Events and meetings on intangible cultural heritage (co-)organized by UNESCO

A second series of workshops on transmission of Kallawaya knowledge and practices from experienced healers to young apprentices were held from 17 to 22 October 2015 in Curva, one of the cradles of Kallawaya healers, in the province of Bautista Saavedra.
Topics covered ranged from childbirth practices and diseases of women and children to prevention and cure of respiratory diseases, digestive diseases and diseases of the elderly. More than 30 Kallawaya participants were able to enhance their knowledge of community-based inventorying and received training on audio-visual information collection techniques.
Following the workshops, participants shared outcomes of project with other communities of the province who attended the final session. This last workshop highlighted the importance not only of Kallawaya knowledge and practices but intangible cultural heritage in general to finding responses to challenges faced in peacebuilding and sustainable development.
These workshops bring to an end activities carried out under the project ‘Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of Kallawaya communities’ which has been possible thanks to the endeavours of the Kallawaya authorities, the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism, the Bolivian Catholic University ‘San Pablo’, UNESCO and the generous and continual support of the Government of Japan.

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Mongolia was very eager to undertake this workshop that included field visits to communities to research ICH elements and practice drafting nomination dossier. Two groups visited and interviewed practitioners at the camp, while three other groups visited ICH practitioners in their communities.
The five groups explored:
1. Traditional steel carving art – Double carving technique of Suriya;
2. Horse culture: Traditional technique of making Airag in Khokhuur and its associated customs;
3. Mongolian traditional shaman’s knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
4. Traditional technique of coin-table embroidery;
5. Horse culture: Traditional knowledge and technique of making horse tools, such as a bridle, halter, whips, tri-hobble and swift horse scraper.

Curaçao focused its field exercise on the elements of kachu, the harvest festival and playing the benta. Ten participants (5 females  and5 males) were selected from different NGOs and were trained by a local anthropologist and the director of the focal institution for the implementation of the Convention (who also participated in all training workshops). The training utilized the UNESCO training materials for Field Inventory, which were translated into Papiamento). Participants were able to undertake secondary documentation on the elements as primary documentation was not possible due to the seasonal nature of kachu use and because no performances were planned during this period where the benta would have been played. Arrangements were made for primary documentation during the harvest season, so the team could document the use of kachu  during harvest (seú) as well as during the elaborate harvest parade.  Documentation consisted of interviews and demonstrations. Playing the benta was shown along with the interview. Instructions on how it was made were given during the beginning of the two‐day training by a benta maker and player. The kachu session also included more elaborate demonstrations of construction of this instrument. 

Le Niger, conscient du rôle primordial que le PCI joue dans l’identité des différentes communautés, a exprimé à plusieurs reprises, et notamment lors de son mandat comme membre du Comité intergouvernemental de 2008 à 2012, sa nécessité de renforcer les capacités au niveau nationale pour la sauvegarde de son PCI grâce à la mise en œuvre efficace de la Convention et son souhait d’être accompagnés dans son appropriation des concepts et outils offerts par la Convention. Dans ce sens, le Niger a réalisé des efforts considérables ces dernières années. En effet, sur le plan national, en 1997, la Loi 97-022 relative à la « Préservation et à la mise en valeur du patrimoine culturel national » a été adoptée et les premières initiatives d’inventaire ont été menées à la fin des années 80. De plus, le Niger a ratifié la Convention 2003 le 27 avril 2007. Cependant, cette ratification n’avait pas encore donné lieu à un travail méthodologique et systématique d’inventaire, en ligne avec l’esprit de la Convention et avec la participation des communautés détentrices et des organisations non gouvernementales pertinentes Ce projet, qui s’insère dans la stratégie globale de l’UNESCO pour renforcer et consolider les capacités humaines et institutionnelles pour la sauvegarde du PCI et la mise en œuvre de la Convention 2003 sur le long terme, a reçu le soutien du Royaume d’Espagne qui par une généreuse contribution volontaire supplémentaire au Fonds du PCI a permis la réalisation de ce projet.

With the generous support of the Algerian ‘National Centre of Research on Prehistory, Anthropology and History’ in Algeria (CNRPAH) and the ‘Manifestation Constantine, capitale de la culture arabe 2015’, UNESCO convenes a UNESCO expert workshop on supporting policy development in the field of intangible cultural heritage, in Constantine, Algeria, from 28 September to 2 October 2015.

The main objective of the workshop is to improve UNESCO’s impact in providing policy support to national authorities in Africa for the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention.

