Thanks to a generous contribution to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund of UNESCO from the Government of Catalonia (Spain), the ambitious capacity-building project for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, which started in 2013, has now launched its second phase of implementation!

After introducing the key concepts of the Convention, community-based inventory techniques and the preparation of nominations, the second phase of the project gives participants the opportunity to learn how to elaborate safeguarding plans and how intangible cultural heritage goes hand in hand with sustainable development. Moreover, advisory services will be provided in the field of cultural policy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

The program will also help participants to better master the utilization of the International Assistance mechanism of the Convention and to strengthen partnerships between ministries of culture, civil society and academic professionals.

To this end, a workshop on preparing requests for International Assistance was held in Atar, Mauritania, from 1 to 3 April 2017 in order to train staff from the Ministry of Culture and Handicrafts, the Mauritanian Institute for Heritage Research and two Mauritanian accredited NGOs. A similar workshop is taking place at the moment in Tunisia and another will be held in Morocco next week with the same objectives.