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

About 30 representatives of Ministries of Culture and UNESCO-trained experts from different countries in the Arab region will discuss with UNESCO and ALECSO the needs and challenges of developing conceptual and institutional frameworks for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The two international Organizations are co-organizing this meeting in collaboration with the Kuwait National Council for Culture, Art and Letters from 7 to 9 May 2014 in Kuwait City thanks to the generous hospitality of the Government of Kuwait.

• Programme: English
• Concept note: English

The expert facilitators and UNESCO staff will stay on in Kuwait for a second meeting to review the progress and challenges of implementing UNESCO’s capacity-building programme for intangible cultural heritage and make recommendation on ways forward in the Arab region (10 to 11 May).

• Provisional timetable: English
• Background note: English

From 31 March 31 to 6 April, the Dominican Republic hosts a workshop on intangible cultural heritage community-based inventories within the framework of a regional project for strengthening national capacities for the effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti, with the support of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, thanks to the generous contribution of Norway.

Conducted by two members of the UNESCO network of facilitators, María Ismenia Toledo (Venezuela) and Enrique Pérez López (Mexico), the workshop brings together 30 specialists, students and bearers of intangible cultural heritage for a training on the approach promulgated by the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to inventories and the role played by communities. The theoretical training is complemented with a technical part on data collection and a field exercise with the Chuineros of Cañafístol in Baní, in the province of Peravia, whose improvised songs in couplets are at risk of disappearing.

This activity has been made possible thanks to the support of the Vice Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Cultural Centre of Perelló, located in Baní, which was instrumental in obtaining the Chuineros’ free, prior and informed consent.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

A first national meeting took place in Agadir from 26 to 30 March. This meeting is part of the project for capacity building for the safeguarding of living heritage implemented in the three countries thanks to the generous contribution of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

The workshop was organized by the UNESCO Office in Rabat and brought together not only representatives from the Ministry of Culture and of local communities involved but also representatives from the Ministries of Crafts, Agriculture, Education and Tourism.

The integration of intangible cultural heritage to the multisectorial policies and a good understanding of the key concepts of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by all stakeholders are essential to its effective implementation. These issues were raised during this training workshop that was co-facilitated by Mr. Ahmed Skounti (Morocco) and Mr. Mohamed Ould Mohamed Lemine Beijeu (Mauritania), UNESCO trained facilitators in the field of intangible heritage.

• List of participants : French
• Présentation - Réunion : Rapport d’atelier de M. Ahmed Skounti: French

The theme of the international conference 24-26 March in Bergen (Norway) focuses on the UNESCO Conventions on World Heritage (1972), Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and Diversity of Cultural Expression (2005).
The overall goal of the conference is, to explore synergies between the three conventions, how they can be utilized to realize their related ambitions and how other UNESCO related instruments, regional and national mechanisms and practices can be fruitfully implement as a whole.

The conference will examine the following questions:

• How can synergies between the conventions and other mechanisms and practices be obtained on the ground – what works in practice?
• What is the role of tangible as well as intangible cultural heritage and cultural expressions in contributing to sustainable development?

Target participants include researchers in cultural and natural heritage and sustainable development, practitioners in management of heritage sites and related instruments on the local level and higher levels. The conference will serve as a platform for exchange of ideas. It will provide:

• researchers with feedback on their findings and ideas for their work,
• local heritage managers with inspiration for new solutions,
• UNESCO and national level heritage managers with ideas for strategic developments,

Within the framework of the UNESCO/Flanders Project on Strengthening sub-regional cooperation and national capacities in seven Southern African countries for implementing the 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), the UNESCO Harare Multisectoral Regional Office (MSRO) organised a two-day workshop 18 – 20 March 2014 in Harare, Zimbabwe. This workshop brought together twenty-two participants from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The workshop was facilitated by the UNESCO certified trainers in ICH, Mr. Stephen Chifunyise and Mr. Lovemore Mazibuko. Also in attendance and assisting with training was Mr. Marc Jacobs, from the Flemish Interface Centre for Cultural Heritage (FARO).

Workshop Objectives

• Train at least two participants from each beneficiary country on the scope and objectives of the implementation of the 2003 Convention at national level with a focus on inventorying, preparation of international assistance requests and nomination files.
• Define and agree on the specific actions aimed at strengthening policy, legal and institutional frameworks of the beneficiary countries with reference to the provisions of the 2003 Convention and the Operational Directives.
• Create and agree on project activities and timelines which will guide the beneficiary countries in executing set action plans and main project goal of reinforcing the national capacities for the implementation of the 2003 Convention.

