By Yunus S Saliu
The National Centre for Arts and Culture in collaboration with UNESCO and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Monday, kicked-start a weeklong capacity-building workshop for government officials, technical stakeholders, and future Gambian trainers on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Culture Heritage (ICH).
The weeklong workshop starting Monday, 18th July through 22nd July 2022 is currently held at the Baobab Hotel in Bijilo and it brought together various relevant stakeholders from different ministries and institutions.
The theme for the participating government officials is Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH): Importance and Contribution to Sustainable Development, Cultural Diversity while presenters and facilitators included Adele Nibona, Regional Advisor for Culture, UNESCO Dakar; Emily Drani ICH facilitator; Hassoum Ceesay Director General NCAC; Gankhanani Moffat Moyo, Support ICH Facilitator; Sana Jarju Research Officer NCAC and among others for the day one of the workshop.
Addressing the participants on behalf of Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mamadi Dampha, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the MoTC welcomed the participants, in particular, ‘good friends from the UNESCO who had made the journey to the Smiling Coast of Africa from Dakar and also the Intangible Cultural Heritage experts and facilitators who had traveled from Uganda and Zambia to be with us.”
Elaborating on the ICH for sustainable development, DPS Dampha reminded the gathering that in late 2021, UNESCO earmarked $50,000 towards the NCAC for the implementation of the two-year-long project funded by UNESCO under its 2003 Convention titled ‘Strengthening National Capacities for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development in The Gambia.
He noted that the project aims at supporting the Gambia in its efforts to safeguard its living heritage, under the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
“The Gambia is a signatory to this convention and already since 2008 The Gambia and Senegal have inscribed the Kankurang Manding Initiatory Rite into the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” he disclosed.
In partnership with the NCAC of MoTC, he said “UNESCO will be in the coming two years provide technical support and develop a capacity building program based on the needs identified, in collaboration with partners, during a Needs Assessment carried out in The Gambia.”
Meanwhile, he explained that the project will offer the opportunity to promote better visibility of ICH, awareness of its significance and function in society, and raise awareness among communities and the public about the safeguarding of the living heritage. While “activities will be organised in close collaboration with national institutions responsible for the safeguarding of ICH and will ensure the involvement of local community organistions and the balanced participation of women, men, and youth throughout the process,” he added.
He, therefore, assured of NCAC’s readiness and fulfillment on the project while he outlined several milestones project which his Ministry and NCAC have fulfilled in the culture sector, noting that the next two years will be another busy period for all especially the members of the NCAC technical team, technical stakeholders participating in the project and the future ICH trainers who will be selected from the training.
DPS Dampha on behalf of the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Honourable Hamat NK Bah, commended the UNESCO Culture Team in Dakar for their support while he assured them of the MoTC support to the NCAC morally and financially “so that the government agenda of making heritage applicable to national development issues such as tourism promotion, environmental protection, and many others will be fully met.”
Speaking through virtual, Habibata Thienta, UNESCO Paris Education Officer said the UNESCO through its regional office in Dakar is been accompanying the role in The Gambia to safeguard ICH.
The kicked-off activity, she noted, is part of the first systematic report to safeguard ICH “having all the country’s regions through your project which is first of its kind in The Gambia.”
She disclosed that from the ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in 2011 to a recent pilot activity done by NCAC and UNESCO together with the communities in LRR, Kiang West National Park, Baolong Wetland Reserves Area to inventory some of the intangible cultural heritage links to environmental projection.
Madam Thienta disclosed that the first national ICH project in The Gambia is two main goals, first to reinforce national capacity to better identify value in safeguarding ICH, and second to raise awareness among the party opinion in the Gambia to make Gambians proud of their heritages.
So, “the training we are introducing which will be on from today till Friday aimed to tackle the two goals,” and “we are lucky to have representatives from the Gambia ministries and other institutions (which) we are linked one way or another to intangible cultural heritage, education, environment, gender children and social welfare among.”
She, therefore, noted that all these institutions might contribute to placing the living heritages of Gambia at the heart of national policy since living heritage represent the spirit of the country and had “so much to teach us about our traditions, our identities, and sustainable ways of living that is today slowly getting lost.”
For this intention, to learn more about ICH and how to safeguard it, she urged everyone not to forget a culture crosscutting for sustainable development, which she said can contribute to perfect wellness and health through the use of traditional medicinal requisites and can also contribute to social cohesion and to fight the climate change and reducing the risk of disaster.
On behalf of the director of the UNESCO Dakar office, NCAC under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture she thanked them for the great collaboration while she also thanked and congratulated the participants as this project through the next two years
Honourable Fafa E Mbai, Esq, Board Chairman for the NCAC on behalf of the governing board of directors of NCAC welcomed the participants to the weeklong workshop, while he recognized the indelible support of the project consultant.
The chairman expressed certainty that all the participants will all be enriched in knowledge regarding ICH with another respect by way of exchanging ideas of experiences and aspirations while he thanked the NCAC for the excruciate preparation in making sure that the workshop is a big success.
