UNESCO organized a two-day inception workshop from 22-23 November in Dar es Salaam in the United Republic of Tanzania to launch a new project on strengthening capacities at the national and local levels for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
The workshop brought together 40 participants from various institutions in Tanzania’s mainland and Zanzibar to enhance understanding of the 2003 Convention, existing policy and institutional frameworks for safeguarding living heritage in Tanzania and to discuss a roadmap for conducting inventorying of living heritage in the country.
Discussions during the workshop highlighted the various challenges for safeguarding living heritage at national and local levels, including the need to include local communities, particularly elders and youth, in the identification and inventorying of intangible cultural heritage in the country. They also highlighted the need to establish a national Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee to ensure sustainability of project outcomes and a nation-wide strategy for identifying and documenting the rich diversity of living heritage practices in the country.
The two-year project is being supported with funding from the Republic of Korea. The UNESCO Dar es Salaam Office will implement this project in close collaboration with the National Commission for UNESCO in the United Republic of Tanzania, Ministries responsible for Culture as well as relevant national partners and the support from the Secretariat of the 2003 Convention.
Learn more on the project here.