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

A capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level is being held in Cap Haïtien (Haiti) from 13 to 17 May. These sessions are organized within the framework of a regional capacity-building programme in the Caribbean funded by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund thanks to the generous contributions of Norway and count with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Haitian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO and the National Bureau of Ethnology.

For five days, about twenty participants from the North Department of Haiti will be receiving intensive training on the objectives, key concepts and international mechanisms of the 2003 Convention as well as on the national obligations of States Parties. Conducted by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, Ms Soledad Mujica (Peru) and Ms Claudine Augée Angoué (Gabon), the workshop also aims at stimulating greater coordination of the different stakeholders working in this field, both at the institutional and the civil society level, by emphasizing the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage as a means through which development can find appropriate and sustainable ways.

Documents

• Agenda: French
• List of participants: French

A capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level is being organized in Les Cayes (Haiti) from 6 to 10 May. This is the first activity specifically benefiting Haiti within the regional capacity building project in the Caribbean, supported by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund thanks to the generous voluntary contribution of Norway.

For four days, about twenty participants from the South Department of Haiti will be receiving intensive training on the objectives, key concepts and international mechanisms of the 2003 Convention as well as on the national obligations of States Parties. Conducted by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, Ms Soledad Mujica (Peru) and Ms Claudine Augée Angoué (Gabon), the workshop also aims at stimulating greater coordination of the different stakeholders working in this field, both at the institutional and the civil society level, by emphasizing the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage as a means through which development can find appropriate and sustainable ways.

Documents

• Agenda: French
• List of participants: French

Results achieved in the field of ICH safeguarding in Southern Africa since 2009, revolve primarily around to specific extrabudgetary programmes financed by Flanders, notably:

• A series of pilot projects in community-based intangible heritage inventorying on a grassroots-level in six selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Uganda), completed in 2011; and
• Strengthening national capacities for implementing the Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH in 4 selected Southern African countries (Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) completed in 2012.

Based on the results achieved through these projects as well as the specific ICH component of MDGF Culture and Development Programme implemented in Namibia, the Southern African ICH experts experimented with the development of the specific national ICH “trainers” expertise in a workshop held in Waterberg, Namibia from 8 to 19 April 2013 .

As an immediate follow up, the Southern African ICH experts in cooperation with the UNESCO offices in Harare and Windhoek, agreed on conducting a consultation meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe from 30 April to 2 May. The objective of this meeting is twofold:
1. Develop a sub-regional ICH strategy for Southern Africa;
2. Discuss the concept of national capacity development based on the model of the April workshop held in Namibia and seek the possibility of its replication in all Southern African States Parties to the Convention.

Documents

• List of participants: English

For detailed information on this activity, please click here.

This Second Community-based Inventorying of Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop is organized within the framework of the project entitled ‘Strengthening capacity building for the promotion and implementation of intangible cultural heritage in Timor-Leste’. This project is part of the regional capacity building efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region and is funded by the Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The workshop is intended to equip community members and key stakeholders from Timor-Leste with the basic knowledge and skills to design, facilitate and implement a community-based inventorying process tailored to their particular circumstances.

For more info, click here.

This meeting was financed by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, via the Museo Arubano. The purpose of that meeting was to bring together all the territories of the Kingdom to assess the needs and possibilities to jointly implement the Convention.

A capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level is being organized in Guatemala from 15 to 17 April. This is the first activity specifically benefiting Guatemala within the regional capacity building project in Central America, supported by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund thanks to the generous voluntary contribution of Spain.

For three days, representatives from the Ministry of Culture and Sport and cultural managers from different areas will be receiving intensive training on the objectives, key concepts and international mechanisms of the 2003 Convention as well as on the national obligations of States Parties. Conducted by two members of the network of UNESCO-trained experts, Ms Soledad Mujica (Peru) and Ms Eva Martínez (Honduras), these sessions will provide a comprehensive overview of this international normative instrument and the operational directives for its application which may serve as a framework to reflect on a national strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage which integrates the views and aspirations of the different Guatemalan actors involved in this field.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

Three years after ratifying the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Tajikistan is moving forward to strengthen its capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Implemented within UNESCO’s global capacity-building strategy, a two-year project was launched in 2012 thanks to the generous support of Norway. The aim is to build a critical mass of experience and knowledge, both in government institutions and in civil society, so that Tajikistan will be equipped with an appropriate sustainable framework for safeguarding intangible heritage and implementing the Convention on a long-term basis.

