This online training of trainers’ workshop focuses on the following topics:

• Intangible cultural heritage in emergencies
  
• Living heritage and the COVID-19 pandemic
  
• Intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development
  
• Intangible cultural heritage and education

The 14th annual meeting of the South-East European Expert Network on Intangible Cultural Heritage will take place on 26 June 2020, in a virtual modality due to the travel restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 emergency.

The 2020 workshop is intended to provide participants with an opportunity to 1) share knowledge and experiences on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as on related responses from relevant actors in the region; and 2) stimulate critical thinking and inspire action with regard to ICH safeguarding in Covid-19 times, beyond the current emergency period.

The meeting is organized by UNESCO through the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in cooperation with the UNESCO Culture Sector – Living Heritage Entity, with the support of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-East Europe (Category 2 Centre operating under the auspices of UNESCO, based in Sofia, Bulgaria).

Implemented from January 2019 to July 2020, the UNESCO-EU project Engaging Youth for an Inclusive and Sustainable Europe proposes an innovative approach to education by inviting teachers and learners to explore their living heritage and learn not only about it, but also with and through it. Over the past few months, teachers and students from 10 selected UNESCO Associated Schools across the European Union have developed and implemented pilot projects in their own schools. Accompanied by UNESCO trained facilitators, each school team has conducted activities to identify the living heritage present in their school communities and to integrate it in lesson plans of subjects as diverse as mathematics, physics or languages, as well as in extra-curricular activities.

In this context, UNESCO, in close cooperation with the Netherlands Commission for UNESCO has brought together the ten ASPnet school teams to share their experiences, analyze the approaches used, and provide input for the development of the resource materials for teachers in Europe, to be produced by the end of the project.

The workshop was held from 27 February to 1 March 2020, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.