperation among PALOP countries, the training will be entirely facilitated by two Mozambican experts who have been previously trained through the same programme.

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

This workshop was not included in the J-FIT Phase II workplan. A workshop on community-based inventorying was already conducted in Lao PDR with J-FIT funding in 2013 during Phase I. However, the Heritage Department team expressed the need to follow a refresher course before undertaking the pilot field inventory earmarked as part of this project. External funding was identified for this refresher. The workshop was organized in the city of Luang Prabang, situated in the province where the pilot inventory was to take place. Community members and members of the Provincial Department, as well as 5 practitioners were invited as trainees. They could gain a thorough understanding of community-based inventories techniques as well as participate in the following field activities. Participants were divided into 4 teams for field practicum to document the epok puppet theatre of Xieng Thong village, ‘khap’ singing in Phone Phaeng village, silversmithing and hand-made textiles in Pha Nom village. Two teams were led by workshop’s participants who were also practitioners.

Efforts to safeguard intangible cultural heritage (ICH) are gaining momentum throughout Asia-Pacific, resulting in a need for more highly-trained professionals in this area. Universities can play an important role in this regard, which is why UNESCO is organizing a regional symposium on 2-3 November in Bangkok to promote the integration of ICH at post-graduate levels in Asia-Pacific higher education. This event was made possible with financial support from the Fund for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The past decade has seen an increase in the number of post-graduate programmes in heritage education in general; however few focus specifically on intangible cultural heritage. Professionals in the cultural heritage sector tend to instead have backgrounds that emphasize the management of tangible heritage (architecture conservation and archaeology, for example).
The UNESCO symposium aims to encourage universities in Asia-Pacific to develop post-graduate level trainings in the field of intangible cultural heritage.
Twenty-two executives, professors and course conveners from 20 universities will take part in the two day event to discuss and share knowledge and resources on these issues. The institutions come from thirteen countries across the region: Australia, China, Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Discussions will include the identification of key principles of ICH safeguarding for post-graduate studies; exploring disciplines and structures for ICH programmes; and embedding ICH safeguarding in the development of ICH studies at the post-graduate level.
The symposium will also help deepen the knowledge base of participants on methodologies and resources pertinent to ICH as well as promote networking opportunities among them as well as with UNESCO for further collaboration on ICH educational programmes at the post-graduate level.

Documents

• Agenda: inglés
• Background note: inglés

The workshop on the preparation of nomination files for inscription on the lists of the 2003 Convention (the Representative List and the Urgent Safeguarding List) and the preparation of requests for international assistance is held under the implementation of the project “Safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage through the strengthening of national capacities in the Maghreb” following the workshops on the implementation of the Convention and on participatory inventories.
This workshop held in the city of Nabeul from 2 to 6 November 2015 aims at developing and strengthening the capacity of representatives of officials from various ministries, actors of civil society, community members and other heritage specialists concerning the the development of nomination files on the lists of the Convention and the preparation of requests for international assistance. The implementation and monitoring of this workshop will allow Tunisia to count on institutional staff with the required knowledge of the mechanisms of the Convention which will contribute to the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ratified by Tunisia who will be able to develop quality files.

The first of three capacity-building workshops will take place this week in the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from 25-29 October, 2015.
This workshop will focus on the key concepts of the 2003 Convention and their implementation, through community based inventorying, safeguarding measures, and policy development strategies. It will also provide a good opportunity to demonstrate to the participants some good examples on the best practices of safeguarding ICH, as well as other projects from the Arab World.
Comprising of 25 participants from the Center’s staff and various stakeholders working in the field of cultural heritage.
Conducted by UNESCO and two of its expert facilitators, this workshop is an example of a training requested and financed by an institution wishing to build its capacities to better integrate the provisions of the Convention in its activities.

Una segunda serie de talleres sobre la transmisión de conocimientos y prácticas de los médicos experimentados a jóvenes Kallawayas aprendices se celebraron del 17 al 22 de octubre de 2015 en Curva, una de las cunas de los médicos Kallawayas, en la provincia de Bautista Saavedra.
Se trataron temas que iban desde las prácticas de parto y las enfermedades de las mujeres y los niños a la prevención y cura de enfermedades respiratorias, enfermedades digestivas y enfermedades de los ancianos. Más de 30 participantes Kallawayas pudieron mejorar sus conocimientos acerca de la confección inventarios con participación de las comunidades y recibieron une formación en técnicas audiovisuales de recogida de información.
Tras los talleres, los participantes compartieron los resultados del proyecto con otras comunidades de la provincia que asistieron a la sesión final. Este último taller destacó la importancia no sólo de los conocimientos y prácticas Kallawaya sino del patrimonio cultural inmaterial en general en la búsqueda de respuestas a los desafíos que surgen en la construcción de la paz y el desarrollo sostenible.
Con estos talleres culminan las actividades realizadas en el marco del proyecto “La salvaguardia del patrimonio cultural inmaterial de las comunidades Kallawaya”, que ha sido posible gracias a los esfuerzos de las autoridades Kallawaya, del Ministerio de Culturas y Turismo, de la Universidad Católica Boliviana “San Pablo” y de la UNESCO así como al apoyo generoso y continuo del Gobierno de Japón.

Documentos

Mongolia was very eager to undertake this workshop that included field visits to communities to research ICH elements and practice drafting nomination dossier. Two groups visited and interviewed practitioners at the camp, while three other groups visited ICH practitioners in their communities.
The five groups explored:
1. Traditional steel carving art – Double carving technique of Suriya;
2. Horse culture: Traditional technique of making Airag in Khokhuur and its associated customs;
3. Mongolian traditional shaman’s knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
4. Traditional technique of coin-table embroidery;
5. Horse culture: Traditional knowledge and technique of making horse tools, such as a bridle, halter, whips, tri-hobble and swift horse scraper.

Curaçao focused its field exercise on the elements of kachu, the harvest festival and playing the benta. Ten participants (5 females  and5 males) were selected from different NGOs and were trained by a local anthropologist and the director of the focal institution for the implementation of the Convention (who also participated in all training workshops). The training utilized the UNESCO training materials for Field Inventory, which were translated into Papiamento). Participants were able to undertake secondary documentation on the elements as primary documentation was not possible due to the seasonal nature of kachu use and because no performances were planned during this period where the benta would have been played. Arrangements were made for primary documentation during the harvest season, so the team could document the use of kachu  during harvest (seú) as well as during the elaborate harvest parade.  Documentation consisted of interviews and demonstrations. Playing the benta was shown along with the interview. Instructions on how it was made were given during the beginning of the two‐day training by a benta maker and player. The kachu session also included more elaborate demonstrations of construction of this instrument. 

With the generous support of the Algerian ‘National Centre of Research on Prehistory, Anthropology and History’ in Algeria (CNRPAH) and the ‘Manifestation Constantine, capitale de la culture arabe 2015’, UNESCO convenes a UNESCO expert workshop on supporting policy development in the field of intangible cultural heritage, in Constantine, Algeria, from 28 September to 2 October 2015.

The main objective of the workshop is to improve UNESCO’s impact in providing policy support to national authorities in Africa for the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention.

The first three days of the workshop are dedicated to the principal theme of policy development (28 to 30 September), while the last two days (1 to 2 October) focus on reviewing the implementation of the global capacity-building programme in Africa to date.

More specifically, the workshop aims at the following:

• Improve the content and format of the capacity-building programme to provide policy advice effectively;
• Propose methodologies and tools to support experts in their policy advisory mission;
• Take stock of the lessons learnt from implementing the global programme in African countries.

The workshop addresses primarily UNESCO-certified facilitators from the Africa Region, who have substantial experience in providing training and advisory services in the context of the global capacity-building programme for the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It furthermore welcomes some experts with specialized expertise in the field of cultural policy advice, which they have developed in particular in the context of implementing the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. From the UNESCO side, Culture programme specialists from field offices in Africa and from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section participate. The CNRPAH has designated Algerian experts who will attend as observers. In total, the workshop will bring together about 45 participants.

Documents

• : francés
• : francés
• : francés
• Case study n. 38 Tatau: inglés|francés
• Case Study n.39 Batik: inglés|francés
• Conclusions: inglés
• Latest developments in the life of the Convention: inglés
• Overview of projects in Africa: inglés
• Policy development in the framework of the 2003 Convention: inglés
• UNESCO Follow up mechanisms: inglés
• Update on materials: inglés
• Agenda: inglés|francés
• List of participants: inglés|francés
• Background document: inglés|francés

The Cultural Heritage Institute of Cabo Verde, in cooperation with UNESCO HQ and the UNESCO Office in Dakar, organizes a training workshop on community-based inventorying in Cabo Verde. The workshop, which will take place from 23 September to 3 October 2015 in Ribeira Grande de Santiago, will introduce the concepts, objectives and methods of inventorying and includes a practical field work in the communities of Centro histórico, Salineiro and Calabaceira.

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 workshop will gather some 30 Cabo Verdean participants, including stakeholders from local to national levels. With the aim to strengthen regional cooperation among PALOP countries, the training will be co-facilitated by a Brazilian and a Mozambican expert who have been previously trained through the same programme. Moreover, culture officers from Angola and Guinea-Bissau will attend the training.

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

DOCUMENTS:

LIST_DOCUMENTS:00498-0

The town of Taunggyi, Shan State, in Myanmar hosted from 14 to 18 September 2015 a workshop on how to elaborate nomination files for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. This was the final chapter of the capacity-building project, which had been generously supported by the Royal Norwegian Government through a contribution to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. The two-year national project has been implemented since 2013 with the aim to strengthen skills of human resources in Myanmar for the inventorying and safeguarding of its intangible cultural heritage.

The 24 participants, comprising of cultural officers, scholars and actual ICH practitioners, acquired hands-on skills in elaborating nomination dossiers and learned how to use the lists of the 2003 Convention as an effective tool for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Combining theoretical training on how to devise community-based safeguarding measures and practical exercises of evaluating mock nominations, the workshop provided an opportunity to clarify the different objectives of each of the international mechanisms established by the Convention so policy-makers can use them in the most appropriate and effective manner.

The five-day training workshop that was facilitated by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, included a practical field exercise with local communities in Inle Lake.

The organization of the workshop was timely in the context of the efforts that are paid by cultural institutions in Albania in the last two years to enhance the national capacity for ICH safeguarding, as well as in light of the needs assessment report of 2014. The latter made specific recommendations on organizing workshops and training activities on ICH related activities with the widest possible participation of people with different backgrounds and coming from different towns and institutions in Albania. This has been the first workshop of its kind in the country and the expectations invested in it were great. The workshop was supposed to fill a void in focused presentations and discussions on the major themes related to the implementation of 2003 Convention on a national level, and to facilitate the undertaking of organized activities in this regard. Despite the high sensitivity and interest in cultural heritage issues in the country, so far no special workshop has been held on these topics in the country and this explains the enthusiasm that it produced among the colleagues working in the sphere of culture. The call for participation that colleagues from the Ministry of Culture at the Republic of Albania distributed attracted more that 40 participants and at some point there were several late applications which had to be declined in order to maintain at least some interactivity during the sessions.

Médicos y aprendices Kallawayas se reunieron en Charazani, capital de la provincia boliviana de Bautista Saavedra, del 13 al 18 de septiembre para participar en un taller sobre cómo los ancianos pueden transmitir sus conocimientos y prácticas médicas a las generaciones más jóvenes para su bien estar futuro. Autoridades de diferentes organizaciones Kallawaya seleccionaron alrededor de 20 aprendices entre hombres y mujeres Kallawayas que ya habían tomado la decisión de dedicarse a esta práctica, para que aprendan más acerca de ésta. También brindó a un facilitador formado por la UNESCO la oportunidad para introducir los conceptos básicos de la Convención de 2003 como un marco adecuado para las comunidades Kallawaya, y parra las comunidades indígenas en general, para salvaguardar su patrimonio cultural inmaterial. Se organizaron ejercicios prácticos de inventario que abordaron el tema fundamental del consentimiento libre, previo e informado de las comunidades en cuestión.
Esta actividad forma parte de una iniciativa más amplia sobre la salvaguardia del patrimonio cultural inmaterial de las comunidades Kallawaya llevada a cabo por el Ministerio de Culturas y Turismo, el Servicio de Capacitación en Radio y Televisión para el Desarrollo de la Universidad Católica Boliviana “San Pablo” y la UNESCO, gracias al generoso apoyo del Gobierno de Japón.

Documents

• Lista de participantes: español
• Orden del día: español

Del 2 al 7 septiembre de 2015, el proceso de inventario se trasladó a la ciudad de Loja, provincia de Loja, donde los miembros de Saraguro, Shuar y las comunidades mestizas, junto con representantes de los gobiernos locales (Calvas, Catamayo, Chaguarpamba, Gonzanamá, Loja, Olmedo, Paltas , Puyango, Quilanga y Zapotillo) y los Ministerios de la cultura, serán formados en la confección de inventarios con la participación de las comunidades en la localidad de Malacatos. A continuación se llevará a cabo un ejercicio de inventario en el que se registrarán tradiciones orales y sistemas de conocimiento.

Organizado por la UNESCO y el INPC, el taller es posibles gracias a la generosa contribución del Gobierno de Japón.

Documentos

• Programa: español

El proceso de inventario continúa en Riobamba, provincia de Chimborazo, con un taller del 24 al 29 agosto de 2015 que reunió canteros, portadores de las tradiciones orales de la cultura Zapara y comunidades Qhapaq Ñan, funcionarios de varios municipios (Alausí, Chambo, Chunchi, Colta, Cumandá , Guamote, Guano, Pallatanga, Penipe y Riobamba) y representantes del Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio y del Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (INPC). El taller se centró en la participación comunitaria en la identificación y definición de patrimonio cultural inmaterial, la recopilación, la organización y la gestión de datos como un paso importante en la salvaguardia del patrimonio inmaterial. A continuación, se organizó un ejercicio de campo en un contexto de inventarios en las poblaciones de Guano y Calpi, centrándose en el patrimonio vivo de canteros e incluyendo la cartografía de las canteras en las laderas del Chimborazo.

Organizado por la UNESCO y el INPC, el taller fue posible gracias a la generosa contribución del Gobierno de Japón.

Documentos

LIST_DOC: 00495-0-0

The assessment of the main needs for the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of the ICH in Egypt is part of a regional project for the enhancement of ICH safeguarding capacities in eight African countries and the Arab region . This project, executed by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section of UNESCO, is funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA)

This report reports on activities carried out as part of a 10-day mission carried out in April and August in Cairo, Egypt, with the support of the UNESCO Regional Office in Egypt. The mission was to meet the main actors of public institutions and associations involved in the ICH safeguarding process with the aim of identifying needs and proposing a project for capacity building in Egypt.

The Cultural Heritage Institute of Cabo Verde, in cooperation with UNESCO HQ and the UNESCO Office in Dakar, organizes a workshop on the implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at national level. The workshop, which will take place from 27 to 31 July 2015 in the capital of Cabo Verde, will discuss the scope and objectives as well as the obligations of the State Parties under this international legal instrument.

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 workshop will gather some 30 Cabo Verdean participants, including stakeholders from local to national levels. With the aim to strengthen regional cooperation among PALOP countries, the training will be co-facilitated by a Brazilian and a Mozambican expert who have been previously trained through the same programme. Moreover, culture officers from Angola and Guinea-Bissau will attend the training.

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

Documents

• Agenda: portugués
• Lista de participantes: portugués

As Suriname moves closer towards the ratification of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, it is timely for community members, policy-makers, and governmental and non-governmental representatives to come together to chart the way forward in the safeguarding of their living heritage.

From 27 to 31 July 2015, a five-day workshop will be held in Paramaribo aiming to clarify the process and mechanisms for successful ratification and implementation of the 2003 Convention, including an overview of its objectives and key concepts and principles. The workshop will also provide a platform for participants to reflect collectively on experiences and challenges in safeguarding their intangible cultural heritage.

Organized by the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean in close cooperation with the Directorate of Culture (Suriname) and the Suriname National Commission for UNESCO, this workshop is a part of a capacity-building project to reinforce the safeguarding of living heritage in the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname. It is made possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of the Netherlands to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

International Assistance is at the very core of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Regrettably, however, it has not yet been utilized to the full extend envisaged when the Convention was drafted, with few requests submitted by States Parties and even fewer of sufficient quality to warrant approval by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In order to face this challenge, technical assistance has been provided by experts to a number of States Parties on an experimental basis for the past year.

In an effort to galvanize further the option of International Assistance for State Parties, a pool of experts, who have conducted technical assistance or may be invited to do so in the future, will join UNESCO staff for a 3-day workshop in Paris from 20 to 22 July 2015 to assess the experiences to date implementing technical assistance. This workshop will provide the opportunity to review the latest advice of the Committee concerning International Assistance, examine other informational materials developed by the Secretariat to support States Parties and technical experts, and provide guidance concerning the development of future capacity-building curriculum materials on International Assistance.

Documents

• Annotated Timetable
  ITH/15/WOR/2: inglés|francés
• List of participants: inglés
• Summary Report
  ITH/15/WOR/3: inglés

The 3rd annual meeting of the category 2 centres active in the field of intangible cultural heritage will be held from 6 to 8 July in Guiyang, China. Hosted by the Chinese centre, the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP), the meeting will follow up on the two previous annual meetings.

Working documents

• Agenda: inglés
• Concept note: inglés
• List of participants: inglés
• Report of the UNESCO Section for Intangible Cultural Heritage - Third annual meeting of category 2 centres: inglés
• 37 C/5 MP IV Expected Result 6: National capacities strengthened and utilised to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, including indigenous and endangered languages, through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention: inglés|francés
• Medium-term strategy for UNESCO’s cooperation with category 2 centres in the field of intangible cultural heritage 2014-2021: inglés|francés

Presentations

• Recent developments in the life of the Convention and objectives of the meeting (UNESCO - Cécile Duvelle): inglés
• Information and networking, including through the web (ICHCAP): inglés
• Collaboration with UNESCO in the global capacity-building programme (CRIHAP): inglés
• Approaches to programme planning and budgeting (Sofia Centre): inglés
• Approaches to governance and getting the most from your governing body(ies) (CRESPIAL): inglés
• Cooperation with Member States in planning and implementing programmes (Tehran Centre): inglés
• Evaluation and renewal (IRCI): inglés

Reference documents

• Estrategia global integrada para los institutos y centros de categoría 2
  37 C/Resolution 93: inglés|francés|español|ruso|árabe|chino
• Evaluation Report IRCI: inglés
• General Information: inglés

For further information:

• Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO

Sint Maarten focused its field exercise on their national dance, the Ponum dance which dates to the 19th century from the days of slavery and emancipation. This element was chosen because only a few practitioners and or performers are directly involved in the enactment or practice of the element. There were also recognizable threats to its continued enactment and transmission, hence its safeguarding was considered extremely important. Two training sessions were held with youth from various youth organizations and discussions were held on the purpose of the inventorying exercise. A total of 17 youth (9 females and 8 males) were trained in the inventorying activity, and worked along with the ICH Committee and 9 practitioners.