The project entails a long-term, multi-faceted approach including the revision of policies and legislation, the strengthening of institutional infrastructures, the development of inventory frameworks and methods that fully involve the communities concerned, and the reinforcement of technical skills required to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. Its first stage focused on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level, and a five-day workshop held in August 2012 focused on core concepts of the Convention, while providing the participants with a thorough understanding of the obligations of all stakeholders at the national level.

The international mechanisms of the Convention are at the core of the current stage of the project. Governmental, academic and educational institutions, representatives from craft and traditional music communities, and members of civil society have met in a workshop organised by UNESCO Almaty and the Tajik National Commission for UNESCO from 10 to 13 April 2013 in Dushanbe to acquire the knowledge required to elaborate nominations for inscription on the Lists of the Convention, proposals for Best Safeguarding Practices and requests for International Assistance. The workshop was facilitated by Ms Sabira Soltongeldieva and Mr Ilya Fetisov.

Documents

• Agenda: English
• List of participants: English

For more information, please consult the webpage of UNESCO Almaty.

A seminar entitled ‘UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention’ was organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of Brunei Darussalam and UNESCO on 10 April, 2013. The Forum brought together representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law, along with district officials, local representatives, academics from the University of Brunei Darussalam, local NGOs, and experts and policy makers in the field of culture, in order to discuss the ways for the safeguarding and promoting of the country’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The forum also provided further information on UNESCO’s implementation strategy for the ICH Convention and efforts to strengthen internal networks amongst different levels of stakeholders.

For more information, click here.

The implementation of the capacity building strategy for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Namibia is moving to its second phase. After a series of successful community-based ICH inventorying exercises carried out within the broader framework of the MDGF Culture and Development programme, the UNESCO Office in Windhoek and the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sports and Culture (MYNSSC) trained a group of 20 local trainers to ensure sustainability of the ICH inventorying and safeguarding efforts. A national Training of Trainers workshop was held from 8 to 19 April 2013 at Waterberg, Namibia.

20 participants, selected from different parts of the country, focused on specific aspects of ICH identification, inventorying and community interactions. In addition, a component on participatory training methods has been a part of the workshop programme, facilitated by two Southern African intangible cultural heritage training experts, Mr Stephen Chifunyise of Zimbabwe and Mr Lovemore Mazibuko of Malawi.

The experience of this pilot workshop in Namibia and its possible replication within the region will be discussed during the upcoming workshop “Southern African Regional ICH strategy, focus on the national Training of Trainers processes” to be organised by UNESCO Windhoek Office in Harare, Zimbabwe from 30 April to 2 May 2013.

A Workshop on Community-based Inventorying of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) was held in Phuntsholing, a border town in southern Bhutan, from 2 to 9 April 2013. Funded the Japanese Funds-in-Trust, this Workshop focused on; i) community involvement in inventorying cultural resources, ii) importance of cultural protocol in community-based inventorying, iii) a hands-on experience in preparing field work.

For more information, please click here.

Following the previous theoretical trainings, a pilot inventorying experience was launched in April 2013 and concluded in November 2013 in the city of Buenos Aires. This field work was aimed at providing first-hand experience in drawing up inventories to a team made of tango bearers, government officials and members of relevant non-governmental organizations.
Guided by the main project facilitator, Ms Mónica Lacarrieu (Argentina), the inventory team chose, among the different musical, poetic and human elements of the practice of tango, to focus on milongas, the popular evenings where men and women gather in local clubs to dance the tango and the music that carries that same name. According to the inventory team, beyond the worldwide known dance itself, some elements related to tango are exposed to threats and need to be safeguarded. The milongas of Buenos Aires were identified as part of these ‘less healthy’ elements of tango and selected for the pilot inventory exercise. The following milongas were selected according to criteria of age, close ties with their neighbourhoods, liveliness of the gatherings and transmission of the knowledge associated with tango and consent from the milongueros:
• Sunderland (Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires)
• Sin Rumbo (Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires)
• Lo de Celia (Constitución-San Cristóbal, Buenos Aires)
• Huracán (Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires)
• La Tierrita (Parque Avellaneda, Buenos Aires)

An intensive five-day capacity-building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level is being held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from 18 to 22 March. The meeting inaugurates the regional project for strengthening capacities in this field that will be implemented in Central America throughout 2013 by UNESCO’s Offices in San José and Guatemala, thanks to the generous contribution of Spain to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

This first activity, which benefits from the support of the Central American Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC/SICA), will bring together key Honduran stakeholders involved in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, in particular from the Department of Culture, Arts and Sports as well as representatives of the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture and the Secretariat of Culture of the Salvadoran Presidency. Conducted by two members of the UNESCO-certified experts network, Mr Enrique Pérez López (Mexico) and Ms María Ismenia Toledo (Venezuela), these sessions are designed to provide the focal points of the project in each of the recipient countries with an overview of the objectives, the key concepts and international mechanisms of the 2003 Convention as well as the national obligations of States Parties.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

More than 25 specialists from governmental and non-governmental institutions, universities and community representatives of different regions of the Dominican Republic will participate in the first workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage that will be held in Santo Domingo from 11 to 15 March.

Conducted by the UNESCO-trained facilitators, Ms Adriana Molano from Colombia and Mr Edis Sánchez from Dominican Republic, the workshop intends to provide an overview of the objectives and key safeguarding concepts of the 2003 Convention as well as the national obligations of States Parties and the mechanisms for international cooperation. Its goal is to create a critical mass of both governmental and civil society actors to lay the first foundations of a sustainable framework for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in the long term.

With this activity, the Regional Office for Culture for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO, with the collaboration of the Dominican National Commission for UNESCO, launch in Dominican Republic the regional project for strengthening capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the Caribbean which will be implemented throughout 2013, with the funding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund thanks to the generous contribution of Norway.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

SUBREGIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
LIVESTRONG PROJECT
Workshop I: Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 of Unesco at the national level
March 7 and 8, 2013
Place: Archivo Nacional- Mariscal Estigarribia e / Iturbe.
Asuncion, Paraguay

En conséquence du contexte politique et des modifications qui en ont découlé, la deuxième phase du projet «Patrimoinevivant» s’est déclinée en trois activités, décidées en accordavec les contreparties gouvernementales argentines (dont il est fait mention dans le rapportI) et conformément aux recommandations de la réunion d’évaluation de Pékin (décembre 2012).D’une part, comme il nous était demandéde séparer la formation des représentants gouvernementaux de la ville autonome de Buenos Aires de celle des représentantsdu gouvernement national,nous avons dû organiser undeuxième atelier (intitulé «Élaboration d’inventaires du patrimoine culturel immatériel avec la participation des communautés») à deux moments différents. Le premier a eu lieu du 25 février au 1ermars de cette année et le second a eu lieu du 4 au 6 mars, tousdeux à Buenos Aires.D’autre part, la demande officielle d’Argentine de réduire la représentation du Paraguay aux représentants de la société civile (demande due à la suspension temporaire de ce paysdu MERCOSUR, marché commun du Sud) nous a obligésà organise en plus un formationà Asunción (Paraguay) à la demande expresse des autorités paraguayennes.Les trois ateliers ont été animés par des formateurs de l’UNESCO, les experts éminents et respectés Francisco López Morales et Mónica Lacarrieu.

Following the workshop on drawing up inventories of intangible cultural heritage held last November in the province of Matanzas, from 31 January to 3 February a preparatory mission was organized to obtain the consent of the community of Majagua, in the very centre of Cuba, to embark on an inventory exercise.

