ICH NGO Forum Annual Symposium 2024 (In person and online)
Asuncion, Paraguay
Sunday, 1 December 2024
Open Call for Presentations and Contributions
Participatory Approaches to Safeguarding Living Heritage.
The 2024 Symposium of the ICH NGO Forum – on the occasion of the 19.COM meeting of the UNESCO 2003 Convention in Paraguay – will focus on community-based and participatory approaches to safeguarding living heritage. The involvement of communities, groups and individuals in safeguarding actions is widely regarded as one of the innovations of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage compared to previous UNESCO heritage conventions. Recent international fora, such as the 2022 Mondiacult Declaration on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development and the International Law Association’s 2022 Report on Participation in Global Heritage Governance, have further underlined the need for inclusive policies regarding the participation of local communities and non-governmental groups in heritage governance. A variety of methods have been developed by NGOs to engage communities. Yet, these haven’t been systematically researched or presented. This one-day hybrid symposium, co-organised with the Working Group Research as part of a new thematic area on participatory approaches to living heritage, will provide a space for sharing experiences on the participation of heritage communities, non-governmental groups and individuals in decisions and actions for safeguarding intangible heritage.
