Benefitting country(ies): Bhutan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste

Overview:

This project generously financed by the Government of Japan aimed at assisting eight countries, namely Bhutan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It aimed at building up a critical mass of experience and knowledge, both in government institutions and in civil society, so that the beneficiary countries could be equipped with an appropriate sustainable framework for safeguarding intangible heritage and implementing the Convention on a long term basis.

To that end, the project implemented an integrated strategy, including a series of workshops and activities also in the field, tailored to respond to the identified needs of each country. This project covered the core concepts of the Convention and provided the beneficiary countries with a thorough understanding of their obligations at the national level, and a substantial knowledge of the mechanisms of international cooperation established by the Convention.

Based on the assessed needs, themes covered includes the ratification of the Convention, its implementation at national level, community-based inventorying as well as the preparation of nominations files to the different mechanisms of the Convention, including the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Representative List.

Each beneficiary State also benefited from other safeguarding interventions tailored to its specific needs, ranging from practical experience with community-based inventorying to consultation on possible policy or legal reforms, from technical assistance to the establishment of an intangible cultural heritage management body, or individualized training for heritage managers. All in all 25 workshops were implemented in addition to three field activities in Bhutan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, with nearly 900 participants from different institutions.

A final report of this Project financed by the Government of Japan and implemented between 2011 and 2014 is available in English in this same webpage.

News and activities:

• 2015-07-06 – Second round of capacity-building activities launched in Asia and the Pacific
• 2014-03-07 – Sri Lanka and Bhutan better equipped to use the international mechanisms of the Intangible Heritage Convention
• 2014-03-04 – Elaboration of nomination files to the ICH Lists in Bhutan
• 2014-02-11 – Elaboration of Nomination Files to the ICH List in Sri Lanka
• 2013-12-03 – Training on the use of the mechanisms of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Timor-Leste
• 2013-10-22 – Cambodia and Samoa on the right track to safeguard their rich intangible cultural heritage
• 2013-10-21 – Samoa: workshop on community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage
• 2013-10-21 – Training on the use of the mechanisms of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Cambodia
• 2013-09-23 – Second community-based inventorying (INV)
• 2013-09-16 – Safeguarding Nepal’s Intangible Cultural Heritage: workshop on preparing nominations to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, Kathmandu 16 - 20 September 2013
• 2013-08-01 – Field survey and ICH inventorying in pilot communities in Sri Lanka
• 2013-08-01 – Field survey and inventorying of ICH elements in Bhutan
• 2013-06-01 – Practical field survey and inventorying of ICH in pilot communities in Nepal
• 2013-05-22 – Intangible Cultural Heritage Community-Based Inventorying Workshop
• 2013-04-16 – Second Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Community-Based Inventorying Workshop in Timor-Leste
• 2013-04-02 – Bhutan: Workshop on Community-based Inventorying of Intangible Cultural Heritage
• 2013-03-06 – Cambodia reorienting its methods of inventorying living heritage
• 2013-02-14 – Cambodia reorienting its methods of inventorying living heritage
• 2013-01-19 – Inventory of the intangible cultural heritage in Nepal
• 2012-11-19 – Mongolia takes another step to implement the 2003 Convention
• 2012-10-22 – Inventory of intangible cultural heritage in Goroka
• 2012-10-22 – Inventory of intangible cultural heritage of Timor-Leste
• 2012-08-13 – Cambodia pursues its march towards safeguarding intangible heritage
• 2012-06-25 – Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sri Lanka
• 2012-06-13 – Capacity building workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national Level
• 2012-05-28 – Need assessment for strenthening national capacities in implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mongolia
• 2012-05-15 – Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Papua New Guinea
• 2012-05-14 – Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bhutan
• 2012-04-16 – Efforts of safeguarding Nepal’s intangible cultural heritage initiated to with the support of UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust
• 2012-04-10 – Capacity-Building on the Implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Timor-Leste
• 2012-01-27 – US$1.02 million project launched in Asia and the Pacific

01/11/2011 - 01/06/2014 – Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through the Strengthening of National Capacities in Lao PDR01/08/2012 - 01/03/2014 – Strengthening national capacities for effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Central America