82-year old Safia AbulHeja originally from Haifa, a refugee in Jenin Camp talking about the Hikaye and its narration © Rafi Safieh

Since the ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage by Palestine in December 2011, UNESCO has accompanied national stakeholders in the implementation of the Convention by providing advice for the elaboration of a national strategy on cultural heritage and preparing cultural indicators incorporating community-based safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Building on the outcomes of this work and responding to the needs identified, UNESCO Office in Ramallah launched the project “Strengthening national capacities for safeguarding Palestinian intangible cultural heritage” with the generous support from the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, to support Palestine in its efforts to safeguard its living heritage.

Under this project, the UNESCO Ramallah Office started the first two training workshops on the implementation of the Convention and community-based inventorying, from 17 November to 2 December 2019 in Ramallah (Palestine). The trainings will be delivered by the UNESCO-trained facilitators based on the materials developed by the capacity-building programme. The workshops will bring together around 20 participants, including officials from concerned line ministries and key civil society actors, practitioners, NGOs, universities and experts from Palestine. The mission of experts will also include the provision of assistance for the finalization of a draft law on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Palestine, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture.