The ICH NGO Forum united forces with ANGO Eco-museum “House of Batana” and the Regional Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of Southeastern Europe based in Sofia (Bulgaria) under the auspices of the UNESCO to promote importance of non-governmental organizations in the processes of safeguarding living heritage.
While open for accredited NGOs, the event particularly focused on non-accredited NGOs from Eastern Europe with participants from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Dr Tamara Nikolić – Djerić from Eco-museum “House of Batana” introduced key concepts in 2003 Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, while dr Masha Vukanovic, member of Forum’s EB representing Eastern Europe presented the ICH NGO Forum (here the presentation) and its activities with the special attention given to the Mapping Project. They both emphasized the need for increasing representation of Eastern European NGOs in the ICH NGO Forum and international processes in safeguarding living heritage and invited participating non-accredited NGOs to apply for accreditation at UNESCO and join ICH NGO Forum’s family.
The event was also an opportunity for participants to present their activities in safeguarding living heritage. We learned about activities of of Albanian National Center for Traditional Activities and its efforts to encourage Albanian NGOs to apply for accreditation at UNESCO, Azerbaijan National Culinary Center (Azerbaijan), Foundation Stoina Krasnova (Bulgaria), NGO Udruga Termen (Croatia), NGO Șezătoarea Basarabiei (Moldova), Folklore Group “Kopachka” (Northern Macedonia), NGO Mândra Project (Romania), World Music Association (Serbia), Anatolian Handicrafts Conservation and Development Association (Turkey), Traditional Art Association (Turkey) and NGO “Around Us” (Ukraine).
