The Committee

1. Takes note that Senegal has requested International Assistance in the amount of US$80,789 for Inventory of traditional musics in Senegal:

The traditional music of Senegal encompasses a vast and diverse array of musical traditions, genres, instruments and associated craftsmanship. Its social, spiritual and cultural functions are many, including celebrations of birth, death rites, initiations, blessings, agriculture, fishing, values, and legends and myths. In short, it is a powerful factor of social cohesion. However, large parts of Senegal’s musical heritage are very poorly documented and may disappear if a preventive safeguarding inventory is not undertaken. This project aims to undertake such an inventory as part of a conservation strategy – a programme that intends to preserve and enhance this heritage, and help to reinvigorate the chain of transmission. Concretely, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of the communities concerned to inventory and manage a database on traditional music that will provide important sources for research, education and the promotion of traditional artists. Specific objectives include awareness-raising and capacity building of the target communities, production of the global inventory of traditional music and associated elements, and development of a safeguarding and enhancement action plan. Programmed activities to achieve these objectives include in-situ workshops, creation of a documentary collection and database, and development of an action plan with all local and state stakeholders.

2. Decides that, from the information provided in file 00553, the request responds as follows to the criteria for granting International Assistance given in Paragraphs 10 and 12 of the Operational Directives:

A.1:   The participatory approach envisioned for the project intends to give communities a decisive role in its implementation, management and monitoring mechanisms, particularly through their representatives sitting on local management committees;

A.2:   The budget, carefully and systematically drawn up, reflects in detail the planned activities and the related expenses, demonstrating with transparency and accountability that the amount of assistance requested is appropriate;

A.3:   Activities are well articulated and conceived in relation to the expected results of the project and a system of regular monitoring and evaluation is foreseen, involving both the implementing organization and the local management committees;

A.4:   The involvement of local management committees in the development of the intangible cultural heritage inventory and the awareness raised among communities through the project help to ensure that safeguarding efforts can continue beyond the end of the project; a more precise explanation of the future use of the proposed inventory and how it will actually contribute to the desired safeguarding and revitalization of musical expressions would have been desirable;

A.5:   The State Party’s contribution covers nearly one fifth of the overall budget for the project activities, and its breakdown is clearly distinguished from the contribution requested from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund;

A.6:   With a substantial training component, the project will strengthen capacities among both officials and educated community youth in inventorying intangible cultural heritage, digital audio recording and archiving, and managing safeguarding projects;

A.7:   The State Party received financial assistance between 2009 and 2011 from the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in support of a safeguarding plan for ‘Kankurang, Manding initiatory rite’; the work stipulated by the contracts was successfully carried out and, following UNESCO’s regulations, was duly completed;

10(a):    The project is national in scope and involves national implementing partners;

10(b):    The stimulating effect of this inventorying experience on the safeguarding of Senegalese musical heritage may attract contributions from other sources;

3. Approves the request in the amount of US$80,789;
4. Commends the State Party for the clarity and accuracy with which the request was prepared and, in particular, for the transparency and consistency in the presentation of the budget that clearly delineates the specific costs to be supported by the requesting State and those to be supported by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund;
5. Invites the State Party to make the inventory project a fresh impetus to develop a safeguarding strategy for traditional music in line with the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and encourages it to give clearer consideration as to how the short-term inventorying outcomes can contribute to that larger objective;
6. Further encourages the State Party to take full advantage of its institutional and professional expertise in the implementation of the project, especially in training researchers, drawing up the inventory as well as in its future periodic updates and making it available through the Internet;
7. Recommends that the State Party involve the communities fully in the implementation of the project in order to reinforce their capacities to safeguard their traditional music, that it devote the necessary time to this purpose and that it consider how best to ensure the restitution of the collected information to them.