Benefitting country(ies): South Sudan

Overview:

Led by the Ministry of Culture, in close collaboration with the UNESCO Office in Juba, the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee (NICHC) and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, this twenty-four-month project is aimed at developing an inventory of intangible cultural heritage in South Sudan in order to contribute to its safeguarding. Due to the ongoing social transitions in the country, coupled with a general lack of interest in cultural issues among young people, there is a strong need to make deliberate efforts to safeguard living heritage in the country. In this context, the project has three key objectives. Firstly, it aims to raise awareness among various stakeholders about intangible cultural heritage, measures and mechanisms for safeguarding it, the 2003 Convention and its implementation modalities. Secondly, it will build capacities among members of six communities (Bari, Lokoya, Anyuak, Acholi, Dinka and Nuer) on the community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage, providing training to thirty participants (community members, culture officers and members of the NICHC). Thirdly, inventorying exercises will be conducted to document thirty-six elements of living heritage, which will be added to the national inventory of intangible cultural heritage in South Sudan. Videos will also be produced for the inventoried elements.

News and activities:

• 2020-10-08 – Nearly US$500,000 granted to support safeguarding activities in Antigua and Bermuda, Burundi, Egypt, South Sudan and Uruguay

04/11/2019 - 03/04/2023 – Capacity-building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through creation of community-based inventory for Luang Prabang22/03/2023 - 22/03/2023 – Pilot inventory of the intangible cultural heritage of the communities of the Lobaye forest prefecture