: Capacity building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

A panel on capacity building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage was held on Tuesday in Rabat on the occasion of the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the United Nations Educational Organization, Science and Culture (UNESCO).

Organized by the UNESCO Living Heritage Entity, this side event focused on changing needs in the context of the funding priority of strengthening capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage by using multimodal approaches and contributing to development durable.

It also examined progress on the most urgent needs in this funding priority, inviting programmes and beneficiary States to share their experiences and perspectives.

With a decade of experience in implementing training activities, the Global Capacity Building Programme has become an integral part of the EU strategy as well as an integral part of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage at the national level.

Over the past four years, the number of countries benefiting from the programme has reached more than 120, with more than 2,400 people from government, civil society and communities who have been trained under the programme, recalled on that occasion, Susanne Schnuttgen, Head of Unit for Heritage Policy and Capacity Building.

Training in key areas of the Convention, including the preparation of safeguard plans, requests for international assistance and nomination dossiers, remains a priority for many States, especially in Africa and among small island developing states, she added.

The Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage project is a two-year project whose objectives are “to empower our people in terms of knowledge about the 2003 Convention and its mechanisms,” said Sana Sarjul. researcher at the Gambia Centre for Art and Culture, stating that this is a participatory action that will involve communities in both theory and practice.This project will also enable the design of plans and safeguard measures and promote the increased visibility of the project to safeguard intangible cultural heritage for social development in The Gambia, he added.

For her part, the Ambassador of France to UNESCO, Véronique Roger-Lacan, told MAP that “the purpose of this side event is to address the issue of rebalancing the world list of intangible cultural property so that more African property is inscribed on it.”To achieve this rebalancing, financial, budgetary and human resources are needed, she continued, highlighting the “important” role of governments and administrations in countries' cultural policies.