A dynamic five-country project has strengthened capacities to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The project has organized 13 workshops, training over 170 government officials, community members, and other stakeholders in implementing the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Cabo Verde and Guinea Bissau ratified the Convention during the project period and all countries strengthened their institutional mechanisms for safeguarding. Six different communities participated in developing and piloting a community-based inventory approach; inventorying more than 65 elements in the process. The project trained five new facilitators from participating countries who co-facilitated various trainings with the project’s senior Brazilian UNESCO facilitator.

The final workshop will examine project achievements and continued efforts to build capacity for safeguarding the living heritage of the countries in the future. To discuss these pressing questions, the Mozambican Archive for Cultural Heritage (ARPAC), in cooperation with UNESCO, is organizing the workshop from 9 to 13 May 2016 in Maputo, Mozambique. The project ‘Strengthening capacities of Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa for implementing the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage’ was made possible thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Norway to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund. The workshop invites two representatives from each participating country – Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, and Mozambique – and includes the five regional facilitators trained in the course of the project together with UNESCO project staff. Participants will share their experiences and discuss lessons learnt and ways to move forward. The workshop will also include training on preparing international assistance requests and nominations to the Lists of the 2003 Convention to equip them with useful skills to sustain project achievements.