Meetings on intangible cultural heritage (co-)organized by UNESCO

This activity is part a second phase of the ICH project financed by the Government of Flanders and implemented by the UNESCO Field Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at the UNESCO Headquarter provided technical support throughout the process of the activity.

Co-facilitating the training were Mr. Sam Ishmeal – an Ethnomusicologist, Mr. Cornelius Engelbrecht and Mr. Helon Muhaindjumba. The three day training of trainers workshop was attended by 37 participants (23 males and 14 females) from 14 regions in Namibia.

At the request of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Decision 9.COM 13.e and Decision 10.COM 9 ), UNESCO is organizing an expert meeting from 7 to 9 September 2016 in Beijing, China aiming to lay the foundation upon which an overall results framework of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage could be constructed. This expert meeting is generously funded and hosted by the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

The three-day meeting in Beijing will gather some 35 participants from around the world. The report of the meeting will be presented to the eleventh session of the Committee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November/December 2016. Based on the discussions at these occassions, a preliminary results framework for the Convention (with proposed objectives, time-frames, quantitative and qualitative indicators, and benchmarks) will be elaborated for examination by the intergovernmental open-ended working group that may be organized in 2017, subject to extrabudgetary funding.

Documents

• Programme: English|French
• Background document: English|French
• List of participants : English/French
• General Information: English|French

Strengthening sub-regional cooperation and national capacities to effectively safeguard intangible cultural heritage through the reinforcement of legislative, institutional and policy frameworks.
This workshop will be organized with the participants from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe and possibly from Mozambique.

The training workshop was jointly organized by UNESCO Beijing Office, the National Authority for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (NAPCH), and the National Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for UNESCO, with the financial contribution from the International Training Centre for Intangible Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP). The workshop was part of CRIHAP’s work plan for FY 2016 and was organized under the framework of UNESCO’s global capacity-building programme on strengthening capacities to effectively implement the 2003 Convention of the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Since the ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2008, a number of capacity building training workshops were organized in Pyongyang by UNESCO Beijing in 2010, 2011 (National Safeguarding Awareness-Raising workshop) and 2013 (Training Workshop on the Implementation of 2003 Convention). This workshop was a follow-up to the past workshops and focused on ICH inventorying through community participation.

Zambia conducted a workshop on community based ICH inventory and inventoried 3 elements. This activity took place from 25-29 July 2016 in Kabwe, Central Province and a total of 18 participants, including 5 community members were trained and awarded certificates of successful completion of the training. The workshop was designed to reaffirm the capacity of some of the experts that were trained in Kabwe in 2014 by allowing them to facilitate different sessions of the community inventory training modules. At the end of the facilitation programme, 5 participants who excelled were awarded certificates to practice as ICH Experts.

This activity is part a second phase of the ICH project financed by the Government of Flanders and implemented by the UNESCO Field Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Section at the UNESCO Headquarter provided technical support throughout the process of the activity.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and the UNESCO Office in Quito are running the last of a series of three workshops on formulating public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage from 13 to 16 June 2016 in Puerto López (Manabí province).

Initially planned in Portoviejo, also in Manabí province that was dramatically affected by the earthquake of
16 April, the workshop will be based on UNDP Post-Disaster Needs Assessment methodology in relation to the revision of development plans from the perspective of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in a post-disaster context.
Approximately 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry and INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members who will be attending the workshop are from regions that have been seriously affected by the earthquake.

It is part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador.

Last year, community-based inventorying activities were organized in Portoviejo to increase awareness and strengthen synergies.

This next step in the process will enable participants to reflect on the impact of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage from gender and human rights perspectives in the context of Ecuador’s development plan for “Well-Being”.

As a state party to the Convention since 2006 and a participant in international meetings and mechanisms (sessions of the IGC and GA, expert groups, regional meetings, submission of nominations and inscriptions on the RL), Romania has already proven its interest in the workings of the Convention. This workshop comes as a step forward in enhancing the implementation of the Convention in more concrete and substantial terms, primarily as regards the issues of community participation, elaboration of safeguarding activities, bottom-up inventorying, roles of different types of stakeholders and the coordination between them.
Despite quite frequent political changes and the understaffed relevant sections in the Ministry of Culture, one can recognize the intention of tracing a coherent national policy concerning the safeguarding of ICH. The above mentioned legal framework contributes toward this direction. The National Inventory and Registry, as two complementary instruments of identification of the ICH, have been elaborated by experts in the field of ethnology and folklore studies, cooperating closely with the officials from the Ministry of Culture, as well as with representatives of communities concerned.
The planned and carried out CB workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at national level proved to be useful. Its objectives touched the core national needs, especially in terms of comprehension of key concepts of the Convention and their clarification through concrete case studies that were thoroughly discussed.

The 4th annual meeting of the category 2 centres active in the field of intangible cultural heritage will be held on 3 June 2016 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France). The meeting will follow up on the three previous annual meetings.

• Agenda: English|French
• List of participants: English|French

For further information:

• Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO

The field exercise in Suriname was organized jointly by the National Commission, the Department of Cultural Studies (Directorate of Culture) and the Foundation Na Afrikan Kultura fu Sranan (NAKS). Suriname focused its field exercise on the national dress of Suriname – the koto, and its associated dances and songs by persons who made these dresses. Twelve persons were trained representing 7 females and 5 males who came largely from the youth department of NAKS – Wan Rutu.

The exercise revealed unknown koto experts and practitioners who were willing to contribute, and the interviews revealed that the type of music traditionally performed at ‘Koto Dansi,’ parties where all women are dressed in Koto, needed urgent revitalization.

The UNESCO Office in Amman in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Jordan implemented the workshop on “Implementation of the 2003 Convention of Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage” from 29 May till 01 June 2016 in Amman. This training is part of the UNESCO global strategy for strengthening national capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention. The implementation of this workshop was very successful in many regards:
The workshop paved the way for a better understanding of the 2003 Convention and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage among the governmental and community stakeholders. As a result of the workshop, the participants were equipped with information on the importance of ICH, the UNESCO 2003 Convention for Safeguarding ICH, detailed understanding of how to apply for funding, and some other key tools for teaching and promoting ICH through the media.
This initiative attracted a wide participation of stakeholder from NGOs representing various communities across Jordan, Ministries and National Authorities involved on cultural heritage at different levels.

The workshop was highly successful in contributing to enhance the capacities of the national stakeholders (governmental and non) to more effectively engage in the relevant safeguarding actions, in line with ER 5 “National capacities strengthened and utilized to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, including indigenous and endangered languages, through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention”.

Over twenty participants representing seven countries (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Suriname) will gather in Curaçao from 17 to 20 May 2016 for a workshop on developing plans to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage.

Reflecting diverse communities and practitioners, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in the safeguarding of living heritage in the sub-region, participants are among the first to benefit from a newly developed training combining the use of interactive scenarios and role-playing games that will be delivered by UNESCO-trained experts.

This activity builds on the community-based inventorying training and field exercises recently undertaken in the Dutch Caribbean. Organized by the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean in close cooperation with national partners across the islands, it is a part of a capacity-building project to reinforce safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the Dutch Caribbean islands and Suriname. It has been made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of the Netherlands to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

In the sequence of the workshop held in Loja, The Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and UNESCO’s Quito office are organizing in Riobamba the second of a set of three workshops on the formulation of public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The workshop, which will take place from 16 to 19 May 2016, will gather 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members. Facing the challenges of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, participants will work on mechanisms for revising and adapting development plans, whose implementation falls to local governments in Ecuador.

The workshop is part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador. Last year community-based inventorying activities were organized in Riobamba, increasing awareness and strengthening synergies. This will provide this new participatory space with a base to reflect on the impact and opportunities of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, from a gender and human rights perspectives in the context of Ecuador’s development plan for the “Well-Being”.

The one day meeting will take place in Paris as three of the six Syrian participants are currently located there and because it would be a good opportunity to present the Syrian participants to the concerned staff members of the Sections for Intangible Heritage (2003 Convention).
Syrian musicians and/or singers will be invited to take part in this meeting, together with an expert on Syrian traditional music, who will coordinate the présentations concerning the current status of Syrian traditional music, the threats they face in safeguarding this ICH and what support UNESCO can provide in this context.
The expert will provide an overview on the Syrian traditional music as an introduction to the meeting. This overview will take the form of a report, which will include the situation of the Syrian traditional music before the crisis, the different typologies of Syrian traditional music, its function in the society and in the current situation.

The regional workshop closes the capacity building project for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Portuguese Speaking African countries, funded by an earmarked contribution from Norway to the ICH-Fund. Professionals from all five PALOP countries gathered for a training on international assistance requests and to take stock of the project’s results in order to develop a strategy for ICH safeguarding in the PALOP region. The meeting was hosted by the Mozambican Institute for Socio-Cultural Research, Arquivo do Património Cultural (ARPAC), a leading institution in ICH safeguarding. Lucas Roque facilitated the workshop

In collaboration with the Department of Cultural Heritage and aiming to support Viet Nam’s efforts in ICH inventorying, UNESCO will provide a training of national trainers who can later act as key persons in the inventorying of ICH in Viet Nam from 9 to 15 May 2016.

The training of trainers program will mainly employ the training material package on community-based ICH inventory prepared by UNESCO under its global strategy of capacity building. The training program has the specific objectives:

• To strengthen awareness on safeguarding purpose of ICH inventorying, in line with the 2003 Convention and Law on cultural heritage;
  
• To promote knowledge and practice of community-based approaches in ICH inventorying;
  
• To build capacity for and establish a facility of experts, national trainers on ICH inventorying in Viet Nam.

The important objectives of ICH inventorying are to identify its values, to evaluate its viability and to propose safeguarding measures with informed consent by the local communities.

Following a seven-day training course, the participants will prepare training materials for the target localities. Depending on practical needs, they will act as national trainers in future trainings and in conducting inventories in provinces and cities.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/hanoi/about-this-office/single-view/news/course_announcement_training_of_trainers_on_community_based_inventorying_of_intangible_cultural_heritage_in_viet_nam/#.VqjQWlIXeQH