The Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador (INPC) and UNESCO’s Quito Office are organizing a set of three workshops on the formulation of public policy tools for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Loja, Riobamba and Portoviejo.

During April and May, each workshop will gather 25 participants from regional offices of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the INPC, representatives of the National Planning and Development Secretariat, as well as community members. Facing the challenges of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, participants will work on mechanisms for revising and adapting development plans, whose implementation falls to local governments in Ecuador.

These three workshops are part of a two-year project supported by the Government of Japan to strengthen human and institutional capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador. Last year, community-based inventorying activities were organized in these three cities. Ninety officials and community members benefitted from intensive training on community-based strategies to identify and define intangible cultural heritage. The awareness and synergies generated will provide these new participatory spaces with a basis to reflect on the impact and opportunities of public policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

The final objective of these workshops is to discuss the different priority areas for Ecuador’s development, defined in the government’s programme on well-being, from gender and human rights perspectives.