“Webinar titled “Youth and Nauryz Traditions Safeguarding” organized by the Municipality of the City of Shymkent, Shymkent city Department of Culture, Languages Development and Archives, National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO, UNESCO Chair on Science and Spirituality at the Institute of Oriental Studies named after R.Suleimenov and UNESCO Chair on Science and Spirituality at Suleimenov’s Institute of Oriental Studies.

The City of Shymkent celebrates its 2200th anniversary. It has been included in the List of anniversaries which UNESCO is associated in 2020-2021. The Mayor of Shymkent and the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO invite representatives of the National Commissions from the countries which have celebrate Nauryz holidays for centuries. This will provide a unique possibility to share the experience of transition of traditional knowledge and ritual practices from its ancient origin to the global contacts and modern IT technologies.

The main topic for discussion will be the youth involvement to learn, study and safeguard the rich cultural heritage of the predecessors and historical memory, and resume of the cultural interaction at the Great Silk Road.

Register here.”

The UNESCO Office for the GCC and Yemen, in partnership with the Qatari National Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture and Sports launched an online workshop on “Inventories of the Intangible Cultural Heritage with the Participation of Communities”. This initiative is taking place in the framework of UNESCO’s continued support to safeguard Qatar’s living heritage, in line with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Her Excellency Sheikha Najla Al Thani, Director of Heritage and Identity Department at the Ministry of Culture and Sports highlighted the importance organizing such a workshop amidst this rapidly changing context and the COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting communities and the intangible cultural heritage practices among them.

Inventories are integral to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage as per the 2003 Convention because they can raise awareness about intangible cultural heritage and its importance for individual and collective identities. The process of inventorying intangible cultural heritage and making those inventories accessible to the public can also encourage creativity and self-respect in the communities and individuals where expressions and practices of intangible cultural heritage originate. Inventories can also provide a basis for formulating concrete plans to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage concerned.

“At the end of this first ever workshop in Qatar, which will take place from 21 to 28 February 2021, the trained group of participants including from the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Qatar Museums, National Commission and other identified institutions, should be fully equipped to engage in designing and conducting community-based inventorying in the State of Qatar.” affirms Junaid Sorosh-Wali, Head of the Culture Unit at UNESCO Office for GCC and Yemen

Professor Annie Thome Tabet and Dr. Maissoun Sharqawi, from the Global Network of Facilitators, will deliver the pieces of training based on their experience, which they have gained through extensive training provided previously by UNESCO.

En collaboration avec le Centre international d’information et de travail en réseau sur le patrimoine culturel immatériel dans la région Asie-Pacifique (ICHCAP), l’UNESCO organise le webinaire ‘Suivre et évaluer le patrimoine vivant dans l’éducation : contribuer à la sauvegarde du patrimoine et atteindre l’ODD 4’ qui aura lieu le 26 janvier 2021, de 13h00 à 14h30 heure de Paris. Ce webinaire est généreusement parrainé par l’Administration du patrimoine culturel de la République de Corée.

Des experts dans les domaines de l’éducation et du patrimoine vivant se sont réunis en décembre 2020 afin d’échanger sur les indicateurs liés à l’éducation dans le Cadre global de résultats de la Convention pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel. Cet événement en ligne permettra aux experts de partager publiquement les résultats de leur application concrète au niveau local. Un panel d’éminents intervenants développera ensuite les liens entre les indicateurs liés à l’éducation et l’Objectif de développement durable 4 (ODD4) sur l’accès de tous à une éducation de qualité, démontrant ainsi les bénéfices d’un monitoring intersectoriel et prodiguant des conseils de première main dans la rédaction des rapports périodiques des États parties sur ces indicateurs liés à l’éducation.

© UNESCO

Le webinaire sera animé par l’expert référent Mme Janet Blake, professeure agrégée en droit à l’Université de Shahid Beheshti en Iran, ainsi que par Mme Susanne Schnüttgen, en charge du programme de renforcement des capacités pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel à l’UNESCO. Un panel d’acteurs-clés dans les domaines du patrimoine culturel et de l’éducation prendront part à la discussion qui sera ainsi divisée en trois parties :

1. Introduction au sujet principal du webinaire, suivi d’une brève présentation sur les indicateurs liés à l’éducation utilisés sous l’égide de la Convention de 2003, ainsi qu’un entretien avec des experts explorant l’importance de ces indicateurs pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine vivant et pour atteindre l’ODD 4.
2. Discussion autour d’exemples concrets d’application de ces indicateurs.
3. Session de questions-réponses entre le panel et les participants.

Pour participer à ce webinaire, vous devez vous inscrire en ligne au préalable. La diffusion en direct sera accessible via la chaîne YouTube de l’ICHCAP en anglais, français, espagnol et coréen. Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site internet de l’UNESCO et de l’ICHCAP.

Téléchargement du dépliant: anglais|français|espagnol|coréen

Education plays a key role in safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Experiences have shown that teaching core subjects such as mathematics, science or literature by using students’ ICH backgrounds can make the learning process more relevant, as it creates better connections between what is taught in classrooms and the children’s everyday life.

On 8 January 2021, UNESCO launched the pilot project “Teaching with Intangible Cultural Heritage in Schools in Asia and the Pacific” virtually in Nepal. The 65 participants included the mayors and officials from Budhanilkantha and Kirtipur municipalities; teachers and principals of pilot schools and community resource persons from the two municipalities; officials representing the Centre of Education and Human Resource Development and Curriculum Development Centre under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal National Commission for UNESCO, and experts in education and culture. The event was followed by a preparatory session.

The main goal of the project is to strengthen the use of ICH in formal education, and in particular to promote it in various school-subjects through testing and validation of multiple teaching methods, materials, and lesson plans using ICH.

The project is being implemented in collaboration with the two culturally rich municipalities of Budhanilkantha and Kirtipur. The implementing partner, Srijanalaya, will prepare the team from four selected schools—Janasewa and Mangal from Kirtipur and Ganesh and Naulin from Budhanilkantha for the pilot project. Each school team consists of one person from the School Management Committee, three different subject teachers, and one community resource person.

Uddhab Prasad Kharel, Mayor of Budhanilkantha Municipality, stated, “The beautiful aspect of this project is to engage students which will help them practice and learn from their own living heritage,” while the Mayor of Kirtipur Municipality said, “Our living heritage is in the process of being lost. In this context, this project, involving students and those from the community, is important to safeguard our heritage.” Earlier, during information-sharing sessions with the two municipalities and their respective school teams during November and December 2020, both the Mayors had expressed their commitments to fully support the project, finding it both interesting and useful in the context of preparing and implementing the local curricula in schools.

“The cultural practices and knowledge that are meaningful to communities can provide context-specific content and pedagogy for education programmes, and thus act to leverage the relevance of education and improve learning outcomes,” said UNESCO Representative to Nepal Christian Manhart in his opening remarks. “In the meantime, this opportunity can help safeguard intangible heritage through education,” he added.

The preparatory session involved a participatory exercise to map ICH elements, where the community resource persons identified about 26 of their ICH elements and the school team discussed how these could be linked in the school curriculum, pedagogy, and other school activities. The mapping exercise engaged members of the communities and school teams to build up a good rapport and to jointly explore diverse living heritage elements from within their communities. The school teams representing both the municipalities expressed their desire to also include other ICH elements that could not be fully explored through this process. This mapping of ICH elements will continue and become a part of the pilot activities in the schools.

The result of the pilot project will be shared with the Advisory Committee which includes representatives from the Culture and Education ministries. The Advisory Committee has been formed to provide necessary input during the implementation of the project. The outcome of this pilot implementation is expected to be incorporated into the national education system in the future.

The pilot implementation is in line with Nepal’s commitment to implement the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage at a national level and will support its commitment to the SDG goal and target 4.7: by 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

This project is a joint initiative by UNESCO and its two Category 2 Centers: International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) and Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU). Nepal is one of six countries selected in the Asia-Pacific Region to join the pilot project.