Lakalaka, dances and sung speeches of Tonga

© Adrienne Kaeppler/UNESCO

As a follow-up to the sub-regional meeting in the Pacific on the 2003 Convention (Nadi, Fiji, December 2007), UNESCO is organizing a series of national consultation meetings to assist Pacific Member States in the ratification and implementation of the 2003 Convention. The Tongan inter-departmental meeting is the third national consultation meeting organized in 2008, following those of Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby, 18-19 March 2008) and Fiji (Suva, 21-22 May 2008).

The meeting is aimed at providing governmental officers in different departments with information and assistance that might contribute to the ratification and implementation of the 2003 Convention. Legislation, programmes and activities related to the safeguarding of Tonga’s intangible heritage will be shared among the participants.

The meeting will be organized immediately after the Second Pacific meeting on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is also held in Tonga from 2 to 4 December 2008, and will be attended by representatives from most of the Pacific States.

Contact in Apia office: E. Waterman, UNESCO Apia

Performance that took place at the occasion of the 2nd Pacific meeting on the 2003 Convention - Nuku’alofa, Tonga, 02/04-12-2008

© UNESCO / E.Waterman

The meeting was aimed at reinforcing capacities among governmental decision-makers in the Pacific for developing measures and policies for the safeguarding of their intangible cultural heritage. Governmental representatives from all Pacific States have been invited to attend.

As a way to give a follow-up to the first Pacific meeting on the Convention(Nadi, Fiji, December 2007 ), the participants were informed about the latest developments on the Convention, which is fully operational since June 2008. Moreover, they were be informed about the procedures followed by Papua New Guinea to ratify the Convention as well as of other activities in the field of intangible heritage carried out by UNESCO in the Pacific in 2008.

The meeting was be followed by a Tongan national consultation meeting on the Convention on 5 December 2008.

Documents:

• Programme: English
• Speeches:
  • Welcome address by the Director of the UNESCO Apia Office, Dr Visesio Pongi: English
  • Keynote address by the Honourable Minister of Education, Women Affairs and Culture, Dr Tevita H. Palefau: English
  • Remarks by the Representative of the Government of Japan, Mr Akira Ouchi: English
• Presentations:
  • Ms Emily Waterman on the Lakalaka: English
  • Mr Paul Salmond Assistant Secretary of Literature and Indigenous Culture, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts, Canberra, Australia: English
• List of participants: English
• Report: English

Contact in Apia office: E. Waterman, UNESCO Apia

The 1.5-day National Capacity-Building Workshop on the implementation of the 2003 Convention was held in Maputo, Mozambique. The workshop was a follow-up to the workshop on ICH inventorying held in July 2007 in Maputo for Lusophone African states.

Fifteen national researchers and cultural officers from various provinces of Mozambique participated. Drawing upon the ICH inventory template that they themselves developed during the 2007 workshop, they worked on filling in the template using some examples of ICH from provinces.

At the end of the workshop, the participants decided to review once again the template and communicate to each other any necessary modification. Once the template is revised in the coming weeks, they are to start inventorying ICH in their respective provinces. They are to organize a debriefing workshop to exchange their experiences and further improve ICH inventorying methodologies.

• Meeting venue: Hotel Mozambique, Maputo, Mozambique
• Agenda (Portuguese)
• List of Participants : available soon
• Report of the Capacity-Building Workshop of July 2007 (Portuguese)
• ICH inventorying exercise (Portuguese)
• PPT presentation (English)

Contact in the UNESCO Office in Maputo: Ofelia Da Silva (o.da-silva@unesco.org)

This workshop, the last of a series of three targeting African states, aimed at informing all African States Parties to the 2003 Convention about recent developments concerning operational aspects of the Convention (c.f. paragraph 04007 of UNESCO 34C/5), more in particular the preparation of nomination files for the Lists of the Convention and of requests for international assistance.

The workshop took place immediately following the second session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention (16 -19 June 2008), which approved the Operational Directives (e.g., selection criteria, calendar of ICH listings)—that the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has prepared over the last 16 months.

The workshop was financed both by the UNESCO regular programme and the Government of Norway within the framework of the UNESCO/Norway Funds-in-Trust.

• Meeting venue: Room XII (Fontenoy), UNESCO Headquarters, Paris
• Agenda: English|French
• List of Participants: English-French
• Report: English|French

An information meeting for the States Parties to the Convention will be held on Monday 2 June 2008 from 15.30 to 18.00 in Room XI (Fontenoy) in preparation for the second session of the General Assembly.

The purpose of this meeting opened by the Director-General is to present the principal activities and decisions of the four sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage organized since the first session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention in June 2006. Member States of UNESCO not party to the Convention and Observer delegations are cordially invited to attend to this information meeting as observers.

• Background notes (English|French)
• Speech of Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO (English|French)

The objective of the inter-departmental meeting is to bring together all Fijian governmental actors involved in the ratification procedure of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. As a follow-up to the sub-regional meeting in the Pacific on the 2003 Convention (Nadi, Fiji, December 2007), UNESCO is organizing a series of national consultation meetings to assist Pacific Member States in the ratification and implementation of the 2003 Convention. The inter-departmental meeting held in Fiji is the second national consultation meeting, following the one held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on 18 and 19 March 2008.

The meeting is aimed at providing governmental officers in different departments with information and assistance that might contribute to the ratification of the 2003 Convention, and support Fiji’s participation at the international level in the implementation of the Convention, in particular through the submission of intangible heritage elements for inscription on the lists of the Convention and the submission of international assistance requests.

• Agenda (English)
• List of participants (English)
• Presentations:
  • National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage - Cultural Mapping, by Ro Misiwaini Qereqeretabua, Director Institute of Fijian Language and Culture (English)

Contact in UNESCO Apia Office: Mali Voi

Bamako workshop on 2003 Convention

© UNESCO

A sub-regional workshop on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) - www.unesco.org/culture/ich - took place in Bamako (Mali) from 19 to 20 May 2008. It followed the sub-regional meetings organized by UNESCO in November and December 2006 in Douala (Cameroon) and Dakar (Senegal).

Considering the growing interest for the Convention, the rapid development of its implementation and the fact that many States Parties to the Convention have already started preparing nomination files for inscription on the Lists of Intangible Heritage, it was considered timely to organize a workshop whose objective is to promote the Convention among African Non-States Parties, or in which the ratification process is underway, and to put emphasis on the various aspects of the implementation of this normative instrument.

Among others, the following themes were debated:

• the objectives of the 2003 Convention
• the rights and obligations of States Parties to the Convention
• the mechanisms of the Convention
• inventorying intangible cultural heritage
• the safeguarding measures of the intangible cultural heritage
• the inscription of elements of the intangible cultural heritage on the Lists

Documents:

• Background document (English|French)
• Agenda (English|French)
• Participants (English-French)

Contact in the UNESCO Office in Bamako: Vincent Seck (v.seck@unesco.org)

Wayang puppet theatre

© “Sena wangi” national secretariat

Following Indonesia’s ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in October 2007, the UNESCO Office in Jakarta, the Department of Culture and Tourism and the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO are jointly convening a two-day capacity building workshop for the implementation of the Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible cultural heritage, with technical support from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section of UNESCO Headquarters.

The participants of the national workshop will consist of: cultural officials, researchers, universities, community representatives and practitioners.

The objectives of the workshop are to strengthen the national capacities for implementing the 2003 Convention and to provide stakeholders with the information relating to the implementation of the 2003 Convention, with particular attention to the:

1. intangible cultural heritage resources mapping on Indonesia’s territory with the participation of communities, for promoting and safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage in Indonesia, and
2. understanding the timeline and procedure for the preparation of nomination files to the Representative List and to the List of Intangible Heritage in Urgent Need of Safeguarding.

