ICHCAP

The sixth Annual Coordination Meeting of Category 2 Centers Active in the Field of Intangible Cultural Heritage was held on 7 June 2018 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The meeting was attended by twenty-five members and officers from seven ICH C2 centers and the UNESCO Intangible Heritage Section (including its Chief, Tim Curtis), as well as UNESCO Division for Creativity Director Jyoti Hosagrahar. They shared recent issues concerning the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and discussed methods of cooperation.

The meeting consisted of two sessions, during which discussions were held on what roles the Secretariat expects C2 centers to play in the implementation of the Convention, as well as on how C2 centers can cooperate with the Secretariat in the implementation process. In the first session, the Secretariat explained the funding priorities and how to enhance cooperation with C2 centers based on the performance indicators (39C/5). The Secretariat subsequently talked about the roles and functions that it expects from C2 centers. With regard to the overall results framework which was approved at the recently held seventh General Assembly of the States Party to the Convention, the Secretariat encouraged the C2 centers to help member states in their respective regions to take full advantage of the framework in periodic reporting. In the next session, the C2 centers proposed methods of cooperation with the Secretariat, and then thoughts were exchanged on practical constraints that are expected in the cooperation process and how to overcome such constraints. The C2 centers further offered various ideas to create synergy through cooperation with each other for greater cooperation among C2 centers.

The meeting of C2 centers in the field of intangible cultural heritage has been taking place since 2013 to facilitate efficient information sharing and cooperation among the Secretariat and C2 centers. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held in Algeria in June 2019.

List of the participating C2 centers

• Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe)
• Regional Research Centre for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in West and Central Asia)
• Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL)
• Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa
• International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP)
• International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI)
• International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP)