focus areas
We are a key player in cultural cooperation in the region, providing support of Member States in achieving SDGs 5, 8, 10, 11, 16 and 17, though a variety of activities. Our projects aim to: improve the management of World Heritage properties and the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage for sustainable development; assess the impact and promote the role of culture for development in South-East Europe; promote coexistence, respecting diversity, increasing participation, awareness and influence of youth in political dialogue; improve emergency preparedness and response to natural and human-induced hazards, including support to post-disaster recovery; fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property in, from and through the region; support regional platforms for cultural cooperation and joint action, to enhance stability and reconciliation in the region; and, protect and promote museums and collections, and their role in societies.
Intangible Cultural Heritage
The South-East European Experts Network on Intangible Cultural Heritage was established in 2007 by UNESCO, through its Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in order to support the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the region. Annual meetings of the network took place so far in Arbanasi, Bulgaria (2007); Safranbolu, Turkey (2008); Zagreb, Croatia (2009); Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Romania (2010); Belgrade, Serbia (2011); Athens, Greece (2012); Sofia, Bulgaria (2013); Limassol, Cyprus (2014); Venice, Italy (2015); Supetar, Croatia (2016); Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2017); Ljubljana, Slovenia (2018); and Cremona, Italy (2019). These meetings contributed to enhance a common understanding of opportunities and challenges linked to the safeguarding of the ICH as a key asset of South-East European cultural diversity, promoting the sharing of knowledge and good practices on national measures to implement the Convention, and serving as a platform to develop regional and cross-border cooperation.
Role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites
What is the role – actual and potential – of visitor/information centres in UNESCO designated sites? How can such centres better contribute to the objectives of the different designations, and of the sites themselves? To answer these questions, UNESCO organized the first regional workshop for Europe on the role of visitor centres in UNESCO designated sites, which took place from 30 September to 2 October 2018 in Palermo, Italy. The meeting brought together representatives from 20 selected designated sites from Europe (including World Heritage properties, Biosphere Reserves, and Global Geoparks), together with other international experts and UNESCO staff, in order to start sharing experiences and advice for the enhancement of existing visitor centres and the establishment of new ones.
A second regional workshop was organized in Bamberg, Germany, on by the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe in cooperation with the City of Bamberg, the German Commission for UNESCO, and Interpret Europe. The meetingd had the objective to build the capacity of visitor centres in UNESCO designated sites with special focus on the Interpretation of heritage and education for sustainable development, as one of the 3 main focus areas identified during the first workshop in 2018. Currently, the Regional Bureau is planning two more workshops to target the other focus areas, namely Visitors management and sustainability, and Community engagement.
UNESCO Designations and Sustainable Development
The Academy on UNESCO Designations and Sustainable Development is a capacity-building programme created and implemented by the Fondazione Santagata for the Economics of Culture and UNESCO through the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in cooperation with several regional and local partners.
The main objective of the Academy is to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, through the advancement of institutional and professional capacities of managing authorities, communities and relevant operators from different UNESCO designations under both the Culture and Science sectors, including: World Heritage properties, Biosphere Reserves, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Global Geoparks, and elements inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists and Register. The Academy also aims at reinforcing synergies between different designations and designated sites, especially at local level, through networking, cooperation and integrated management, based on their shared objectives to contribute to UNESCO’s mission with regard to building peace and fostering sustainable development.
CoMoCoSEE
The Council of Ministers of Culture of South East Europe (CoMoCoSEE) – “Enhancing culture for development” is a unique cooperation platform in the field of culture, created by the Ministers responsible for culture in South East Europe with the aim to promote the culture as an important vehicle for peace building and reconciliation, as well as enabler of the development. Being the main cultural cooperation platform in South-East Europe, its main purpose is to further strengthen regional cooperation, boosting cultural heritage and creativity as drivers for sustainable development and regional integration.
UNESCO Culture for Development Indicators
The UNESCO Culture for Development Indicators (CDIS) is a pioneering policy and advocacy tool that aims to assess the multidimensional role of culture in development processes, fostering economic growth and helping individuals and communities to expand their life choices and adapt to change. It refers to culture both as a sector of organized activity and as the values that orient individual and collective action and comprises several type of indicators ranging from the contribution of cultural activities to GDP, to cultural employment, to questions of training, participation and efficiency of cultural policy frameworks and their degree of inclusiveness, to trust of others, or access to cultural infrastructures. CDIS directly contributes to the implementation of Article 13 (Integration of Culture in Sustainable Development) of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
Holocaust education and intercultural understanding in South-East Europe
Launched in 2011 in the framework of UNESCO’s global initiative “Culture: a Bridge to Development”, the project aims at transforming part of this unique World Heritage memorial into a learning and exchange forum on the Holocaust by means of innovative narratives, interpretations and museographical display. The project, the establishment of a renovated joint exhibit space within the ex-Yugoslav pavilion (Block 17)] is being developed under global initiative “Culture: a bridge to development”, and implemented within UNESCO’s Intersectoral Platform for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence. The project is being developed under overall umbrella UNESCO’s Intersectoral Platform for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, is born as firm commitment of the EX – Yugoslav republic, to establish a joint permanent exhibition at the Block 17 at the National Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau.