Haiti: on the road to effective and sustainable implementation of the Convention

30 April 2013

Following a needs assessment carried out by UNESCO in February that gathered the viewpoints of a wide range of Haitian actors, a reflection is now launched on how to adapt the principles of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to the Haitian context. Ms Soledad Mujica (Peru) and Ms Claudine Augée Angoué (Gabon), two expert facilitators from UNESCO’s network, will accompany the country in this process thanks to a generous contribution of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

Two workshops will be organized in Les Cayes (South Department) from 7 to 10 May and in Cap Haïtien (North Department) from 13 to 17 May by the UNESCO Offices in Havana and Port au Prince, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Haitian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO and the National Bureau of Ethnology. The mobilization of some fifty institutional and civil society actors from different parts of the country seeks to stimulate a better integration of the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in their respective fields of action and to enhance its role as an important lever for sustainable development.