Domain/Discipline of the UNESCO Chair in Intangible Heritage

Projects corresponding to UNESCO’s priorities

The Chair’s activities are in line with UNESCO’s priorities for the Culture sector (C5 / 2010-2011), namely the protection, safeguarding and managing of tangible and intangible heritage, for they highlight the role of heritage to help achieve concurrently sustainable development and social cohesion.

The Chair foster the protection and conservation of heritage in all its forms – tangible and intangible, cultural and natural, movable and immovable – and strengthen heritage conservation and capacity-building, particularly in Africa, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDC), which are UNESCO’s global priorities, but also in the Mediterranean region where new experiences and knowledge have recently been acquired.

In the context of this UNESCO Chair, which corresponds to a formal education system, communication activities will be launched and developed through appropriate partnerships in order to ensure that intangible heritage, namely its know-how and traditional craftsmanship, is understood, known and appreciated, so that it can be effectively applied to tangible cultural heritage, both movable and immovable.

The expected results correspond to UNESCO objectives, as the Chair will promote conservation for sustainable development through capacity-building and training activities. Communication and knowledge management tools will also be developed to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage. It is expected that the network of partners working in the area of cultural heritage is expanded in order to achieve an optimal level of cooperation and sharing of good practices among all partners involved.

Projects corresponding to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Chair meets the MDGs in several ways, especially regarding to goals 3 and 8.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.

Target 3.A: eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education no later than 2015.

The Chair will regulate in some way the access of male and female to education: study programmes (Master and PhD Degrees), research trainings, mobility, seminars and workshops, and jobs (i.e. micro-enterprises).

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.

Target 8.F: in cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially in information and communications.

The Chair will contribute to networking of target groups from remote or rural areas, as well as communities and actors from two geographical areas, the Mediterranean and Africa.