UNESCO will carry out a tailored capacity-building programme on periodic reporting under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, for Africa during the first semester of 2023.

Africa is the fourth region to roll out the Convention’s reformed periodic reporting mechanism. This will allow for the first time a systemic collection of data on living heritage safeguarding across the region. After a successful information meeting on 10 February 2023, with more than 77 participants, three online sessions will take place in March and early April 2023. An in-person workshop will then bring together all 44 African States Parties to the 2003 Convention, from 25 to 29 April 2023, in Algiers (Algeria). The Event will be hosted by the category 2 centre CRESPIAF.

In line with UNESCO’s Priority Africa, this ambitious programme will allow African countries to prepare their national periodic reports on the implementation of the 2003 Convention, on a results-based approach, and take advantage of this opportunity to raise awareness about the relevance of living heritage for sustainable development by engaging a wide range of stakeholders at the national level, beyond the ministries in charge of culture.

The results will be of critical importance for the future implementation of the Convention in Africa. Furthermore, the data collected through the periodic reporting exercise will substantially feed into the UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies, in line with the Declaration of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022, which was adopted unanimously on 30 September 2022, in the presence of 150 States.

Besides English and French, the capacity-building programme will be offered in Portuguese as well, with the generous contribution of Brazil.

Periodic reports from the Africa region are to be submitted by December 15, 2023.