Contact in UNESCO Jakarta Office: Himalchuli Gurung, Programme Specialist for Culture

Minister of Arts and Culture of South Africa and the workshop participants in Pretoria, South Africa

© UNESCO

The workshop was a follow-up to the sub-regional meeting that the Section of Intangible Cultural Heritage organized on the implementation of the 2003 Convention and ICH inventorying in November 2006 in Dar es Salaam. It is the first of a series of three to be organized for African states.

How can countries—and especially the communities among whom intangible heritage is found—best safeguard heritage that is living, not fixed in buildings or monuments? One effective tool to support international cooperation in such safeguarding efforts, and to strengthen national capacities, is the Intangible Heritage Convention. Adopted by UNESCO in 2003 and entered into force in 2006, this legal instrument had ninety States Parties at the moment of the meeting.

The workshop focused on introducing the Convention to cultural officials of southern African nations, explaining the ratification process, and considering with them how they might implement the Convention to best achieve its goals.

The workshop was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Norway within the framework of the UNESCO/Norway Funds-in-Trust.

Co-organizer : Department of Arts and Culture (South Africa) : http://www.dac.gov.za/

• Media advisory (English)
• Meeting venue: Saint George Hotel, Pretoria, South Africa
• Agenda (English|French)
• List of participants (English|French)
• Speeches
  Director of the Division of Cultural Objects and Intangible Heritage, UNESCO (English)
  Minister of Arts and Culture of South Africa (English)
• Workshop document (English|French)
• Workshop report (English|French)
• Attachments of the workshop report (English)

The Minister of Culture of Papua New Guinea, Hon. Charles Abel, with some of the participants

© UNESCO

The objective of the inter-departmental meeting was to bring together all the governmental actors involved in the ratification procedure by Papua New Guinea of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

During the sub-regional meeting in the Pacific on the 2003 Convention, organized in Nadi, Fiji in December 2007, several participating States, including Papua New Guinea, requested assistance from UNESCO in preparing the ratification and implementation of the 2003 Convention in the Pacific. The Director General of UNESCO, during his official visit to Papua New Guinea in February 2008, affirmed UNESCO’s readiness to fully assist the Government through the organization of a national consultation meeting.

Through the meeting organized with the support of Japanese Funds in Trust, UNESCO provided the Government with assistance necessary to present a proposal for the ratification of the 2003 Convention at the National Parliament. The meeting also aimed at reinforcing capacity of governmental officers in the field of culture as well as stakeholders concerned in participating at the international level in the implementation of the Convention, in particular through the submission of intangible heritage elements for inscription on the lists of the Convention and the submission of international assistance requests.

• Meeting venue: Crown Plaza Hotel, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
• Agenda (English)
• List of participants (English)
• Speeches
  Hon. Charles Abel MP, Minister for Culture and Tourism of Papua New Guinea (English)
  Dr. Jacob Simet, National Cultural Commission of Papua New Guinea (English)
• Presentations
  International Treaty Making Procedures in Papua New Guinea, by Mr Fred Sarufa (English)
  State of legislation for the safeguarding of Papua New Guinea Intangible Cultural Heritage, by Mr Hale Lahui (English)
• Conclusion (English)

Following Kenya’s ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in October 2007, the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services and the UNESCO Office in Nairobi are jointly convening a two-day meeting on the implementation of the Convention.
Some sixty participants, representing ministries, provincial administrations, universities, non-governmental organizations and individuals working in the field of culture will attend the meeting.

The objectives of the workshop are to provide stakeholders with the information relating to the 2003 Convention and to discuss a national strategy for its implementation, with particular attention to the:

• preparation of an inventory or inventories of intangible cultural heritage on Kenya’s territory;
• preparation of nomination files to the Representative List and to the List of Intangible Heritage in Urgent Need of Safeguarding, and;
• enhancement of the existing national mechanism, including the participation of communities, for promoting and safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage in Kenya.

Contacts: Fumiko Ohinata, Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO Nairobi Office and Silverse Anami, Director of Culture, Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services.