A needs assessment activity has been carried out in the Gambia in 2015 during which national stakeholders addressed the importance of promoting local cultures and the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. These activities allowed to point out the need to raise awareness and support national institutions to reinforce their knowledge of the 2003 Convention and its implementation mechanisms. The importance of building a national strategy to safeguard intangible heritage and to review current strategy documents on culture in general was also underlined. This activity aimed also do develop a project proposal based on the identified needs.

Tras la firma del Plan de Operaciones entre la UNESCO y el Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural del Ecuador (INPC) hace unos meses, representantes de comunidades de portadores de patrimonio, municipios y expertos gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, se movilizaron plenamente dar lanzar otro paso significativo en la salvaguardia de su patrimonio vivo.
Con el objetivo de desarrollar un inventario del patrimonio inmaterial enla provincia ecuatoriana de Manabí, los representantes se reunieron para en un taller sobre la confección de inventarios del patrimonio cultural inmaterial con la participación de las comunidades en la ciudad de Portoviejo del 24 al 29 de junio de 2015.

Primero de una serie de medidas realizadas en el marco de un proyecto de fortalecimiento de capacidades para mejorar la salvaguardia del patrimonio vivo en Ecuador, el taller se centró en la identificación y definición del patrimonio cultural inmaterial, la recopilación de datos, el consentimiento libre, previo e informado, y la organización de datos. A continuación, se organizó un ejercicio práctico de inventario en Machalilla, durante la fiesta de San Pedro y San Pablo y la reunión de Presidentes de los Gobiernos de Castilla y Guinea.
Organizado por la Oficina de la UNESCO en Quito y el INPC, el taller fue posible gracias a la generosa contribución del Gobierno de Japón.

Documentos

• Lista de participantes: español
• Programa: español

From 8 to 12 June, the Lombardy region (Italy) and the canton of Graubünden (Switzerland) hosted a training workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Tirano (province of Sondrio, Italy) and Valposchiavo (Switzerland), demonstrating the increasing awareness in Europe of the need for capacity-building to better safeguard living heritage.

Bringing together 25 participants, including representatives of the local administration, civil society, tradition bearers, academia and professionals from the tourism and environment sectors, the workshop introduced fundamental objectives and concepts of the 2003 Convention and enhanced the understanding of participants about obligations and safeguarding activities involved in implementing the Convention at national and local levels. Combining four days of presentations, discussions and exercises, as well as one day of fieldwork in the terraced vineyards of Valtellina, the workshop also addressed linkages between the 2003 Convention, the Convention concerning the protection of the World cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Convention, 1972) and the Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions (2005).

The workshop specifically highlighted the importance of cross-border cooperation in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and of cooperation across sectors directly and indirectly impacting the viability of living heritage.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and its INTERREG mechanism supporting interregional cooperation and sustainable regional development across Europe, the training workshop was held within the framework of the project ‘Italo-Swiss Ethnography for the Promotion of Intangible Heritage’ initiated by the region of Lombardy. Conducted in Italian by a UNESCO-trained facilitator and an international law expert, and based on UNESCO’s global capacity-building programme and training materials, the activity was organized by the Regional Agency for Services to Agricultural and Forestry (Italy) and the Association for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Italy).

Documents

• Agenda : italiano
• Generic references for facilitators - Capacity-building resources: Cession of rights: inglés
• Generic references for facilitators - Capacity-building resources: Workshop report: inglés
• List of participants: inglés
• Presentation - Meeting: Poster: italiano

UNESCO put in place since 2009 a global capacity-building programme to assist countries in building the institutional and professional environment required for the effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. The programme is part of global and national efforts to attain long-term development goals. It intends to assist beneficiary countries with making development more sustainable, ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage present in their territories and strengthening relations within and between communities, through the effective implementation of the Convention. However, stakeholders interviewed stressed the importance of capacity building for its successful implementation and many considered the capacity-building programme to be the most important of all mechanisms established so far. A systematic monitoring mechanism would allow UNESCO to follow up several months and years after the results and impact of these capacity-building interventions at the country level. While some information on project results, strengths and weaknesses is available in reports on project implementation, review meetings and facilitators’ assessments at the end of training delivery, no longer term analysis exists yet on any sustained behaviour or structural change (different approaches or practices used) and on the ultimate impact resulting from UNESCO’s intervention through capacity-building activities: improved inventories, better policy and legislative environment, increased community involvement, successful participation in international mechanisms, etc.
Supported by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO has embarked on the establishment of a follow-up and evaluation mechanism for activities implemented within the context of the global capacity-building strategy.
Such mechanism is challenging and will require creative thinking and commitment from key constituents. The involvement of all constituents — national counterparts, including national commissions, UNESCO Field Offices, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at Headquarters, but also all relevant other stakeholders — is indispensable.

