Resumen:

To be implemented by the National Centre for Art and Culture, this two-year project aims to build the capacities of communities and practitioners and to promote the safeguarding and transmission of The Gambia’s intangible cultural heritage. The project has a particular focus on the safeguarding of the Kankurang, Manding initiatory rite, an element inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2005 as part of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity). The project involves: (a) supporting community-based safeguarding activities; (b) conducting awareness-raising activities such as radio talk shows, broadcasts and inter-school competitions; (c) updating The Gambia’s intangible cultural heritage catalogue, which was created during a pilot project carried out in 2022–2023, and adapting it to an online format for regular updating by community representatives; and (d) upgrading and rehabilitating the Kankurang cultural centre, furnishing its education room and constructing a performance stage. Activities will also include the coordination of capacity-building workshops on the 2003 Convention and a community-based inventorying of ninety elements of intangible cultural heritage, in addition to thirty elements already inventoried during the above-mentioned pilot project. The request places a particular focus on women-led elements in the Central River region. The community festivals associated with the project will generate income and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills to younger generations.