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

Following the national workshop on community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage, a pilot activity on community-based inventorying was successfully carried out by the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB) from February to April 2014. Two training sessions were organized as part of the inventorying exercise. These were followed by two inventorying exercises in Glengoffe, St. Catherine carried out on 19 March and 30 April 2014. Participants collected oral history data from the members of the craft community, which included jippy-jappa straw workers and a wood carver, using the digital recorders and video camera purchased for the project. They also made photographic documentation of the present processes involved in the creation of jippy-jappa straw craft and wood carvings. Following this, participants came together to critically analyze the data collected and created a pilot ICH inventory record of the jippy-jappa straw and woodcarving. This exercise involved the preparation of interview worksheets and inputting data: photographs and video into the ICH Inventory Database. A set of audio-visual equipment was also purchased to facilitate the pilot inventorying project and for use in future inventorying work. An ICH Equipment Release Form was developed and is in use to facilitate loans to the members of the ICH stakeholders’ network, to primarily ensure that communities have access to this equipment to carry out the work for which they have been trained.

La Convention pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel est entrée en vigueur en 2006. Son rythme rapide de ratification ne doit pas occulter le fait que bon nombre des États parties à cet instrument dont le Maroc, la Mauritanie et la Tunisie, ont besoin de mieux assimiler ses différents mécanismes. De plus, ils manquent souvent de ressources humaines qualifiées et des moyens financiers à même de permettre une meilleure prise en charge de leur patrimoine. Le projet Sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel à travers le renforcement des capacités nationales au Maghreb (20132015), financé par la Norvège et mis en œuvre par le Bureau de l’Unesco à Rabat en collaboration avec les trois pays, prévoit un renforcement des capacités dans ce domaine. Une série de trois ateliers sont prévus et auront pour objet :(i) la mise en œuvre de la Convention de 2003 au niveau national, (ii) l’inventaire du patrimoine culturel immatériel avec les communautés et (iii) la préparation de candidatures pour inscription d’éléments du patrimoine immatériel sur les listes mises en place par la Convention. L’atelier de Matmata, en Tunisie, organisé du 27 au 31 janvier 2014, est le premier de cette série et a été consacré à la mise en œuvre de la Convention en Tunisie.

From 20 to 24 January 2014, a capacity-building session on preparing nominations to the Lists of UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage took place in Ventiane Province. At their end, about 30 participants, including government officials and experts involved in safeguarding cultural heritage from Lao People’s Democratic Republic have received theoretical and practical training on the nomination process understood as a process of community-based safeguarding. A particular focus was on the possible efforts and procedures to put in place for listing intangible cultural heritage at both national and international levels.

Facilitated by two UNESCO-trained experts, Shubha Chaudhuri from India and Paritta Koanantakool from Thailand, this workshop was part of a capacity-building programme on the 2003 Convention supported by UNESCO/Korea Funds-in-Trust which for more than one year has provided to its beneficiaries substantial training on the implementation of the Convention at the national level and community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage. After this training assistance will be further provided for the field activities to inventory intangible cultural heritage in pilot areas.

Documents

• Agenda: Spanish
• List of participants: Spanish

From 3 to 6 December representatives from governmental and non-governmental institutions from Timor-Leste are meeting to receive intensive training on the nomination process, from preparation to evaluation and examination. These sessions are mainly practical and participative and will rely on mock nominations that participants will need to analyse and improve in accordance with the criteria set out in the Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Conducted by the UNESCO-trained facilitators, Rahul Goswami from India and Suzanne Ogge from Australia, this workshop on the preparation of nominations of intangible cultural heritage elements for inscription on the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Representative List will complement the training that Timor-Leste has already received on the implementation of the Convention at the national level and community-based inventorying.

IMP workshop in Brunei from 25-29 November 2013, to be funded by the Government of Brunei. Sajida Vandal and Harriet Deacon have agreed to co-facilitate the IMP workshop.