Documents

• Background note : inglés|francés
• Timetable: inglés|francés
• Working Document: inglés|francés

This activity took place in May and June 2015 with a total of 22 participants (14 females and 8 males). The exercise was organised by the Bonaire UNESCO Work group in collaboration with the NGO Fundashon Historiko Kultural di Boneiru (FuHiKuBO) which has been documenting the intangible heritage of Bonaire and the Dutch Caribbean. Additional expertise was provided by the Bonaire UNESCO Work group (ICH Committee) who had all attended previous workshops (IMP and INV), and Rose Mary Allen, an anthropologist from Curaçao. Bonaire focussed its inventorying exercise on practitioners of traditional Bonaire music, haladó (traditional healing) and maskarada. Participants represented cultural foundations, the Ministry of Culture and migrant communities in Bonaire (Venezuelan and Colombian).

A stakeholder’s workshop on Eritrean Cultural and Natural Heritage Legislation took place on 26 and 27 May 2015 in Asmara organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the Asmara Heritage Project in coordination with UNESCO Nairobi Office. Workshop participants were Eritrean experts who represented stakeholder institutions such as the National Museum of Eritrea, National Commission of Eritrea for UNESCO, Research and Documentation Centre, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Department of Religious Affairs, Eritrean Institute of Technology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Eritrean Police and the School of Law.

Prior to the workshop, a local expert was contracted to collect information on existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks. The workshop was facilitated by Mr Silverse Anami, a UNESCO trained facilitator.

The workshop was supported by the Kingdom of Norway voluntary supplementary contribution to the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

The workshop, which is organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and the UNESCO Ramallah Office, will include participants from various ministries, the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, relevant civil society organizations and research institutions. They will provide their inputs and perspectives to the draft Law in line with the principles and provisions of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage ratified by Palestine in 2011. Once finalized, the draft Law will be submitted to the relevant Palestinian authorities for endorsement.

The workshop is a continuation of a process that started in 2012 when the Ministry of Culture with UNESCO’s technical support and through broad consultation with civil society institutions, prepared an initial draft. The Law will be an important safeguarding measure and together with the participatory process through which it emerged, demonstrate the strong commitment of national authorities to ensure the viability of living heritage in Palestine.

Nigerian officials, policymakers, civil society and members of its United Nations Country Team met in Abuja to discuss the revision of the 1988 Cultural Policy and other national legislation.

The one-day workshop, which featured a cross-section of attendees, including those in fields other than culture such as agriculture, education and health, looked at gaps in current safeguarding policy for Nigeria’s living heritage and associated legal frameworks for amendment.

The initiative is part of the 2014 UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust cooperation project ‘Support to the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Nigeria’.

A national expert has been assigned to conduct a detailed assessment of the situation and propose recommendations, which is expected to be completed by the end of August 2015.

Document

• Agenda: inglés
• List of participants: inglés

The field exercise in Saba was organized by the ICH Committee and started with a meeting to inform all practitioners that attended the consultation in January about the community-based inventory training in Curaçao, as well as the organisation of the field exercise. Additionally, participants identified different forms of ICH to focus on in the field exercise, among which the Maypole dance, the preparation of traditional dishes within families and ICH related to agriculture and the production of food were highlighted. In the end, the Maypole dance was considered to be the most suitable as it was well known, had not been documented thus far and had few practitioners remaining.

Participants (7 females and 3 males) were trained to work with the UNESCO sample framework by members of the ICH Committee. A short documentary was produced about the Maypole dance that focused on the inventorying process. Practitioners were also trained in the various methodologies from the inventory workshop and in the use of the audio-visual equipment. Saba benefited from the participation of a maypole practitioner from St Maarten who conducted workshops with the children of Saba as well as worked with local practitioners. These children also formed part of the team trained to document this element.

The ICH Committee focused its field exercise on Sint Eustatius (Statia) string band music due to its important role in social life and the urgency to safeguard the related knowledge and skills, as practitioners were getting older. Community members involved, as well as active practitioners, formerly active senior practitioners and people who identify with band music but aren’t active practitioners. The key persons from within the string band music community were approached by the ICH Committee to ask for their willingness to participate and their consent to be interviewed and provide information about this element. This was received with enthusiasm. There was great effort to involve youth in the field exercise, with two participants coming from the Simon Doncker Club, the youth organization of the St. Eustatius Historical Foundation. The involvement of this youth organization also provided a basis for future involvement in the inventorying of ICH. To involve more youth outside the cultural field, the ICH Committee organized a specific activity for youth focused on the transfer of knowledge and skills related to playing string band music and the manufacturing of the instruments. The footage of the field exercise will be used to produce a documentary on the Killi Killi band music to further raise awareness.

UNESCO New Delhi office was the guest of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa on 27 and 28 April 2015 to orgnaize a two-day training workshop on UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, with a particular focus on inventory making.

