Consolidating and upscaling efforts of community museums to safeguard six intangible cultural heritage elements in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

Implemented by the Uganda Community Museums Association (UCOMA), an accredited NGO, this two-year project aims to increase the capacity of community museums to sustainably safeguard Uganda’s intangible cultural heritage inscribed on the Lists of the 2003 Convention. It is the second phase of the project entitled ‘Strengthening the capacity of community museums to promote inscribed intangible cultural heritage’, which was implemented from ›››

Consolidating the promotion of intangible cultural heritage education in institutions of higher learning in collaboration with bearer communities

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

Implemented by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU), an accredited non-governmental organization under the 2003 Convention, this two-year project aims to promote intangible cultural heritage education in higher-learning institutions. The project builds on the achievements of a previous intervention aimed at raising awareness of the relevance of living heritage in Uganda’s current development context among the management and academic staff of f ›››

Imbalu ceremonies

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

Implemented by the Inzu Ya Masaaba/Institution of the Umukuuka, this project is aimed at preparing a nomination file to the Urgent Safeguarding List for the Imbalu Ceremonies in Uganda. The ceremonies are a rite of passage for young men that involve many activities, from cultural education, to running, dancing and beer brewing. They culminate with the circumcision of initiates ›››

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 the capacity of community museums to promote inscribed intangible cultural heritage elements

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

Implemented by the Uganda Community Museums Association, this project was intended to strengthen the capacities of community museums to promote inscribed elements of intangible cultural heritage in Uganda. Although several safeguarding measures have been proposed for these elements, the concept of intangible cultural heritage was still not well-understood, particularly among young people, and the elements were not sufficiently visible at ›››

News and activities:

• 2022-09-28 – Ugandan museums as key actors for the safeguarding of living heritage

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

Promoting intangible cultural heritage education in institutions of higher learning in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

In line with Uganda’s National Cultural Policy, which underscores the importance of intangible cultural heritage, the three-year project aimed at raising awareness of a core group of twenty management and academic staff from four universities in Gulu, Kampala, Nkozi and Fort Portal, on the relevance of intangible cultural heritage in Uganda’s current development context. For the moment, there are only iso ›››

Community-self documentation and revitalization of ceremonies and practices associated with Empaako naming system in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

Inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List in December 2013, Empaako is a traditional naming system whereby, in addition to their family and given names, a child is given an Empaako from a list of twelve shared by the entire community. The practice is associated with rituals and ceremonies whose meaning is central to the identity and belief systems of the communities ›››

News and activities:

• 2020-08-27 – Five communities in Western Uganda participated in documenting and revitalizing Empaako intangible cultural heritage
• 2018-08-01 – Training of trainers workshop on ICH documentation

Safeguarding and promotion of Bigwala, gourd trumpet music and dance of Busoga Kingdom in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

The project merged with ongoing safeguarding initiatives of the Busoga communities of Eastern Uganda to revitalize and strengthen Bigwala music and dance traditions, which play a key role in maintaining Busoga collective memory, cultural values and social unity. Involving the performance of five or more gourd trumpet players, each producing a single tone blown in hocket to produce a melody ›››

News and activities:

• 2017-03-20 – Basoga communities of Uganda engage in the safeguarding of the Bigwala
• 2016-06-01 – Workshop in Bigwala and drum playing and Bigwala dance

Inventorying the intangible cultural heritage of four communities in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

In July 2013, Uganda launched a multi-year project to enable four local communities to identify their living heritage, as an essential step for its safeguarding. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development will coordinate the establishment of a national strategy for inventorying intangible cultural heritage and organize a workshop in the capital in order to train local coordinators on the ›››

News and activities:

• 2015-02-12 – Financial assistance, a key mechanism for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Africa
• 2013-07-02 – Four communities in Uganda commence inventory making of their intangible cultural heritage

Madi bow lyre music, O'di

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

The male-child cleansing ceremony of the Lango people of North Central Uganda (Dwoko Atin Awobi lot)

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

The assistance resulted in the submission of a USL nomination to be examined for possible inscription in 2014. ›››

A series of pilot projects in community-based intangible heritage inventorying on a grassroots-level in six selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Benefitting country(ies): Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia

Overview:

The project was implemented by conducting a series of pilot ICH inventory-making activities, on a grassroots level, in six beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries, namely Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Swaziland and Zambia. It was composed of four phases: #Phase I dealt with the selection of six pilot communities (one in each country) in a demand-driven manner; #Phase II was the initial ›››

Revitalization of bark cloth making in Uganda

Benefitting country(ies): Uganda

Overview:

The Mutaba tree provides the raw material for the delicate manufacture of bark-cloth. Produced for the royal family and other Buganda community members and highly recognized as a marker of cultural traditions, this precious cloth is worn at coronations and healing ceremonies, funerals and social gatherings. The objectives of the safeguarding project are to: * train craftspersons, especially young artisans, in ›››