An online workshop on capacity-building for intangible cultural heritage (ICH) safeguarding for youths wrapped up on Sept 5. As the second workshop of a three-year training program, the event was co-organized by the UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office and the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO.

The month-long training, featured online courses, Q&A interactions, video-taking field trips, presentations and discussions, and drew 127 participants, including trainees and observers, from Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, and China.

Under the guidance of UNESCO-accredited ICH facilitators Deirdre Prins-Solani and Linina Phuttitarn, as well as four local coordinators, these participants delved into a wide range of ICH projects within their families, local communities, and own personal lives and produced 50 video works to reveal the history and transmission, and innovation and development of local ICH projects. These videos cover all five categories of ICH projects mentioned in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, including ICH and transmission, ICH and creative industries, ICH and education, and ICH and new media.

During the presentation and discussion sessions, the ICH facilitators picked up several video clips and further explained the roles the young trainees can play and the responsibilities they can shoulder in ICH safeguarding. The trainees were encouraged to make contacts with in local communities and continue to help with ICH project safeguarding in their own ways in the future.

During the classes, the trainees from four countries shared cultural traditions and customs of their own countries to promote cultural exchange, mutual learning, and appreciation.

UNESCO has paid close attention to young people and in recent years developed various youth-targeted programs to encourage them to play a role in fulfilling the UN’s sustainable development goals. As a Category 2 center under the UNESCO, CRIHAP has always taken training youths as an important task. Since 2021, it has implemented a three-year training program to help youths explore ICH projects in local life and participate in ICH transmission and safeguarding.