The three-year capacity building programme Intangible Cultural Heritage for Youth in Asia-Pacific successfully completed

On August 28, 2023, the third session of the annual Capacity Building Workshop on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for Youth, co-organized by the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP) and UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia, successfully concluded online. The closure of this workshop marks the successful completion of the three-year training programme, which attracted nearly 340 participants aged 18 to 28 from universities and ICH institutions in China and nine other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

培训班合影 © 联合国教科文组织亚太地区非物质文化遗产国际培训中心

Held every July and August since 2021, and led by UNESCO accredited facilitators of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ms. Deirdre Prins-Solani and Ms. Linina Phuttitarn, the capacity building programme engaged participants and deepened their knowledge on the 2003 Convention through case analysis, group discussions and assignments. Many insightful topics have been raised during the three workshops, including ways to safeguard ICH in the digital era, youth engagement, integrating ICH safeguarding in education, as well as systematic inventorying.

Miao Dragon Dance and Shush Flowers: Miao craftsmen making flower lamp © CRIHAP

While lectures and discussions were held online, participants were assigned to apply knowledge learnt from the workshops to practice offline filming, demonstrating their personal journeys from discovering to knowing ICH, from loving to safeguarding ICH. Over the past three year, approximately 170 videos were made by participants from Cambodia, China, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Viet Nam, featuring a diverse range of ICH elements of all five domains specified in the 2003 Convention. The topics covered include ICH and transmission, ICH and creative industries, ICH and education, and ICH and new media. Linkages between ICH safeguarding and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also touched upon by the videos, such as Cyril Gabriel Galupo's Marikina Shoe-making (Philippines) presents the integration of the ICH element with higher education and includes reflections on the challenges due to climate change, or Bayanihan in Juana's Home by Eunice Marie B. Monton (Philippines) showcases how the ICH element is aligned with multiple SDGs while demonstrating its social value in enhancing community cohesion.

Out of the 46 videos produced in 2023, facilitators Ms. Prins-Solani and Ms. Phuttitarn shortlisted 10 for screening during the workshop and provided insightful comments on participants' creative work.

Miao Silver Jewelry Forging Skills © CRIHAP

"The film demonstrates how different generations of people are involved in this living heritage practice and transmission. It highlights the practitioners and inheritors as the center of the living heritage's continuity," facilitators commented on Only Fragrance is Like the Past, a video made by ZHANG Xiaohan (China) that introduces the ICH practice of scented sachet making in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.

ICH bearer Ms. WANG Xiuying featured in Only Fragrance is Like the Past © CRIHAP

On Melton Iron Firework by WU Yutong (China), the facilitators said "The story shifts between past and present seamlessly, giving viewer a sense of what was, what is and the kinds of innovation custodians are making or thinking about in order to address sustainability… and sustainability with respect to audience interest, economic factors, environmental and health factors".

Miao Dragon Dance and Shush Flowers © CRIHAP