Painting a store window: after the plain colours are done, the 'yapán' (coloured varnish) is added, in order to give volume to the painting © Diego Arquimbau, 2014

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the capacity-building training on periodic reporting in the Latin America and the Caribbean region was adapted to an online modality, comprising weekly 2-hour webinars, combined with recorded videos, readings and online forum discussions.

This presented new opportunities for delivering capacity building under the 2003 Convention and expanding the global capacity-building programme’s reach. The course, which ran over a period of six weeks, came to a close on Tuesday 23 June with the participation of national focal points from 32 States Parties to the 2003 Convention across the Latin America and Caribbean region, as well as representatives from one State non Party and three Associate member States to UNESCO, UNESCO Field Offices and experienced members of UNESCO’s facilitators network on intangible cultural heritage from the region.

The training aimed to provide the skills and knowledge required for completing the periodic reporting process under the 2003 Convention, which follows a participatory approach and was recently reformed in line with the 2003 Convention’s overall results framework.

The online course was highly appreciated by the participants who reflected on lessons learnt in the closing session. “It has been very enriching for me to have this exchange between different countries with different perspectives and actions for safeguarding ICH. The most significant learning, I think, was to understand that the periodic report is a tool for diagnosis, evaluation and planning that motivates participatory work with communities, but also other actors and entities,” said Fiorella Farteta (Perú).

Lessons learnt from the experience of conducting capacity building using an online training modality will inform future capacity-building work under the Convention. “What we have learnt in terms of capacity building and training is that the online modalities really offered new potential in terms of outreach and a more sustained approach,” said Tim Curtis, Secretary of the 2003 Convention.

After Latin America and the Caribbean region, the next regional cycle for periodic reporting will take place in the Europe region in 2021.

For further information on the online training for periodic reporting, do not hesitate to contact us at ICH-capacity@unesco.org