The Committee,

1. Having examined document ITH/17/12.COM/8.c,
2. Recalling Chapter V of the Operational Directives and its Decision 7.COM 8.1,
3. Expresses its thanks to Botswana for submitting, on time, its report on the status of the element ‘Earthenware pottery-making skills in Botswana’s Kgatleng District’, inscribed in 2012 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;
4. Takes note of the continued efforts undertaken by Botswana to safeguard and revitalize the element, in particular, through supporting the formation of a Visual Arts Association to represent the interests of pottery-makers among other artists, carrying out research and documentation on knowledge bearers, conducting an audit to determine sites for raw materials and providing funding opportunities for apprentices;
5. Invites the State Party to continue promoting earthenware pottery-making skills by encouraging master potters to participate in the competitions, enhancing their presence in formal education to teach and demonstrate their skills, training younger women in earthenware pottery making and encouraging them to practise it, supplementing the training provided in female initiation schools to establish a District Pottery Making Academy for research, documentation and transmission;
6. Requests that the Secretariat inform the State Party at least nine months prior to the deadline of 15 December 2020 about the required submission of its next report on the status of this element.