The ninth session of CRIHAP's Governing Board is held in Beijing on Jan 14.

As the third training course held by CRIHAP in South Korea, the UNESCO Capacity-Building Workshop on the ICH Safeguarding Plan for Sustainable Development is based on the current situation of stakeholders of Korean ICH, especially those in the private sector who have few opportunities to learn the current status of international legal norms of intangible cultural heritage represented by the Convention. The training course was also made to echo the South Korea’s shift from “ICH transmitters-centric safeguarding model” to “community-centric safeguarding model under the framework of the Convention”. The training further strengthened the ICH transmitters’ comprehensive understanding of the key concepts, mechanisms, powers and obligations of the Convention.

The Capacity Building Workshop on Linking 2003 Convention and University ICH Programs, as the first training course that connects the Convention and higher education, changed the current status that only one third of the colleges and universities using the Convention or capacity-building materials in their ICH courses. After the training course, trainees will modify the unreasonable content in the ICH course.

The Workshop on Community-based Inventorying of ICH in Vietnam is the first training under the framework of the Convention for the ICH transmitters from southern Vietnam. The course effectively supplemented the UNESCO’s previous training on ICH capacity building for trainees from northern and central Vietnam, which plays an important role in promoting the overall ICH safeguarding capacity in the country.

The preparations for the Workshop on Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventorying held in Bangladesh started 9 months ahead of schedule. On the basis of intensive study of the general ICH safeguarding in Bangladesh, the working group made a summary of previous trainings and formulated more reasonable programs. The training specifically set up safeguarding measures for specific projects, guided trainees to play community roles, conducted simulation exercises to increase the continuity and in-depth of the training courses and achieved the expected results.

As the Philippines became a party to the Convention, there is an urgent need to promote its ability of ICH safeguarding and capacities for effective implementation of the Convention and to raise public awareness and safeguarding awareness of the importance of ICH, CRIHAP organized the first significant phase of the "ICH capacity building training series" at the request from the Philippine government.

The Capacity Building Workshop on ICH in Mongolia is the second time that CRIHAP organized the capacity building training under the framework of the Convention for Mongolia after the Capacity Building Workshop: on the Role of Media for Implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convection for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017. It was also the first time that CRIHAP organized "ICH Safeguarding Capacity Building Training Based on Higher Education" for college practitioners out of China. The training established an interactive platform for the construction of ICH disciplines among Mongolian colleges and universities.

To fully summarize the training effectiveness of the centre since its establishment eight years ago, and look forward to future work, CRIHAP held Review on Capacity Building Workshops (2012-2018) organized by CRIHAP and Recommendations on future activities from Oct 16 to 19, 2019.

This is a milestone training in the history of CRIHAP, and it has the far-reaching significance of "inheritance and succession". Officials of UNESCO ’s cluster office and field offices in the Asia-Pacific region, UNESCO facilitators, representatives of other UNESCO Category 2 centers in the Asia-Pacific region, and those who have participated in and are about to undergo CRIHAP’s ICH capacity building training-more than 20 participants from 14 countries from South Korea, Mongolia, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Laos, the Philippines, Pakistan, Fiji, Tonga and Uzbekistan, gave a comprehensive review of more than 40 ICH capacity-building training activities and follow-up activities held by CRIHAP since its establishment in 2012. They also carefully analyzed and discussed about the training themes, methods, and organization to provide suggestions for CRIHAP’s future development.