The first three days of the workshop are dedicated to the principal theme of policy development (28 to 30 September), while the last two days (1 to 2 October) focus on reviewing the implementation of the global capacity-building programme in Africa to date.

More specifically, the workshop aims at the following:

• Improve the content and format of the capacity-building programme to provide policy advice effectively;
• Propose methodologies and tools to support experts in their policy advisory mission;
• Take stock of the lessons learnt from implementing the global programme in African countries.

The workshop addresses primarily UNESCO-certified facilitators from the Africa Region, who have substantial experience in providing training and advisory services in the context of the global capacity-building programme for the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It furthermore welcomes some experts with specialized expertise in the field of cultural policy advice, which they have developed in particular in the context of implementing the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. From the UNESCO side, Culture programme specialists from field offices in Africa and from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section participate. The CNRPAH has designated Algerian experts who will attend as observers. In total, the workshop will bri

The Cultural Heritage Institute of Cabo Verde, in cooperation with UNESCO HQ and the UNESCO Office in Dakar, organizes a training workshop on community-based inventorying in Cabo Verde. The workshop, which will take place from 23 September to 3 October 2015 in Ribeira Grande de Santiago, will introduce the concepts, objectives and methods of inventorying and includes a practical field work in the communities of Centro histórico, Salineiro and Calabaceira.

As part of UNESCO’s global strategy aiming to enhance national capacity for safeguarding of living heritage in the Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (PALOP), the workshop will gather some 30 Cabo Verdean participants, including stakeholders from local to national levels. With the aim to strengthen regional cooperation among PALOP countries, the training will be co-facilitated by a Brazilian and a Mozambican expert who have been previously trained through the same programme. Moreover, culture officers from Angola and Guinea-Bissau will attend the training.

This workshop is made possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

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The town of Taunggyi, Shan State, in Myanmar hosted from 14 to 18 September 2015 a workshop on how to elaborate nomination files for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. This was the final chapter of the capacity-building project, which had been generously supported by the Royal Norwegian Government through a contribution to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. The two-year national project has been implemented since 2013 with the aim to strengthen skills of human resources in Myanmar for the inventorying and safeguarding of its intangible cultural heritage.

The 24 participants, comprising of cultural officers, scholars and actual ICH practitioners, acquired hands-on skills in elaborating nomination dossiers and learned how to use the lists of the 2003 Convention as an effective tool for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Combining theoretical training on how to devise community-based safeguarding measures and practical exercises of evaluating mock nominations, the workshop provided an opportunity to clarify the different objectives of each of the international mechanisms established by the Convention so policy-makers can use them in the most appropriate and effective manner.

The five-day training workshop that was facilitated by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, included a practical field exercise with local communities in Inle Lake.

The organization of the workshop was timely in the context of the efforts that are paid by cultural institutions in Albania in the last two years to enhance the national capacity for ICH safeguarding, as well as in light of the needs assessment report of 2014. The latter made specific recommendations on organizing workshops and training activities on ICH related activities with the widest possible participation of people with different backgrounds and coming from different towns and institutions in Albania. This has been the first workshop of its kind in the country and the expectations invested in it were great. The workshop was supposed to fill a void in focused presentations and discussions on the major themes related to the implementation of 2003 Convention on a national level, and to facilitate the undertaking of organized activities in this regard. Despite the high sensitivity and interest in cultural heritage issues in the country, so far no special workshop has been held on these topics in the country and this explains the enthusiasm that it produced among the colleagues working in the sphere of culture. The call for participation that colleagues from the Ministry of Culture at the Republic of Albania distributed attracted more that 40 participants and at some point there were several late applications which had to be declined in order to maintain at least some interactivity during the sessions.

Kallawaya healers and apprentices met in Charazani, the capital of the Bolivian province of Bautista Saavedra, from 13 to 18 September to participate in a workshop on how elders can transmit their medical knowledge and practices to younger generations for future benefit. Authorities from different Kallawaya organizations selected around 20 apprentices among Kallawaya men and women, who had already made the decision to dedicate themselves to the practice, to learn more about it. It also provided the opportunity for a UNESCO-trained facilitator to introduce the basic concepts of the 2003 Convention as an appropriate framework for the Kallawaya communities, and indigenous communities in general, to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage. Practical inventorying exercises were also involved that addressed the fundamental issue of the free, prior and informed consent of concerned communities.
This activity is part of a broader initiative on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of Kallawaya communities carried out by the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism, the Radio and Television Training for Development Service of the Bolivian Catholic University ‘San Pablo’ and UNESCO thanks to the generous support of the Government of Japan.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish