The project ‘Learning with Intangible Cultural Heritage for a Sustainable Future’: a pilot project in four public and private schools in Lebanon, initiated by the Culture Unit at UNESCO-Beirut Office and the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO in collaboration with the School Network of Saida and Neighboring Towns, aimed at integrating intangible cultural heritage in education as both a subject and a tool for learning and teaching in all relevant disciplines. It seeks to disseminate and promote
the principles of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage as well as good safeguarding practices amongst the students in the member schools of the local community within the framework of formal education. This project serves several objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education, and more specifically target 4.7.

This leaflet describes an experiment carried out in four Lebanese schools that consists of introducing elements of this heritage into the content of scientific and literary subjects of the secondary cycle. It aspires to raise the awareness of officials and teachers in public and private educational institutions in Lebanon on the importance of integrating intangible cultural heritage in school curricula. Through referring to familiar elements extracted from the cultural environment of the students in the lessons, it contributes to the valorization of the Lebanese identity in its diversity, to the promotion of a tool for reconciliation and peace as well as to the familiarization with the contribution of culture to sustainable development.