Mozambique to develop a national strategy for the safeguarding of its living heritage

17 October 2014

Following eight months of conducting a pilot inventory in the Province of Manica in Central Mozambique, the national institute for socio-cultural research, Arquivo do Património Cultural (ARPAC), in cooperation with UNESCO is organizing a closing workshop from 27 to 31 October 2014. The workshop in Manica and Maputo will highlight how inventories of intangible cultural heritage are a key step for further safeguarding measures.
Taking stock of the results of the pilot inventory, the workshop marks the end of a sequence of country-based training activities in Mozambique and will permit both the local and the provincial levels in Manica and Maputo to contribute to the development of a national strategy for the promotion and safeguarding of Mozambique’s intangible cultural heritage.
Over eighty members of the community of Chinhambudzi have collaborated with ARPAC to collect data, map, describe and categorize their intangible cultural heritage. The results will be presented at the workshop, to share experiences and inform the development of the strategy.
Mozambique is the first Portuguese speaking African (PALOP) country to have accomplished the inventory exercise, and Mozambican trainers will have the opportunity to co-facilitate workshops in other PALOP countries, namely Sao Tome and Principe where preparations are already underway for upcoming workshops. On 1 November, an extra day will be dedicated to the planning of future activities of this project.
Organized in the framework of UNESCO global capacity-building strategy, this project is made possible thanks to a generous voluntary contribution from Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

• Mozambique,