Asia-Pacific Research Forumfor ICH Safeguarding
ONLINE SEMINAR 3
Learning from the Initiatives of Good Safeguarding
Practices in the 2003 Convention
DATE AND TIME

Thursday, 23 March 2023
From 14:00 to 15:20 (Japanese standard time) *GMT+9
FormatZoom webinar, free of charge
Language English only

PRESENTATIONS

Safeguarding ICH Element and Building a Bridge
between the Community and the State Party
Gulnara Aitpaeva and Cholponai Usubalieva-Gryshchuk,
Aigine Cultural Research Center, Kyrgyzstan© National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO, 2013

Transmission of ICH through non-formal education:
The Schools of Living Traditions (SLT) as an inscribedbest safeguarding practice by UNESCO
Renee Talavera, National Commission for Cultureand the Arts, the Philippines© NCCA, Philippines, 2020

Success story of promoting traditional foods andsafeguarding traditional foodways in Kenya
Patrick Maundu, National Museums of Kenya© Patrick Maundu, Kenya, 2017

DISCUSSION FACILITATOR

Ritu Sethi Chairperson, Craft Revival Trust, India
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REGISTRATION

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cwvotYW0RCS6LmN0D7zD0A

Registration deadline: 22 March 2023
Please contact IRCI irci@nich.go.jp if you have difficulties registering online.

GOOD SAFEGUARDING PRACTICES and PRESENTERS
Safeguarding the epic heritage, namely Manas.Semetey.Seytek trilogy (Kyrgyzstan)
The presentation will cover the entire process of safeguarding
the epic trilogy Manas.Semetei.Seytek from the very firstinitiative of the Aigine CRC in building a network of epic chanters—manaschy, launching a school for novice bards, andworking with them to prepare and produce the first digital
version of the contemporary epic recitation. The presentation
will focus on the results of this collaboration in inscription of theelement into the RL and all further activities and initiatives thathave been evolving around the epic heritage. The main focus of
the presentation is on conveying a successful model of collaboration between the NGO sector, community and the state party
and the results it can lead to. The presentation will also coverunexpected consequences from the process of safeguarding theepic heritage—politicization of the ICH, i.e. using the epic forpolitical purposes.

Gulnara Aitpaeva
Director, Aigine Cultural Research CenterAitpaeva, Doctor in Philology, heads the Aigine CRC withthe mission of expanding research on lesser-known aspectsof the intangible cultural and natural heritage of Kyrgyzstan,
integrating folk and scholar epistemologies. 2012–2016,
she was a country representative for the Safeguarding of ICH of UNESCO.

Cholponai Usubalieva-Gryshchuk
Project Coordinator, Aigine Cultural Research Center
Cholponai U-G, graduate of the American University inCentral Asia, is with research interest in the epic trilogy andKyrgyz indigenous worldview.

The Schools of Living Traditions (The Philippines)
The Schools of Living Traditions (SLT) are community-based non-formal centers of learningwherein cultural masters transmit their traditional knowledge and skills to selected students
within the same community. This was conceptualized and initiated in 1995 to integrate
traditional culture and its various creative expressions into the national cultural mainstream
through the transfer of indigenous, folk, and traditional practices, skills, crafts, and knowledge
by recognized cultural masters in the community to the younger generations of a community.
To ensure the sustainability of the program, a five-year enhanced scheme was developed in2015 that consists of traditional knowledge and skills transfer during the first three years,including product development and marketing during the fourth and fifth year, respectively.
To date, a total of 29 SLTs are being implemented in various locations in the country. On
December 16, 2021, the SLT was recognized as a programme, project, or activity that “bestreflects the principles and objectives of the Convention” and was therefore inscribed in theUNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

Renee Talavera
Head, Cultural Communities andTraditional Arts Section,
National Commission for Culture and the Art
Talavera is a specialist inanthropology and sociology ofeducation, and an advocate ofnumerous ICH safeguarding
programmes in the country.
Some of the most notable
programmes she currently
manages are the SLT and ICH
programmes.

Success story of promoting traditional foods and safeguarding traditional foodways in Kenya
In Kenya, traditional foodways were under threat due to historical factors and the pressure ofmodern lifestyles. Understanding that a decline in food diversity and knowledge would haveserious ramifications on health and on food and nutrition insecurity, in 2007 Kenya committed
to safeguarding related practices and expressions. The first initiative involved inventorying
traditional foods, with a focus on traditional vegetables. About 850 indigenous plants withlocal names were recorded, followed by detailed documentation of use and related indigenous
knowledge and practices. For the second initiative, UNESCO in partnership with the Department of Culture and the International and National Museums of Kenya, and in consultation
with community leaders, initiated a pilot project to identify and inventory traditional foodways
in partnership with primary school children to raise awareness about the threat to traditional
foodways. Both initiatives have since led to other related activities carried out independently
by local institutions and among other communities in Kenya, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

Patrick Maundu

Ethnobotanist
National Museums of Kenya
Maundu is an ethnobotanist who
has devoted much of his life toresearching the indigenous
knowledge of African biodiversity,
especially in health and nutrition.
Maundu led a multi-institutionalteam of researchers in promoting
African leafy vegetables anddietary diversification (2001–2010)
in 10 African countries.

DISCUSSION FACILITATOR
Ritu Sethi Chairperson, Craft Revival Trust, India
Founder-trustee of the Craft Revival Trust and editor, Global InCH journal of ICH. Sethi oversees Asia InCH
Encyclopedia, the leading repository of heritage arts and crafts in South Asia. Serving on Advisory Committees
on culture in India and internationally she has authored and edited several publications.

Join the Forum Facebook group!
The ‘Asia-Pacific Research Forum for ICH Safeguarding’ Facebook group is created and managed by IRCI to serve as a common platform
for exchanging information related to research for safeguarding ICH in the Asia-Pacific region.
*The Forum has been established under IRCI’s project ‘Creation of the Asia-Pacific Regional Hub of Research for the Safeguarding of ICH’ (FY 2022–2026),
financially supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan.

International Research Centre for Intangible CulturalHeritage in the Asia-Paciﬁc Region (IRCI)
CentreUnder the auspicesof UNESCO

International Research Centrefor Intangible Cultural Heritage
in the Asia-Pacific Region

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