Elaboration of a policy paper on the contribution of community-based approaches to safeguarding living heritage to sustainable development frameworks in Africa

UNESCO invites organizations or consortia to develop a policy-paper on the contribution of community-based approaches to safeguarding living heritage to sustainable development frameworks in Africa, for the project ‘Building capacities for safeguarding living heritage and preparing nominations to the Lists of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa’, supported by the Japanese Funds-in-Trust. Proposals should reach UNESCO (ich-capacity@unesco.org with a copy to a.gonzalez-medina@unesco.org and rt.zuniga@unesco.org) no later than 20 August 2026 (midnight, Paris time). A period for questions is foreseen between 16 July 2026 and 13 August 2026, (midnight, Paris time). Questions must be submitted to all the email addresses mentioned above. 1. Context The project ‘Building capacities for safeguarding living heritage and preparing nominations to the Lists of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa’ is dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the rich diversity of intangible cultural heritage across Africa, with a focus on nine countries that had no elements inscribed on the Lists of the 2003 Convention in December 2023. The project countries are Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Sao Tome and Principe and South Sudan. The project aims to strengthen the skills and knowledge of States Parties to prepare nomination files to the Lists and the Register of the 2003 Convention. Through a combination of capacity-building initiatives, peer learning and experience-sharing opportunities among stakeholders, the project encourages South-South cooperation for intangible cultural heritage safeguarding. By facilitating dialogue between States Parties in Africa, it aims to create a supportive environment where expertise and good practices can be shared to strengthen nomination processes. Furthermore, by encouraging the integration of living heritage into b