The preparation of the training seminar for national experts of Southwest Bulgaria has started

The preparation of the training seminar for national experts of Southwest Bulgaria has started

The mission of Sofia Regional Centre of UNESCO is to promote the cooperation in the field of intangible cultural heritage on national, regional and international level and to carry out initiatives for safeguarding and popularization of the intangible cultural heritage of the countries in South-Eastern Europe.

An important function of the Centre is to organize training courses on the following topics: Convention of 2003 and its operational guidelines; various examples of policies that combine  legal,  administrative, technical and financialmeasures to promote the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage; commissioning of publications on UNESCO’s activities in recognition and registration ofintangible cultural heritage and their application in practice;  safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage through formal and informal education.

Sofia Regional Centre of UNESCO is going to organize a training seminar for national experts of Southwest Bulgaria. This event is part of the annual action plan of the Centre. Many experts from the community centres, museums and specialized administration in the field of culture from this region are taking part in the seminar. The training seminar is planned for the end of June and it is going to take place in the city of Sandanski. This is the fist training programme on national level organized by the Centre.

Capacity building for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) at national level enjoys highest priority in UNESCO’s programmes, recognizing that effective implementation depends upon profound knowledge and understanding of the Convention and its concepts, measures and mechanisms.

For this purpose UNESCO has put in place a global capacity-building strategy. Four topics have been identified as initial highest priority needs:

• Ratifying the Intangible Heritage Convention;
• Implementing the Convention at national level;
• Community-based inventorying of intangible cultural heritage;
• Elaborating nominations to the Intangible Heritage Lists;

In conducting specific training programme, the training needs assessment is one of the first steps in the training cycle. For that reason, a questionnaire has been developed (only in bulgarian) which aims to identify the current training needs of the prospective participants and to design interesting and useful themes.