During five days in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, 25 new facilitators –from Africa and from the Arab States – participated in a training of trainers’ workshop to learn about the core concepts, methodologies, and mechanisms of the 2003 Convention.

The participants, coming from diverse fields, including anthropology, heritage studies, archaeology, and museums among others, also learnt about their new role as members of the global facilitators network to support the implementation of the Convention on the ground and participated in a field exercise with communities around their living heritage.

Part of the global expansion of the facilitators network, this training responds to the evolving geographic and thematic demands for capacity building under the 2003 Convention.

The training was organized by the UNESCO Beirut Office, in collaboration with the Living Heritage Entity, and with the generous support of the International Centre for Capacity-Building in Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Arab States, a category 2 institute under the auspices of UNESCO.

Training workshops for incoming facilitators to the network are planned in all regions for 2023 and early 2024.