Overview:

Implemented by the Eswatini National Trust Commission, this preparatory assistance request aims to support the nomination of Raising a child according to the traditions and customs of emaSwati to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The element concerns the indigenous knowledge, skills, customary practices, rites of passage, moral instruction, and socialization processes through which boys and girls are raised within the cultural framework of emaSwati. It encompasses the intergenerational transmission of the emaSwati values, language, clan responsibilities, gender roles, respect for elders, communal solidarity, traditional education in homesteads, and participation in age-specific cultural activities. The element is transmitted orally and through hands-on practice by elders, regiments, caregivers and traditional leaders. However, rapid urbanization, changing family structures, migration, formal education pressures, and globalization have significantly weakened related transmission mechanisms. The need to request preparatory assistance was identified during the implementation of an ongoing extra-budgetary project1, aiming to safeguarding the rich diversity of living heritage in Africa, with a focus on countries that, at the time of the preparation of the project had no elements inscribed on the Lists of the Convention.