Community practitioners, non-governmental organizations in the field of crafts, traditional music and dance, leading universities and museums of the country as well as government officials came together for a workshop on inventorying of intangible cultural heritage which is held from 22 to 29 November 2013 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Organized by the UNESCO Almaty Office in cooperation with the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO and the Kazakhstan National Federation of UNESCO Clubs, the workshop marks a significant step in safeguarding the living heritage of Kazakhstan. It focuses on community participation in the identification and inventory of intangible cultural heritage, organization and management of information, and hands-on experience in preparing field work.

Funded by the Government of Norway, the workshop is the third and last in a series of workshops organized in Kazakhstan in the framework of a sub-regional project being implemented in Central Asia within the context of UNESCO’s global strategy on capacity building to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. It is conducted by two experts from the UNESCO facilitators’ network: Ms. Sabira Soltongeldieva and Mr. Illya Fetysov.

For more information, please see the webpage of Almaty Cluster Office for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

IMP workshop in Jakarta from 11-14 November 2013, to be funded by the Government of Indonesia. Rahul Goswami and Sajida Vandal have agreed to co-facilitate the IMP workshop.

heritage, a pilot activity on community-based inventorying was successfully carried out by the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) from November 2013 to April 2014. During this period, seven cultural celebrations associated with various ethnic communities were inventoried in 13 communities across Belize: Los Finados, Yurumein, Las Posadas, Ox-lajun Ba-aktun Ceremony, Christmas Bram, Carnaval and La Semana Santa.
Inventorying of the cultural celebrations took into account the history of the celebration, identification of various ICH domains, safeguarding practices currently in place, as well as challenges to its viability identified by the cultural practitioners. The documentation process also involved a listing of key cultural words as used in the traditional language(s). The inventorying of these cultural celebrations involved the participants from the established ICH Working Body, as well as community cultural practitioners who are actively involved in the organization of these celebrations. An inventorying tool was developed to serve as a guide for the documentation stages of the project. The tool was piloted from 1-3 November and a planning and training session was later held with the ICH Working Body to develop an inventorying schedule. Throughout the project, the ICH Working Body met at regular intervals to discuss and to share the acquired knowledge. The group also provided feedback and suggestions for subsequent inventorying activities. In January 2014, a mid-term review meeting was held to evaluate the progress of the inventorying exercise and a final meeting was held in April 2014 to assess the results. Audio-visual equipment was also purchased to facilitate the pilot inventorying project and for future documentation of ICH.

Following the national workshop on community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage, a pilot activity on community-based inventorying was successfully carried out by the Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism (MAM), now the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, from November 2013 to May 2014. During this period, the Soparee Mai Devotions and the Feast of La Divina Pastora was documented. Prior to this inventorying exercise, a training session was held at the Siparia Boys Roman Catholic Primary School, adjacent to the church where the statue of La Divina Pastora is kept and also part of the devotion grounds. Training was facilitated by media specialists, qualified information technology and audio visual technicians who focused on the methods for proper interviewing, multimedia equipment care and operation, lighting techniques, use of tripods, storyboarding, filming, and shot composition to assist the community members in their self-documentation efforts. Through the acquired training on documentation, community members were able to record the Sopari Mai Devotions in April and May 2014. Audio-visual equipment was purchased with project funds to facilitate the pilot inventorying activity, and an additional four sets of similar equipment were purchased from the fund provided by the Ministry.

The UNESCO Office in Rabat is organizing a training workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Kaédi, Mauritania, from 22-26 October, 2013.

The workshop is part of the project ‘Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through strengthening national capacities in Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia’ funded by the contribution of the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. It will be facilitated by Mr Ahmed Skounti and Mr Mohamed Ould Mohamed Lemine Beijeu, both members of the UNESCO facilitators network in the field of intangible heritage, and will bring together approximately 20 participants including representatives from the Ministry of Culture, NGO’s and representatives from the local communities involved.

The objective of this first activity is to make sure that the key concepts of the Convention have been well understood and integrated by all the stakeholders involved in the safeguarding of living heritage in Mauritania. It will be followed by a series of other specific activities during the next months.