Animated by UNESCO resource persons – Dr Shubha Chaudhuri (Director of Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology), Ananya Bhattacharya (Director, Contact Base / banglanatak dot com), and Moe Chiba (Chief, Culture Sector, UNESCO New Delhi), some 27 professionals from Goa took part in the lecture-cum practical sessions to discuss how an inventory of ICH for the State of Goa would look like and what could be the working methodologies.

In India, the protection of heritage is the responsibility of both the Union Government and State Governments. In a vast country such as India with diverse cultural traditions, it could be more effective if each State Government takes the responsibility of drawing up the inventory and implementing the safeguarding plan rather than expecting the Central Government’s initiative. Accordingly, UNESCO New Delhi, in partnership with Sangeet Natak Academi has started since last year the sensitization of State level government officers on the UNESCO Convention. Following the workshop in Delhi in December 2014, the Government of Goa is the very first State to have expressed its willingness to move forward in development of the State-level ICH inventory. The two-day workshop was not intended to provide any clear-cut advice on how an ICH inventory of Goa should be, but rather aimed at steering the attention of the participants on those issues that need to be discussed and planned prior to conducting any survey and data collection for the Inventory. These include the size of the inventory and the type of ICH elements to be covered, data to be collected for each of the ICH elements, method of data organization, modalities of data sourcing, intended follow-up action for the ICH elements under the inventory etc.

Madagascar is one of the French-speaking countries chosen to benefit from the financial support of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Tourism (ADTCA) in the field of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The mission in which we took part was prepared by the Nairobi multi-country UNESCO office in close contact with the Ministry of Culture of Madagascar. It took place from April 24 to May 3, 2015. The mission was also an opportunity to visit a local PCI to know the traditional know-how related to the production and the craft of silk in the village of Ambohitrabiby, about fifty kilometers from Antananarivo. Madagascar is a large island with 18 socio-cultural groups and a very strong Comorian community with a population of about 23 million. The country is divided into 22 administrative regions, but the Ministry of Culture is deconcentrated in only 11 regions at present.

The main objective of the mission is working closely with the responsible national cultural institution to identify institutional capacities, perspective, human resource needs of whom are working in the Intangible Culture heritage sector. The outcome of the mission is to develop a realistic project proposal within the local context in the field of ICH safeguarding. Later on the project proposal will be funded by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA).The consultant mission was organized in partnership with the Intangible Cultural Heritage section – UNESCO- HQ, the UNESCO’s Khartoum Office and the Federal Ministry of Culture in Sudan. The mission was conducted by the expert Ms Marina Calvo.

In 2012, at its seventh session, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) invited UNESCO’s Secretariat ‘to initiate work on a model code of ethics and to report on it to a next session of the Committee’ (Decision 7.COM 6: inglés|francés). In order to initiate this important work, the Secretariat is organizing the present meeting, generously hosted by the Kingdom of Spain and co-funded by Spain and the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

The aim of the meeting is to discuss the main lines that should figure into codes of ethics for intangible cultural heritage. This three-day meeting will bring together twelve experts from different UNESCO Member States as well as four members of the Secretariat. The results of the meeting will be presented to the Director-General of UNESCO and subsequently examined by the Committee when it meets for its tenth session in Namibia from 30 November to 4 December 2015.

Debates during the meeting will focus on:

1. The core values of the Convention that should be integrated into codes of ethics for ICH (e.g. values such as primacy of communities, respect for human rights and cultural diversity, limits on access to heritage and possession of heritage);
2. General scope of codes of ethics for ICH. The comparative advantages of being more comprehensive or more focused on specific sectors. The multiple possible addressees (e.g. State agents, civil society, the private sector, the media, tourism operators, tourists, etc.);
3. The specific ethical principles that should be included in codes of ethics for ICH (e.g. sector-specific and/or audience-specific principles, resulting from cross-referencing core values of the Convention against specific sectors or addressees);
4. The possible processes that could be used to elaborate one or more model codes of ethics for ICH and to proceed from a model to specific codes adapted to different contexts at the regional, national and subnational levels (e.g. examples of other model codes and how they were developed, then how they were applied and/or turned into specific codes).

Documents

• Practical information: inglés|francés|español
• Preliminares y agenda
  ITH/15/EXP/1 Rev.: inglés|francés|español
• Towards codes of ethics for intangible cultural heritage?
  ITH/15/EXP/2: inglés|francés|español
• List of participants
  ITH/15/EXP/3: inglés/francés

The National Directorate of Culture of Sao Tome and Principe in cooperation with UNESCO convenes a workshop on the elaboration of community-based inventories of living heritage in the spirit of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The workshop, which will take place from 30 March to 10 April 2015 in the capital of Sao Tome, will introduce the concepts, objectives and methods of inventorying and includes practical field work in the community of Boa Morte.
As part of the capacity-building project to reinforce the safeguarding of living heritage in the Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (PALOP), the workshop will gather some 25 Santomean particpants including stakeholders from local to national levels. With the aim to strengthen regional cooperation among PALOP countries the training will be co-facilitated by a Brazilian and a Mozambican expert who has been previously trained through the same programme. Moreover, a culture officer from Cabo Verde will attend the workshop in view of similar activities planned in the Archipelago off the coast of Western Africa.
This workshop is made possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Documents

As part of the activity “Strengthening National Capacity for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Djibouti: Needs Assessment and Project Proposal Development” led by UNESCO and funded by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Tourism and Culture (ADTCA), expertise was provided between March and May 2015 to assess Djibouti’s capacity building needs for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, with the aim of proposing a future project.

In the context of UNESCO’s activity “Strengthening national capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Sudan: assessing needs and developing a project proposal” funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA), a consultancy service has been delivered from March to May 2015,including a mission to Sudan that was carried out from 3 to 10 April 2015. The mission aimed at identifying, in collaboration with institutions responsible for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sudan, the needs and keys objectives that can be addressed in the context of UNESCO’s capacity-building strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
The activity was coordinated by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section of UNESCO and UNESCO Office in Khartoum (Sudan), in cooperation with the Sudanese National Commission for UNESCO (NATCOM) and the Ministry of Culture of Sudan.

This mission falls within the framework of the National Capacity Building Project for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in eight countries in Africa and the Arab region (Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Madagascar, Palestine, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen): needs assessment and development of project proposals funded by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Tourism and Culture (ADTCA). Within this framework, this 7-day mission took place from February 28 to March 7, 2015 in the Comoros to establish a solid base to support this country in its efforts to safeguard its living heritage, in accordance with the 2003 UNESCO Convention.

Having completed the first joint training on the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage last September, representatives of the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten) are taking the next significant step in the implementation of a coordinated strategy to safeguard their living heritage.

From 22 to 28 February 2015, community practitioners, as well as governmental and non-governmental experts, will gather in Curacao for a workshop on community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage with the primary aim to develop a framework for the inventory of their heritage. The core of the workshop will focus on community participation in the identification and definition of intangible cultural heritage, data collection, organization and management, laying the foundation not only for a 5-day field inventorying exercise to follow in the six respective islands, but for future inventorying and safeguarding work.

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

The workshop had the overall objective of increasing the awareness-raising and improve the understanding of the 2003 Convention for its effective implementation and for the establishment of a sound policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of the communities in North Kivu.

Documents

LIST_DOC:00494

Training of trainers workshop on safeguarding in Asia-Pacific

What are the knowledge and skills required to elaborate safeguarding plans for intangible cultural heritage effectively? How to acquire these competencies successfully? These questions are at the centre of a training workshop with eleven expert facilitators and ten UNESCO culture officers involved in implementing the global capacity-building strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the Asia Pacific region. Participants will test a new interactive methodology that UNESCO elaborated for this purpose and, furthermore, discuss new training approaches in two other thematic areas: policy development and gender.

The International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP) is hosting and generously supporting this training of trainers workshop on safeguarding plans and policy support, which will take place from 19 to 23 January 2015 in Shenzhen, China. Five specialists from China identified by CRIHAP are participating as observers in the training that UNESCO is co-facilitating together with Mr. Rieks Smeets and Ms. Janet Blake, both senior specialists on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Shenzhen training workshop on safeguarding plans and policy support for intangible cultural heritage is addressed to UNESCO-trained facilitators from the Asia-Pacific Region who have substantial experience in providing training and advisory services in the context of UNESCO’s global capacity building strategy for the effective implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). It will furthermore welcome some additional experts selected to become future facilitators together with colleagues from the Region’s Field Offices and five Chinese experts. In total the workshop will bring together 26 participants.

The focus of the training is on elaborating safeguarding plans, because this theme was identified as a priority need in recent programme review meetings held with facilitators and Field Office colleagues in several regions. Indeed, without mastering the skills and knowledge required to elaborate solid plans for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, safeguarding is not sustainable. Well-conceived, time-bound and budgeted safeguarding plans are furthermore a requirement for obtaining International Assistance from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund for safeguarding projects and for preparing nomination files for the Urgent Safeguarding List.

Therefore, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section developed a methodology on this topic, and will invite participating experts to provide feedback in order to finalize the materials. Similarly, UNESCO will share with participants for feedback and advice the progress made in developing training approaches and materials on two other themes: policy development and gender. These topics figured prominently in the recent evaluation of UNESCO’s standard-setting work of the Culture Sector, which concluded that they deserve more attention in the capacity-building programme. The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage endorsed the recommendation in a decision about the follow-up to the Evaluation (DECISION 8.COM 5.c.1).

The purpose of the training workshop is thus two-fold: it intends to upgrade participants’ competencies in the areas of safeguarding, policy development and gender, while at the same time drawing upon experts’ knowledge and experience for advice.

Documents

• Agenda: inglés
• List of participants: inglés