Preparing nominations: Caribbean countries strengthen their capacities

7 October 2013

Twenty representatives of institutions involved in safeguarding cultural heritage in Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti meet in Havana, Cuba, from 7 to 11 October to strengthen their skills in preparing nominations to the Lists of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. This complements the training they received in their respective countries on the implementation of the Convention at the national level. Both activities were made possible thanks to a generous contribution from Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund in support of a regional project for strengthening national capacities for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.

Two members of UNESCO’s network of facilitators, Adriana Molano Arenas from Colombia and Fabián Bedón Samaniego from Ecuador, will conduct these sessions, emphasizing that nominations are processes of mobilizing a wide range of stakeholders involved in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage - and first and foremost communities - as well as designing safeguarding plans tailored to the specific contexts and conditions for practising a given intangible cultural heritage element.

Besides theoretical training on nomination procedures, the participants will put into practice the acquired knowledge both through evaluation exercises on mock nominations and through a field visit to Regla, where they will have the opportunity to exchange with traditional musicians of this municipality located at the foot of Havana Bay and to better understand the modes of transmission of their practice to younger generations.

More information: www.unesco.lacult.org

• Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti,