A new International Assistance project supported by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund

PUNO, PÉROU, LE 21 JUIN 2015 : Célébration de l'Année Nouvelle des Andes, ou Willkakuti, qui marque le solstice d'hiver et l'Année Nouvelle des Aymaras à Puno, au Pérou

22 September 2026

The fourth meeting of the Bureau of the twenty-first session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (composed by Spain, Ukraine, Haiti, Zambia and Algeria) took place on 22 September 2026. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr GAO Zheng, Vice-Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China.

A total amount of US$ 100,000 has been granted from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund in support of a multinational request for International Assistance, to implement the safeguarding project ‘Suma Qamaña and Suma Jakaña: Knowledge, Practices and Rituals for Healthy Living among Aymara Communities in Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Project to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of Aymara communities’.

This project is a multinational endeavor involving three States Parties that share the living heritage of the Aymara communities, an Indigenous People whose cultural practices, knowledge systems and social traditions extend across borders in the Andean region. The project set-up is also distinctive, as its implementation is coordinated by CRESPIAL (the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America), a Category 2 Centre based in Peru.

This project aims to identify and research the knowledge, practices and rituals related to Suma Qamaña and Suma Jakaña, particularly those focusing on health and well-being. Suma Qamaña and Suma Jakaña, or ‘buen vivir’ (good living) is a holistic worldview encompassing a series of knowledge and values that fosters harmony among human beings, Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and the cosmos. It is a way of life central to Aymara communities and vital to strengthening identity, social cohesion and well-being. In addition to participatory research and inventory, the project will help develop an audiovisual and photographic archive of knowledge and practices concerning traditional medicine; the information to be collected will be disseminated using outreach materials to be prepared.

The request in question relates to the regional project ‘Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of Aymara communities in Bolivia, Chile and Peru’, selected in 2009 by the fourth session of the Committee for inclusion in the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund provides dedicated resources for States Parties to implement a wide range of programmes, projects and activities dedicated to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, such as community-based inventorying, awareness-raising or specific activities such as safeguarding living heritage in emergencies.