The Committee,

1. Having examined document LHE/19/14.COM/9.b Rev.,
2. Recalling Article 24.3 of the Convention,
3. Expresses its satisfaction that countries from Electoral Group V(a) continue to be the main beneficiaries of International Assistance from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, in line with Global Priority Africa, congratulates those States that have been granted International Assistance for the first time, and encourages States that have not benefitted from the Fund to consider this mechanism of assistance in their efforts to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage present in their territories;
4. Thanks the beneficiary States for their timely submission of final or progress reports for projects benefitting from International Assistance under the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, and at the same time requests that beneficiary States with projects whose implementation has been delayed take corrective measures to ensure the timely implementation of the projects and the respect of reporting obligations;
5. Appreciates the broadened scope of activities and themes of the projects funded by the Fund as well as the impact that the assistance has had both on the beneficiary communities for ensuring the viability of their intangible cultural heritage and on the States for strengthening their safeguarding capacities, and further encourages them to continue to ensure the sustainability and enhancement of the results of the projects;
6. Also encourages States Parties to continue to take advantage of the technical assistance arranged by the Secretariat, which is aimed at improving the quality of International Assistance requests, especially those States Parties that face recurrent difficulties in revising requests referred by the Bureau or the Committee;
7. Notes with satisfaction the ongoing support for emergency International Assistance provided through the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund and encourages furthermore States Parties with active projects in this sense to continue their efforts to foster peace and cohesion among communities through intangible cultural heritage;
8. Expresses its support for the continuous use of the modality for the provision of services, as provided by Article 21 (a) to (f) and as a complement and alternative modality to the provision of financial grants;
9. Takes note that multiple submissions of International Assistance continue to be submitted and further requests that the Secretariat continue to closely monitor the situation and report thereon to the fifteenth session of the Committee.