Established by the 2003 Convention, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund essentially provides assistance to States Parties in their efforts for safeguarding.

Use of the Fund

States can request International Assistance from the Fund:

Article 7(c) of the Convention requests the Committee to ‘prepare and submit to the General Assembly for approval a draft plan for the use of the resources of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, in accordance with Article 25’. Article 25.4 of the Convention further provides that the use of the resources of the Fund by the Committee ‘shall be decided on the basis of guidelines laid down by the General Assembly’. Those guidelines were adopted by the General Assembly of the States Parties in its second session in 2008 and are found in Chapter II.1 of the Operational Directives for the Implementation of the Convention. 

The General Assembly approved the plan for the use of the resources of the Fund for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025 (Resolution 10.GA 8) for an indicative amount of 8.2 million US$:

Contributions

Assessed contributions to the Fund

Obligatory contribution

The States having ratified the Convention make an annual obligatory contribution, corresponding to 1% of their contribution to the regular budget of UNESCO.

Voluntary supplementary contributions

Voluntary supplementary contributions may also be made not only by States, but also by any other donor, including public or private organizations and individuals. These contributions can be: 


 

Funding priorities (2022 - 2025)

  • Priority 1: Strengthening capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage: English|French 
  • Priority 2: Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in formal and non-formal education: English|French
  • earmarked for specific purposes, subject to approval by the Intergovernmental Committee to support projects for which States are invited to inform the Secretariat through a letter of intent three months prior to the Committee meeting at which their proposal will be examined (Model letters: English|French);
  • donated to the sub-fund created within the Fund in June 2010 to be used exclusively for enhancing the human capacities of the Secretariat, in accordance with Resolution 3.GA.9 (Model letters: English|French);
  • unrestricted, used according to the plan for the use of the resources of the Fund approved by the General Assembly of the State Parties every two years (Model letters: English|French).







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    Voluntary contributor (States)Nature of the contribution
    AzerbaijanEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Sub-fund
    BulgariaSub-fund
    Burkina FasoSub-fund
    ChinaSub-fund
    Earmarked for a specific purpose
    EstoniaUnrestricted
    FinlandSub-fund
    FranceEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Sub-fund
    GeorgiaSub-fund
    HungarySub-fund
    IndonesiaSub-fund
    JapanEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Sub-fund
    KazakhstanSub-fund
    KuwaitEarmarked for a specific purpose
    LithuaniaSub-fund
    MonacoEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Unrestricted
    Sub-fund
    MontenegroSub-fund
    NorwayEarmarked for a specific purpose
    NetherlandsEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Unrestricted
    OmanUnrestricted
    PalestineSub-fund
    PortugalSub-fund
    Republic of KoreaSub-fund
    Earmarked for a specific purpose
    Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesUnrestricted
    SlovakiaSub-fund
    SloveniaSub-fund
    SpainEarmarked for a specific purpose
    Sub-fund
    SwedenSub-fund
    SwitzerlandEarmarked for a specific purpose
    TurkeyEarmarked for a specific purpose
    United Arab EmiratesSub-fund
    United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandSub-fund
    Voluntary contributor (Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO)Nature of the contribution
    International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP)Earmarked for a specific purpose
    Voluntary contributor (private bodies)Nature of the contribution
    Associazione per la salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale immaterialeSub-fund
    Fondazione Museo del Violino Antonio StradivariSub-fund
    Norwegian Centre of Traditional Music and danceSub-fund
    Swiss-Japanese Chamber of CommerceUnrestricted
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