In the framework of the Safeguarding Sudan’s Living Heritage (SSLH) project, UNESCO Cairo Office and Khartoum Office, in partnership with the British Council, joined forces to hold the Expert Meeting on Living Heritage and Emergencies: Planning the Response for Safeguarding Living Heritage in Sudan at the Child Museum in Heliopolis in Egypt from 10 to 13 September 2023. The Meeting was convened in hybrid connecting twenty Sudanese cultural professionals attending in-person in Cairo with the cultural officials who remain in Sudan.

There was an informative presentation of the National Council for Cultural Heritage and the Promotion of National Languages (NCH) which is the custodian of Sudan’s Intangible Cultural Heritage safeguarding Strategy (2022-2029) - produced under the previous national capacity building project with UNESCO support. Seven countries (Egypt, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Vanuatu and Yemen) shared their good practices and the outcomes of the project on the community museum development in Darfur were also presented.

The participants engaged in group work to develop the safeguarding action plan for priority living heritage which will feed into the ongoing process of updating the national inventory of Sudan.

The recommendations included: safeguarding the living heritage of all cultural communities in Sudan, supporting community-based intangible cultural heritage inventorying, supporting local initiatives in arts and crafts for displaced communities, integrating heritage perspective into humanitarian assistance to effectively contribute to improving the living conditions of the peoples of Sudan.