The manifestation selected by the community to undertake this first field exercise was the rural festivities of Red and Blue bands of Majagua, known throughout the island as an enduring social institution that brings residents from different generations into one or the other camp for friendly rivalry and competitions. The exercise will take place from 28 February to 5 March under the supervision of the UNESCO-trained facilitators, María Ismenia Toledo from Venezuela and Enrique López from Mexico. This activity is supported not only by the community of Majagua but also by the provincial authorities in the field of cultural heritage and the Houses of Culture of Ciego de Ávila. The team in charge of the exercise consists of five community members, experts from the provinces of Guantanamo, Camaguey, Ciego de Ávila and Matanzas and two representatives of the National Commission for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is the first field activity of a UNESCO capacity-building project, made possible with the generous support of Norway through the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Documents

From 25 February 25 to 1 March 2013, governments and civil society representatives of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will continue the capacity-building programme which was launched in October 2012 with the generous support of the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust. This time, an intensive training will be delivered on drawing up inventories of intangible cultural heritage. Again, Mónica Lacarrieu and Francisco López Morales will be in charge of this training which will emphasize the key role that the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage grants to communities in the identification and definition of their heritage.

These sessions aim to equip participants with the fundamental knowledge and techniques to design and facilitate an inventorying process with the participation of communities and tailored to their particular circumstances. They will lay the groundwork for the field exercise that the tango community in Buenos Aires will carry out during five months.

Documents

• List of participants: Spanish
• Programme: Spanish

Organized by UNESCO Almaty in close co-operation with the National Commission for UNESCO and ISESCO and the National Federation of UNESCO Clubs, the workshop was held from 18 to 21 February 2013 in Almaty.
It targeted primarily Kazakh participants, mainly from the National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Agency for Tourism and Sport, leading universities and museums in the country, as well as NGOs in the field of crafts, traditional music and dance. In order to strengthen sub-regional cooperation, three participants from the neighbouring Central Asian countries (one from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) attended the workshop. The majority of the 21 participants were experts (only two practitioners) between 40 and 60 years of age and almost half of them were women. Six participants participated in a workshop on implementation of the Convention, five of them within the current project (April 2012, Astana).
The workshop provided an opportunity to improve participants’ knowledge on international mechanisms of the Convention. The presence of experts on intangible cultural heritage from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan offered an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences in safeguarding and allowed participants to discuss prospects for possible nominations of elements shared by communities in Central Asian countries.
The most heated debates were raised around the question of if it was appropriate to consider professional performers of traditional music and dance as bearers of intangible cultural heritage. Discussions also involved the administration of intellectual property rights for traditional knowledge and cultural expressions.

Cambodia is reinforcing a community-based focus in its existing and new efforts to document and inventory living heritage. For this purpose and with generous funding from Japan, over 35 participants came together in Siem Reap from 14 to 21 February this year to build their knowledge and develop this new approach.
UNESCO provided the substantive support through two members of its certified facilitators’ network, Mr Rahul Goswami from India and Ms Suzanne Ogge from Australia. The programme included 8 days of intensive course work and field-based practicum carried out in the rural areas of Siem Reap and the town itself. Fieldwork included a visit to the School of Fine Arts and two local communities, with forms of ICH documented including traditional weaving processes, martial arts skills and techniques, and performing arts. Participants learned, through hands-on training, field-based techniques of interviewing and audio-visual recording. A visit was also conducted to the Eco-Global Museum (supported by UNESCO) located in the Preah Vihear Province, to learn about a concrete inventory project underway which combines audio-visual documentation of living heritage among a local indigenous community with the documentation of associated cultural objects.
So far, Cambodia’s Living Human Treasures programme has included documentation efforts, though its methods have not as yet been extended to community-based approaches recommended by the 2003 Convention. The capacity-building workshop on inventorying with a strong community focus thus provided participants - most of whom are provincial directors – with further skills and knowledge for their field practices. In addition, the training placed much emphasis on developing mutually supportive networks among cultural professionals and communities to support national efforts to document and inventory living heritage.
The participants included those who had attended the first capacity-building workshop on implementation held in 2012 August in Phnom Penh, and new participants. Among them were representatives of civil society organizations. While several mentioned the need for long-term and reliable financial support and stability for safeguarding, all participants confirmed that the training was extremely useful and they would integrate the new approach in their current work and future programmes.