ICHCAP

ICHCAP will co-organize 2019 Sub-regional Meeting for ICH Safeguarding in South Asia with the UNESCO Dhaka Office for three days from 24 (Monday) to 26 (Wednesday) June 2019 at the Amari Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The 4th South Asia sub-regional meeting will bring together government officials from seven South Asian countries namely Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Among those who will also attend are culture and education experts from UNESCO Offices in New Delhi, Kathmandu, and Islamabad. The meeting is primarily concerned about educational policies and activities for the safeguarding of intangible heritage and, therefore, will devote time in sharing and discussing pertinent future cooperation projects.

The meeting, which will be held on the theme of ICH in Education: Towards a Joint Collaboration for Safeguarding ICH in Formal and Non-formal Education, will start with a keynote speech on ICHCAP’s activities pertaining to ICH safeguarding in South Asia by Gi Hyung Keum, the Director-General of ICHCAP. Subsequently, Duong Bich Hanh, Chief of Culture Unit, UNESCO Bangkok will speak about UNESCO’s regional efforts in ICH safeguarding through formal and non-formal education.

The first session of the meeting will feature the ICH education policy and its status in South Asia. Then, session 2 will focus on ICH education cases. Finally, sessions 3 and 4 will tackle ways to build a South Asian network for intangible heritage education and intangible heritage education in the context of education for sustainable development and global citizenship education.

The United Nations' goals for sustainable development (SDGs) suggest that ICH can interact with a variety of thematic areas such as human rights, gender equality, and cultural diversity to serve as a leverage for peace and sustainable development. It is expected that the future strategy for the development of ICH education in the Asia-Pacific region will be established through this meeting which will examine more specifically the contribution of ICH education to achieving sustainable development goals.