The training-of-trainers workshop for new Latin American and Caribbean members of the global network of facilitators of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage took place in Santiago Cali from 13 to 17 May 2023. Generously hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Knowledge of Colombia, the workshop was co-organised by the UNESCO Office in San José, the Living Heritage Entity, and the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL), a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO.

As part of the global expansion of the facilitators network, 26 facilitators from 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean came together in Santiago de Cali to discuss the contribution of living heritage safeguarding to sustainable development. The workshop was innovative, as it applied a training methodology focusing on concrete practices and exchanges with bearer communities. It built on the rich experiences of participating facilitators and host country communities, identifying shared accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities, including in key thematic areas, such as sustainable livelihoods, over-commercialization, intercultural education, disaster risk prevention, territorial organization, trauma coping, and, importantly, peacebuilding. Thanks for the workshop, new facilitators were equipped with knowledge, skills and tools required for tailoring the global capacity-building programme to local needs and contexts. It fostered strong bonds among facilitators and strengthened the robust regional chapter of facilitators in Latin America and the Caribbean.