Jamaica will host a national workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage from 10 to 14 December 2012. Organized by The African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, Ministry of Youth and Culture, the Jamaican National Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean, the workshop will bring together government officials, non-governmental organizations and community practitioners to partake in the workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The official opening will take place on 10 December 2012 at the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites in Kingston with the presence of H.E. Yasuo Takase, Ambassador of Japan to Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas, along with representatives from government and non-government institutions, universities, the diplomatic corps and the UN Agencies in Jamaica.

This workshop is part of a sub-regional project being implemented in Belize, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago within the context of UNESCO’s Global Strategy on capacity building on intangible cultural heritage. Funded by the government of Japan, this project includes an assessment of the intangible cultural heritage related policy development process in the respective countries and identification of their specific needs for safeguarding their living heritage. As a part of strengthening their safeguarding capacities, countries will also develop and implement a framework for community based inventory of the intangible cultural heritage in their territory, which will include pilot inventories.