Benefitting country(ies): Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Overview:

Africa is the fourth region to be undertaking periodic reporting under the revised regional cycle approved by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention Decision 14.COM 8. The present project aims to strengthen the human and institutional capacities of States Parties in the region, in conducting a thorough review of the state of safeguarding policies, programmes, and initiatives in their territory under the periodic reporting process.

The project aims to strengthen effective results-based monitoring mechanisms under the 2003 Convention to support future safeguarding efforts in Africa. In particular, it seeks to strengthen the knowledge and skills of country focal points to undertake periodic reporting in their countries using two key tools: the Overall Results Framework and the online periodic reporting platform.

The capacity-building strategy comprises a series of training activities held at regional and subregional and supported by a group of trained resource persons from UNESCO’s facilitators network. Activities are designed to encourage collaboration, networking, and peer-learning between countries in the region.

The project is fully in line with UNESCO’s Operational Strategy for Priority Africa (2022-2029) and its Flagship Programme 3, as well as the Aspiration 5 of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. The project contributes to a wide range of sustainable development goals, and in particular SDG 11 (Target 11.4), SDG 16 (Targets 16.6; 16.7) an SDG 17 (Targets 17.14; 17.18). Particular attention is paid to UNESCO’s Global Priorities and Priority Groups, including through the involvement of six Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from the Africa region in the project.

News and activities:

• 2024-04-22 – Milestone achieved as Africa participates in its first regional cycle of periodic reporting

04/04/2022 - 15/07/2024 – Community-Based inventory, documenting and safeguarding folklore of the Syunik region of Armenia23/12/2020 - 30/06/2024 – Spring rite of Juraŭski Karahod (international assistance)