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

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.

States can request International Assistance from the Fund:
- How to request assistance
- Assistance granted

The General Assembly approved the plan for the use of the resources of the Fund for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023 (Resolution 9.GA 10) for an indicative amount of 8.7 million US$:

Contributions

Assessed contributions to the Fund
- latest: English/French
- for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2023: English|French

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).
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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