List of documents

• Agenda: English
• List of participants: English

L’atelier vise à former des cadres du Département de la Culture, des chercheurs des représentants des autorités locales, des représentants d’ONG et des membres des communautés sur le travail de l’inventaire participatif conformément aux orientations et à l’esprit de la Convention de 2003 dans le cadre de la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel Cet atelier de 8 jours vise à doter les participants des connaissances et compétences de base pour concevoir et faciliter une démarche d’inventaire fondée sur l’engagement collectif et adaptée à la situation particulière des communautés. Ce processus d’inventaire participatif est le troisième thème que couvre le programme de l’UNESCO élaboré dans le cadre de la stratégie globale de renforcement des capacités de l’Organisation sur la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel à travers la mise en œuvre de la Convention de 2003 L’une des obligations de tout État qui a ratifié la Convention est la préparation d’un ou plusieurs inventaires du patrimoine culturel immatériel (PCI) (selon les articles 11 et 12). En outre, plusieurs articles de la Convention soulignent le rôle prépondérant des communautés dans l’identification, la sauvegarde et la transmission du PCI. La Convention reconnaît, en effet, que le PCI fait partie intégrante de la vie des communautés qui en sont les détentrices et praticiennes

The workshop on the ‘Elaboration of nomination files to the ICH Lists’ will be organized in Paro, Bhutan from 4-8 March 2014. Shubha Chaudhuri and Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool will facilitate the workshop. Attached are the tentative workshop programme and participants lists. More details will be known after the workshop.

From 25 February to 4 March 2014, the last of the workshops of the project for strengthening national capacities for the effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Central America took place in Guatemala City and is dedicated to community-based inventorying. The workshop was intended for the technical staff of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala and for community members who bear intangible cultural heritage manifestations representative of the country’s cultural diversity.

Facilitated by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, Eva Martínez from Honduras and Enrique Pérez López from Mexico, this training aimed at equipping participants with essential knowledge and skills to enable them to plan and facilitate the elaboration of inventories of intangible cultural heritage adapted to the characteristics of the communities who practise and transmit it.

The workshop included two days of field practice in the town of Chinautla, 10 km from the capital city, whose indigenous Maya-Pocomam population manufactures with technical precision pots and vases, among other pieces, with mud, straw and clay. This traditional craftsmanship which is passed down from mother to daughter since childhood, was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Nation by the Government of Guatemala in 2013.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

The workshop on the ‘Elaboration of Nomination Files to the ICH List’ was organized in Galle, Sri Lanka from 11-15 February 2014, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Arts. Sajida Vandal and Rahul Goswami facilitated the 5-day workshop. The Secretary (Mr. Wasanth Ekanayake) and the Additional Secretary (Ms. Malkanti) of the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, as well as Mr. Bebikram from the Government Agency of Galle (representing the Chief Secretary of Galle) graced the opening ceremony. In his opening remarks, the Secretary expressed strong interest on the inventorying and safeguarding of their ICH, in setting up a national inventory and the preparation and submission of nomination files to the ICH Lists. Moe Chiba, the culture programme officer of UNESCO New Delhi Office was present during the opening ceremony and paid a courtesy call on Mr. Daiji Sasai, the First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Colombo and who is responsible for Culture and Press. Moe Chiba expressed UNESCO’s gratitude for the generous contribution of the donor government of Japan for the implementation of the capacity building project in Sri Lanka, and briefed him regarding our project. Mr. Sasai explained that the Japanese Ambassador was out of Sri Lanka during the workshop period and that no one from the embassy was able to travel to Galle for the opening ceremony.

From 11 to 14 February, the Regional Bureau for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean is organizing a capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at the national level in Santiago de Cuba in Eastern Cuba. The workshop will bring together about twenty participants from the eastern provinces and Camagüey. Bearers of intangible cultural heritage from the region, alongside members of provincial councils and national institutions such as the National Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage or the Cuban Institute for Cultural Research, will receive intensive training on the objectives and key concepts of this Convention as well as on the obligations assumed by States that have ratified it and the mechanisms it provides for international cooperation.

Organized as part of the regional capacity-building programme benefiting Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti and funded through the generous contribution of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, the workshop will be facilitated by two UNESCO-trained experts, Adriana Molano Arenas from Colombia and Francisco Javier López Morales from Mexico. It will offer a platform where participants will reflect collectively on experiences and challenges in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage within the broader context of sustainable development.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish