NEWS

24/03/2023

IRCI held a Working Session for Collecting Research Information Related to ICH and Its Safeguarding targeting SIDS (21 February 2023, Online)

IRCI held an online working session inviting cooperating institutions in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) under the project “Sustainable Research Data Collection for ICH Safeguarding: Focusing on Central Asia and Small Island Developing States” on 21 February 2023.

Since FY 2014, IRCI has been collecting research information related to intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and its safeguarding in cooperation with research institutions and NGOs in various countries, and making the collected information accessible through its website (IRCI Research Database), with the aim of promoting research that contributes to ICH safeguarding. From this fiscal year, the project has been implemented in Central Asia and SIDS.

In preparation for conducting data collection activities in SIDS in the next fiscal year, IRCI discussed how to proceed with data collection in the region with participants from cooperating institutions in Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu. The Pacific Community (SPC) and UNESCO Office for the Pacific States also participated in the working session as resource persons and provided advice for conducting the project in the island countries. In addition, institutions in the Maldives and Tuvalu attended as observers, which will join the project from the next fiscal year. Reflecting their input, IRCI will develop the guidelines for collecting research information for SIDS to be utilized from the next fiscal year.

Participating institutions in each country also reported on the current situation of ICH safeguarding in their countries. Major challenges reported in the presentation include, for example, the lack of human resources and the scattered location of research information, particular in SIDS. Taking these difficulties into account, IRCI will conduct the data collection in the following fiscal years. IRCI hopes that this project will contribute to the promotion of the research activities for ICH safeguarding in these island countries.

  • Scene of the working session at IRCI

  • Participants of the working session

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