UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of Italy join forces to develop capacities for the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage

This year 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Organised under the theme We Are #LivingHeritage, the anniversary is the occasion to reflect on the role of the 2003 Convention in raising awareness about the diversity and richness of intangible cultural heritage and in fostering international cooperation. The anniversary is also an invitation to promote new activities for the safeguarding and promotion of this pillar of humanity's cultural diversity.

Within this framework, UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of Italy are launching a country-wide capacity-building course dedicated to Italian living heritage. Managed by UNESCO through its Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in close cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Ministry, the course is part of the activities promoted by the Italian Observatory for the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Its objectives are to increase awareness, knowledge and skills of relevant actors while also advancing nationwide networking and cooperation.

The course, which is part of UNESCO's global capacity-building programme for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage is primarily aimed at the communities associated with the 17 Italian elements inscribed on the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices, as well as at the staff from competent bodies, civil society organisations, researchers, and other practitioners in the field of living heritage.

The launching event that took place in Rome, at the premises of the Italian Ministry of Culture, was attended by 110 participants, in-person and online.

Paolo Andrea Bartorelli, Chief of Office VI - Multilateral cultural cooperation at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, highlighted the synergic and mutual collaboration between Italy and UNESCO. "Our aspiration is that that the course, while advancing knowledge and understanding of the 2003 Convention, will contribute to a more systemic approach to cultural heritage as a driver for sustainable development," he added.

An engaging programme of 15 online sessions will follow from September 2023 to January 2024; they will touch upon different aspects of the 2003 Convention such as community-based inventorying, developing safeguarding measures and plans, and the link between intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development. The programme comprises presentations, exercises on real case studies, group and individual work and discussion sessions. A call for participation will be released soon.

'Intangible Cultural Heritage' refers to the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills - as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces with which they are associated - that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history. It provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.

The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) is the first international agreement to establish a legal framework for preserving this kind of heritage, as an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisation. It calls for actions to guarantee the viability and transmission of living heritage, assigning a key role to the communities, groups and individuals who practise and cherish it, and encouraging mutual respect.