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Ramallah, 2 December 2019 – Today the closing ceremony took place of the Community Based Inventorying workshop of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) within the framework of UNESCO`s project entitled Strengthening National Capacities for Safeguarding Palestinian Intangible Cultural Heritage. During the workshops, participants, including ICH experts, civil servants from the Ministry of Culture (MoC), researchers and practitioners in the field of culture had the opportunity to have a first-hand experience on inventory making and to put what they have learned into practice during field visits to a variety of communities.

The workshop was preceded by a 5-day capacity building workshop on the Effective Implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Moreover, an imperative part of this project entails policy support to enforce the legal framework for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and specifically the finalization of the draft Law for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Palestine which was already prepared and nearly finalized in 2015, with the technical and financial support of UNESCO and submitted to the PA for endorsement. Both workshops and law were facilitated by UNESCO experts from UNESCOs global network of facilitators.

During the closing ceremony, Mr. Junaid Sorosh-Wali, Officer-in-Charge, Head of Office of UNESCO National Office for Palestine expressed his satisfaction with the enormous impact of this project and its activities on all participants which is perfectly aligned within the project`s objectives to ensure the widest possible participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially relevant community groups, in the design and implementation of safeguarding activities. With respect to the draft law for the protection of intangible heritage in Palestine, Mr. Sorosh-Wali expressed his gratitude to the MoC for its commitment and its promise to have this first law of its kind for the safeguarding of intangible heritage in Palestine endorsed as soon as possible in the upcoming months.

Mr. Ayad, Assistant Deputy Minister of Culture emphasized in his welcoming remarks the importance of this project for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in Palestine and that the MoC is dedicated to continue to capitalize on these crucial trainings and to finalizing the draft law on intangible cultural heritage as soon as possible, which will benefit society as a whole and which will preserve Palestinian living heritage and identity.

This project is a global policy support and capacity building programme, implemented all over the world and funded by the Abu Dhabi Culture and Tourism Authority (ADTCA). Thanks to these capacity building workshops, a network of facilitators on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Palestine has been established to further support the relevant institutions and the Ministry of Culture in their efforts to safeguard Palestine`s living heritage. This is in accordance with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and civil society organizations in Palestine.

For more information on this project, please contact: Junaid Sorosh-Wali, Officer-in-Charge, Head of Office and Head of the Culture Unit at the UNESCO Ramallah Office, at j.sorosh@unesco.org or Sarah El Attar, Programme Officer, at s.el-attar@unesco.org

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