Emergency response to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of Lalibela, World Heritage property, and the surrounding area endangered by conflict

Benefitting country(ies): Ethiopia

Overview:

Implemented by the Ethiopian Heritage Authority, in collaboration with the Association of St. Lalibela and Surrounding Heritage Conservation and Protection, this three-year project aims to contribute to the revival of the traditional church schools in Lalibela and the surrounding areas. These church schools, situated within the World Heritage property of the ‘Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela’, have been temporarily closed due to ong ›››

Strengthening capacities for periodic reporting under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa

Benefitting country(ies): Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Overview:

Africa is the fourth region to be undertaking periodic reporting under the revised regional cycle approved by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention [Decision 14.COM 8]. The present project aims to strengthen the human and institutional capacities of States Parties in the region, in conducting a thorough review of the state of safeguarding policies, programmes, and initiatives in ›››

News and activities:

• 2024-04-22 – Milestone achieved as Africa participates in its first regional cycle of periodic reporting

Strengthening capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Eastern Africa

Benefitting country(ies): Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda

Overview:

This activity aims to strengthen national capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Eastern Africa by supporting States Parties with capacity building for carrying-out community based inventories of ICH. It will also aim to secure ratification by Somalia, the last Member State in the region left to ratify the 2003 Convention. For countries developing culture policies, efforts will be made to ›››

News and activities:

• 2022-01-18 – UNESCO publishes case studies on living heritage and climate change in East Africa
• 2021-04-30 – Regional Online Conference on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage for Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction in Eastern Africa

Ongota: the Language of the Biraile

Benefitting country(ies): Ethiopia

Overview:

The assistance resulted in the submission of a nomination for possible inscription in 2012. The Committee decided not to inscribe the element (Decision 7.COM 8.2 ). ›››

Safeguarding of traditional music in Ethiopia

Benefitting country(ies): Ethiopia

Overview:

The project is composed of the following four activities. *__ Identification, Documentation and Inventory making__ - An important goal of this project is to collect through fieldwork, and to document traditional music and dance expressions in different parts of Ethiopia. *__ Archiving__ - the recordings collected in the field and the documentation that goes with them will need to be archived to make them ›››