Periodic reporting –

Participatory approaches
Unit 60 PowerPoint presentation

UNESCO
Living Heritage Entity
 Different interests, roles and areas of expertise

Researchers,
NGOs,
heritage
professionals

State agencies
Communities,
groups etc.

Private sector

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 Community participation is encouraged in …

• Identifying and defining ICH (Article 11(b))

• Inventorying (Articles 12 and 15)
• Awareness raising (Articles 14 and 15)
• Capacity building (Articles 14 and 15)
• Safeguarding, management (Article 15)
• Nominations (ODs 1, 2 and 7; forms)
• International assistance requests (OD 12)
• Periodic reporting (ODs 157 and 160)

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 Not just communities …

Non-governmental organizations:
States Parties shall involve the relevant non-governmental
organizations in the implementation of the Convention … in
cooperation and coordination with other actors involved in the
implementation of the Convention (OD 90)

Public or Private bodies/Private persons:

The Fund may be used to reimburse the costs of advisory
services to be provided, at the request of the Committee, by
non-governmental and non-profit-making organizations, public
or private bodies and private persons (OD 67)

Other actors:
States Parties are encouraged to create a consultative body or
a coordination mechanism to facilitate the participation of
communities, groups and, where applicable, individuals, as well
as experts, centres of expertise and research institutes (OD 80)
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 What the Ethical Principles say
No ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to stakeholder involvement:

Ethical Principle 1:
Communities, groups and, where applicable, individuals should
have the primary role in safeguarding their own intangible cultural
heritage.
Ethical Principle 4:
All interactions with the communities, groups and, where
applicable, individuals who create, safeguard, maintain and
transmit intangible cultural heritage should be characterized by
transparent collaboration, dialogue, negotiation and consultation,
and contingent upon their free, prior, sustained and informed
consent.
Ethical Principle 9:
Communities, groups, local, national and transnational
organizations and individuals should carefully assess the direct
and indirect, short-term and long-term, potential and definitive
impact of any action that may affect the viability of intangible
cultural heritage or the communities who practise it.
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 Exercise

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 Why is a participatory process important?

• Governmental bodies may not be aware of all the data available

from non-governmental sectors.
• Essential for checking the accuracy of data provided by
governmental agencies.
• Allows for clarification relating to the data collected.
• Helps to ensure transparency of the data gathering process.
• Allows for key priorities, problems, achievements and future
challenges to be more easily identified.
• Reinforces structured dialogue with other stakeholders and avoids
only consulting the most influential groups.
• A wider range of good practices and innovative
approaches/examples can be identified through information-sharing.
• Better and longer-lasting cooperative frameworks can be developed
that will feed into future safeguarding activities.
• […]

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 ‘Participation’ takes many forms

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 Potential pitfalls of ‘participatory’ processes

• Processes that simply give lip-service to participation

• Exclusion of key groups from the dialogue
• Lack of planning and forethought
• Lack of clarity in setting objectives
• Poor facilitation and lack of necessary training
• Failure to programme for a reasonable timeframe for
multi-stakeholder consultations
• Lack of necessary flexibility to respond to groups who
want to be consulted but were not initially included

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 Some participatory methods

• Attitude and behaviour change

• Focus Group Discussion
• Mapping and Modelling
• Most Significant Change
• Outcome Mapping
• Semi-structured Interview

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 Exercise
Case studies

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 Exercise &
Role-play

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 Who is needed to prepare the periodic report?

The Focal Points responsible for filling out the form should
aim to:
• Ensure a broad multi-stakeholder consultation process
• Organize the process at the municipal, regional, national
and/or federal levels
• Involve various governmental entities (inter-ministerial
consultation)
• Involve non-governmental actors (non-governmental and
civil society organizations etc.).

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 Information sources
Some key Ministries/governmental agencies are:
• Ministries in charge of Culture and Education;
• Ministries in charge of Higher Education, Research and Innovation;
• Ministries in charge of Foreign Affairs;
• Ministries in charge of Employment, Labour and Social Cohesion;
• Ministries in charge of Youth and Sport;
• Ministries in charge of Economy, Trade and Industry, Tourism;
• Ministries in charge of Communication and Digital Economy;
• Ministries of Public Welfare.
• Ministry in charge of the Budget
• Ministry of the Interior (Internal Affairs)
• Other Ministries and National Agencies (e.g. Environmental Agency,
Statistical Institute) serve as “resource” for complementary
information

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 Information sources (2)

Useful partners in the data and information gathering process, as well

as in validating the responses given in the form, include:
• Non-governmental organizations with an expertise in the field of ICH.
• Civil society organizations, including cultural associations related to
ICH elements.
• Other stakeholders such as research centres, centres of expertise
and cultural centres;
• Umbrella organizations directly concerned by the implementation of
these measures.
• Experts and academics active in private foundations or specialized
research centres.
• The private sector (e.g. tourism, textiles, hospitality, etc.)

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 What method to choose?

Possible methods:
• Questionnaires.
• Interviews (either individually or in a group, face-to-face or over the
telephone).
• A working group.
• Other?

Beforehand, it is important to clearly identify:

• What information should be sought
• From where/whom
• How.

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 Exercise (Handout 1)

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 Optional Exercise
Case study 61

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 Optional case study: Training Programme for the 2005
Convention

Source: Participatory Policy Monitoring and Periodic Reporting (Module

3) for the 2005 Convention – Facilitator’s Guide (UNESCO, 2016)
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