The Living Heritage Entity organized three information sessions, on 11th, 12th and 14th of April, to present, the modalities and processes for applying to the fund under the International Assistance mechanism of the Convention. More than 250 participants, involved in the field of intangible cultural heritage safeguarding, attended these online sessions conducted in English, French, Arabic and Spanish.

The webinars also provided an opportunity to present the latest edition of the Toolkit for requesting International Assistance from the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and to explain the changes related to international assistance that were made to the Operational Directives ninth session of the General Assembly in July 2022.

The International Assistance mechanism aims to support communities and States Parties in their efforts for safeguarding living heritage. It provides dedicated resources for beneficiaries to implement a wide range of programmes, projects and activities dedicated to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, such as community-based inventorying, awareness-raising, specific activities for safeguarding ICH in emergencies, training of local experts, to name a few.

Find out more about the safeguarding projects that have been granted International Assistance under the 2003 Convention.

The power point presentations of the three sessions are available on the website of the IA mechanism: Requesting International Assistance - intangible heritage - Culture Sector - UNESCO

Finally, the 2022 edition of the Toolkit for requesting International Assistance from the 2003 Convention is accessible online in English and French. The Spanish edition will be available in the forthcoming months on our website.