Benefitting country(ies): Zimbabwe

Overview:

The project implemented by Chinhoyi University of Technology, aimed at producing a comprehensive inventory of the oral traditions, expressions, local knowledge and practices of the communities of the Hurungwe district in north-western Zimbabwe. Despite the abundance of living heritage in the region, a shortage of resources and skills necessary for the implementation of the 2003 Convention has been noted, and traditional leaders in the district have raised concerns over the years about the disappearance and distortion of traditional knowledge and practices. As such, the project aimed to contribute to the safeguarding efforts of the country through the following activities: the translation of the Convention into the main local language; a three-day workshop to raise awareness of the Convention among twenty traditional leaders and thirty community members; a further five-day workshop to train thirty community members and twenty university staff and students in community-based inventorying; and the inventorying of oral traditions, expressions, local knowledge and practices in the district. The community members produced an Action Plan to enable them to continue the inventorying efforts after the end of the project.

20/02/2020 - 18/08/2022 – Pilot project to create a local ICH management committee and first steps towards a national strategy for decentralized ICH management11/03/2019 - 30/06/2022 – Inventory, safeguarding and promoting knowledge of how to manufacture and play Togo’s traditional musical instruments (national phase)