Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe under the auspices of UNESCO and Global capacity-building programme

The first main line of activity of the Regional Centre Sofia – UNESCO is enhancing capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the countries in South-East Europe. In conformity with the UNESCO Global capacity-building programme from 2009, the Regional Centre supports countries in ICH safeguarding and harnessing its potential for sustainable development while promoting broad public awareness and support for the Convention 2003.

Communities are at thе essential of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

The 2003 Convention places communities at the center of all its safeguarding activities. The capacity-building programme adopts an inclusive approach to ensure the widest possible participation of all relevant stakeholders, particularly community groups, in the design and implementation of safeguarding activities.

To fulfil its capacity-building function, UNESCO develops the following activities:

• Developing community-based inventorying and safeguarding methods
• Supporting the ability of States to effectively implement the Convention
• Integrating the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage into sustainable development plans, policies, and programmes at all levels
• Strengthening institutional frameworks to help safeguardthe intangible cultural heritage
• Enhancing monitoring for the implementation of the Convention

The programme offers capacity-building services at the national level, combining training, advisory services, stakeholder consultations, and pilot activities.

A significant part of the activities of the Regional Centre aligns with the essence and goals of the global capacity-building programme. Since its establishment, the Regional Centre has organized  more than 20 national-level trainings in its Member State countries, as well as Needs assessments surveys in the Member States.

The trainings in the Member state countries are carefully adapted to the specific needs of each Member state country, with the desired outcome matching UNESCO’s ultimate goal – ensuring the continued impact and sustainability of safeguarding measures at the national level. 

Facilitators of the workshops are experts trained by UNESCO and are part of the global facilitators network.

Key Documents Global capacity-building programme

Regional Centre Sofia – UNESCO and Training of Trainers

Since 2017, the Regional Centre Sofia – UNESCO has been a partner in the organization and conduct of  Training of Trainers. Despite various challenges over the years, it has remained a core activity in the annual work program of the Regional Centre. It aims to strengthen the capacity of the European branch of the facilitators’ network, with a focus on South-Eastern Europe, as well as to familiarize the network with new tendencies and materials in the field of intangible cultural heritage.

Expected results:

• Familiarizing facilitators with regularly updated training materials on inventorying, developing safeguarding plans, and policy development for intangible cultural heritage, including an integrated approach to ethics and gender.
• Incorporating additional experts in intangible cultural heritage into the network and discussing future directions.
• Enhaning communication and cooperation among members and institutions.

The program has evolved, and UNESCO recognizes the need to update the members of the network. In 2023, by UNESCO’s initiative, around 35 new facilitators were trained, including participants from outside the South-Eastern Europe region. The meeting was hosted by Albania.

Facilitators

Key Themes

Erasmus accreditation has been awarded to the Regional Centre Sofia – UNESCO in 2023 as an organisation that will implement learning mobility activities for young people on a regular basis. It will open-up the Centre’s activities to cross-border exchange and cooperation in the countries of South-East Europe. The main objectives that the Regional Centre intends to attain are:

• Introduce the concept of intangible cultural heritage to the widest possible range of young people;
• Raise awareness among young people about the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and its importance for sustainable development;
• Enhance intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding;
• Proactive involvement of young people in the decision-making processes regarding heritage, as well as in its safeguarding and its use for the purposes of sustainable development;
• Promotion of local entrepreneurship based on intangible cultural heritage.

Оnline Webinar on the topic ‘Presentation and interpretation of living heritage in museums’
Theme 1: Strategic priorities and policy of UNESCO’s activities for ICH safeguarding
Theme 2: Museums and living heritage
Theme 3: Interpretation of living heritage in museums
Theme 4: Interpretation of living heritage – practical aspects
Theme 5: Visual anthropology
Theme 6: Innovative laboratory in the museum
Theme 7: Digital Strategy of the museum
Theme 8: Presentation and interpretation of living heritage in museums

Video Presentation

Online Webinar on the topic ‘Documentation and presentation of intangible cultural heritage’
Theme 1: Introduction of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)
Theme 2: Documentation and registration of intangible cultural heritage – methods, legal framework, best practices
Theme 3: Ethical principles for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage – protection of bearers’ interests, intellectual property, protection against commercialization
Theme 4: Creation of registers and archives of intangible cultural heritage at local level
Theme 5: Community participation in the process of identification, documentation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage
Theme 6: Elaboration of nominations for inscriptions of ICH elements in the National system ‘Living human treasures – Bulgaria’

UNESCO Online course on living heritage and sustainable development
This MOOC was developed by UNESCO in collaboration with the International Information and Networking Centre in Asia and the Pacific under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) and the SDG Academy. It brings together a diverse group of lead experts in the field of intangible cultural heritage and development who collaborated closely with the UNESCO Chair for Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as lead faculty to develop the content of this course. The course draws on their longstanding expertise, the experiences of communities engaged in transmitting their living heritage and ten years of implementing UNESCO’s global capacity building programme for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Free Registration Link