ICHCAP

The Tenth Annual Coordination Meeting of Category 2 Centers Active in the Field of Intangible Cultural Heritage was held on 8 July 2022 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The meeting was attended by twenty-five members and officers from eight ICH C2 centers and the UNESCO Living Heritage Entity, including Secretary Tim Curtis as well as UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mr. Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez. They shared recent issues concerning the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and discussed various methods for future cooperation.

The meeting consisted of two sessions, during which discussions were held on what roles the UNESCO Living Heritage Entity expects C2 centers to play in implementing the Convention as well as how C2 centers can cooperate with the Secretariat in the implementation process. In the first session, the Secretariat introduced the 41 C/5 Mid-term Strategies (2022-29) and C/5 Programme and Budget (2022–25) and explained potential ways to enhance cooperation with C2 centers based on performance indicators. In the next session, each C2 center made presentations on recent achievements and future directions and shared their experiences that were changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thoughts were also exchanged on practical difficulties that are expected in the cooperation process and how to overcome such constraints. The C2 centers further offered ideas to better cooperate with each other for greater cohesion among C2 centers.

ICHCAP Director-General Mr. KIM, Jisung said that ICHCAP prepared the 2nd Mid- to Long-term Strategies (2022-2031) and the 3rd Five-year Programmes and Strategies (2022-26) last year. He introduced some of the key achievements under the continued COVID-19 situation, including i) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), recently developed by UNESCO and ICHCAP on the theme of living heritage and sustainable development; ii) #HeritageAlive book, Traditional Musical Instruments, Sharing Experiences from the Field, published by the ICH NGO Forum and ICHCAP; and iii) ichLinks, the ICH information sharing platform. He also expressed his expectations for collaboration between ICHCAP and other C2 centers as well as a strong willingness for enhanced ICH safeguarding as a contribution to the sustainability and development of future generations.

The annual coordination meeting of C2 centers in the field of ICH 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 June 2023.

List of participating C2 centers:

- Algeria : Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa
- Bulgaria : Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe
- China : International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (CRIHAP)
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) : Regional Research Centre for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in West and Central Asia
- Japan : International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI)
- Peru : Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL)
- Republic of Korea : International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP)
- United Arab Emirates : International Centre for Capacity Building in Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Arab States.