New impetus for capacity building in Europe and Central Asia

17 September 2014

What are the lessons learnt from implementing UNESCO’s capacity-building strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Europe and Central Asia? What do the expert-facilitators need to know to deliver trainings and policy advice effectively? What is their advice to UNESCO for the further improvement of the programme? These are some of the questions for discussion at the Review meeting of the global capacity-building strategy, which the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe is generously hosting in Sofia, Bulgaria from 23 to 26 September 2014. The UNESCO meeting will bring together expert-facilitators from eight different countries and UNESCO Field Office colleagues, all playing an active role in delivering capacity-building services in Europe and Central Asia. Some staff from the Centre will also attend.
Following similar review meetings in Asia (Beijing, 2012), Latin America (Cusco, 2013) and the Arab region (Kuwait City, 2014), the Sofia meeting will take stock of the initial experiences of implementing the global strategy in Europe and Central Asia. It will upgrade experts’ knowledge on issues related to the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and discuss new training and guidance materials developed recently by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section. The meeting has become possible thanks to the generous support of the Bulgarian authorities and funds from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund.

• Bulgaria,