The General Assembly of State Parties to the 2003 Convention at its seventh session (June 2018) approved the amendments to the Operational Directives on periodic reporting, thus transitioning towards a regional cycle of reporting on the implementation of the Convention. Following the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean (2020) and Europe (2021), the Arab States will be the third region to implement the new periodic reporting mechanism in 2022.
The new process of periodic reporting is linked to the overall results framework for the Convention which assists with a more accurate assessment of the implementation of the Convention as well as with ICH safeguarding at the national level.
In this context, UNESCO is undertaking a training for facilitators of the 2003 Convention from the Arab States region to support in building a group of resource persons available to help the roll out of the periodic reporting as well as assist Member States undertake and complete the periodic reporting exercise. More concretely, the training would aim to introduce and familiarize the facilitators with results-based reporting and the new online periodic reporting mechanism while also aiming to allow knowledge sharing and insights to design the programme for training the country focal points on periodic reporting scheduled for next year.
By the end of the training, participating facilitators will be better equipped to use the online reporting system and the overall results framework. They will also have an understanding of the benefits for countries to be gained from using this new online reporting system, and how the overall results framework may be applied at the national level for internal planning, monitoring and evaluation purposes.
The objectives of the training are the following:
1. Introduce the new periodic reporting system and the associated overall results framework;
2. Strengthen competencies and skillsets of facilitators to use the online reporting form as well as on how to produce participatory results-based reports;
3. Facilitate peer learning, networking and strategic discussions among participants; and
4. Share knowledge and insights to design the programme for the training of country focal points on periodic reporting.