Workshop participants pose for a group photo at the opening ceremony on December 13, 2021.

The Capacity Building Workshop for Training of Trainers on ICH for the Philippines, co-organized by the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Republic of the Philippines (NCCA), kicked off online on Dec 13, 2021.

Marichu G. Tellano, Officer-in-Charge and Executive Director of NCCA, Ms. Renee C. Talavera, Head of Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts Section at NCCA, and CRIHAP’s Director-General Liang Bin attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

Before the opening ceremony, Philippine trainees followed the video to pray.

A total of 35 trainees participated in this workshop, including representatives from NCCA, provincial cultural departments, the Philippine National Commission for UNESCO, NGOs, community-level ICH safeguarding programs and ICH practitioners.

UNESCO ICH facilitators Ms. Alexandra Denes and Ms. Linina Phuttitarn were invited to deliver lectures.

Marichu G. Tellano, Officer-in-Charge and Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Republic of the Philippines, gives a speech at the opening ceremony of the workshop.

This workshop is the third installment of CRIHAP’s three-year capacity-building workshop series on ICH safeguarding for the Philippines. In November of 2019 and 2020, CRIHAP and NCCA co-organized two well-received training of trainers workshops on ICH safeguarding in the Philippines. The 2019 workshop dealt with the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of ICH while the 2020 workshop focused on Safeguarding of the Viability of Intangible Cultural Heritage Amid Pandemic in the Context of Sustainable Development.

This year’s workshop is designed to help Philippine ICH practitioners to enrich their body of knowledge on capacity-building for ICH safeguarding in the Philippines, to strengthen the country’s capacities in ICH safeguarding and policy development, to push forward ICH safeguarding and the sustainable development of local communities.

NCCA is paying intense attention to the training. Marichu G. Tellano spoke highly of the efforts CRIHAP has made over the years to organize capacity-building workshops on ICH safeguarding for the Philippines. Tellano said she is truly thankful to CRIHAP for holding workshops that meant a great deal for the Philippines.