The Bureau,
- Recalling Chapter V of the Convention and Chapter I of the Operational Directives, concerning the approval of international assistance requests,
- Having examined Document ITH/12/7.COM 3.BUR/4 as well as the international assistance request 00609 from Malawi for the project ‘Development of an inventory of intangible heritage of Malawi’,
- Takes note that Malawi has requested international assistance for the project entitled ‘Development of an inventory of intangible heritage of Malawi’ described as follows:
The project seeks to develop an inventory of the intangible cultural heritage of the Northern Region of Malawi in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of the Convention and to put in place appropriate safeguarding measures. The community-based inventory will be developed by a trained and experienced team using diverse field methodologies of collecting and registering data.The project will be implemented under the responsibility of the Malawi National Commission for UNESCO who will coordinate, monitor and evaluate the results, with the active collaboration of the Department of Culture, under the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture. The Department of Culture will supervise the implementation of the activities in collaboration with specific officers from the division of Museums and Arts and Crafts of the same Department. Other organizations such as Mzuzu University and the National Youth Council will be also involved in the project. Within the scope of seven months, several preparatory meetings will be organized with the involvement of the communities concerned. Then three community trainings will be organized in three districts of North Malawi, followed by field research and documentation for each district. In the end a community-based inventory of the region will be developed.
- Decides that, from the information provided in file 00609, Development of an inventory of intangible heritage of Malawi responds as follows to the criteria for international assistance in Paragraph 12 of the Operational Directives and to the additional considerations in Paragraph 10:
A.1 The clear involvement of communities in the implementation of the activities has been highlighted, supported by evidence that local officers and researchers were involved in the preparation of the request; local community youth identified through the National Youth Council will be the primary researchers in the project;
A.2 The budget is well conceived and clearly detailed with an overview of the financial contribution of the State and the unit costs; the amount of assistance appears to be appropriate;
A.3 The proposed activities are well conceived, methodical and feasible, presented in a logical step-by-step procedure, and there is consistency between the activities planned, the timetable and the budget; monitoring and evaluation of the programme are built in;
A.4 There is a clear demonstration that the project will have lasting results as it is part of an integrated action of ICH inventorying carried out by the national institutions involved in ICH safeguarding, built upon previous experiences in inventorying; nevertheless greater attention could have been given in the request to plans for updating the inventory as a safeguarding measure;
A.5 The support requested from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund constitutes 87.2% of the total, with the remaining costs (12.8%) to be borne by Malawi; substantial additional in-kind support of Malawi government personnel will be provided, even if its value is not calculated;
A.6 Financial assistance will be used for training of various organizations, groups and individuals, focusing on youth and practitioners to enhance their capacities to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage;
A.7 The submitting State has not previously received any international assistance from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund; although representatives of the State have participated in a capacity-building workshop activity of training of trainers organized within the framework of the UNESCO/Flanders Funds-in-Trust Project to strengthen national capacities for the implementation of the 2003 Convention in 2012.
10(a) The project will be carried out at the national and sub-national level;
10(b) The project will contribute to a national inventory of the intangible cultural heritage of Malawi that will be further carried out by the Department of Culture; the request identifies and details private and public possible financial and technical contributions that might be stimulated.
- Approves, as authorized body, the international assistance request from Malawi for ‘Development of an inventory of intangible heritage of Malawi’ for an amount of US$24,947.23;
- Requests the Secretariat to reach agreement with the requesting party on the technical details of the assistance.