Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Training Course

Overview

Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Training Course is a one-week professional programme for culture, heritage, museum, tourism, education, and community practitioners who support living traditions, expressions, knowledge, skills, and cultural practices. Participants build a Community-Led Safeguarding Plan covering heritage identification, ethical engagement, consent, participatory documentation, inventory design, risk, access, transmission, education, monitoring, and sustainable continuity. Communities remain the primary actors in recognising and safeguarding their heritage; the course does not confer authority to define heritage for them or imply UNESCO endorsement or nomination success. Agile Leaders Training Center develops practical safeguarding capability through cases and participatory planning.

Who Should Attend

• Culture and heritage officers supporting living-heritage programmes
• Museum, archive, documentation, and interpretation professionals
• Tourism and destination teams working with community heritage
• Educators and cultural facilitators supporting intergenerational transmission
• Community organisations, associations, and project partners
• Researchers and media practitioners documenting cultural practices

Learning Objectives

• Distinguish intangible cultural heritage from objects, monuments, and static representations
• Recognise community authority, participation, consent, and ethical boundaries
• Plan participatory identification, documentation, and inventorying
• Assess viability, risks, transmission conditions, and safeguarding priorities
• Design education and transmission actions without freezing living practice
• Set access, attribution, archiving, and digital stewardship decisions with communities
• Build monitoring, ownership, resources, and review into a safeguarding plan

Course Agenda

Day 1: Living Heritage Concepts and Boundaries

• Practices, Expressions, Knowledge, and Skills
• Living, Recreated, and Community-Recognised Heritage
• Five Illustrative Domains of Intangible Heritage
• Safeguarding Versus Freezing or Commercialising
• Heritage Element and Context Map

Day 2: Community Participation and Ethical Engagement

• Community, Group, Practitioner, and Partner Roles
• Transparent Dialogue and Collaborative Scope
• Free, Prior, Sustained, and Informed Consent
• Representation, Respect, Benefit, and Power
• Community Engagement and Consent Plan

Day 3: Participatory Documentation and Inventorying

• Inventory Purpose and Process Design
• Interview, Observation, Media, and Metadata Choices
• Community Experts as Documentation Partners
• Access, Archiving, Attribution, and Sensitive Knowledge
• Inventory Entry and Updating Workflow

Day 4: Safeguarding, Transmission, and Risk

• Viability and Transmission Diagnosis
• Threat, Pressure, Opportunity, and Unintended Impact
• Formal and Non-Formal Education Options
• Practitioner Support and Intergenerational Exchange
• Safeguarding Action and Risk Register

Day 5: Sustainable Plans and Monitoring

• Objectives, Actions, Owners, and Resources
• Community-Defined Indicators and Evidence
• Monitoring, Feedback, and Inventory Updates
• Partnerships, Funding Boundaries, and Governance
• Capstone: Community-Led Safeguarding Plan

Practical Exercises

• Classify a heritage case and identify what remains living and community-recognised
• Map communities, practitioners, partners, interests, and decision rights
• Draft an ethical documentation and consent conversation
• Create a participatory inventory entry with access conditions
• Assess risks to viability and possible unintended effects of intervention
• Design transmission actions and monitoring questions with community ownership

Course Outputs

• Heritage Element and Context Map
• Community Role and Decision-Rights Map
• Engagement and Consent Plan
• Participatory Documentation Protocol
• Inventory Entry and Access Record
• Safeguarding Action and Risk Register
• Community-Led Safeguarding Plan

FAQs

Does this course certify an element for a heritage list?

No. The course develops safeguarding practice and does not provide official recognition, nomination, inscription, or assurance of acceptance by any authority.

Who decides whether a practice is part of intangible cultural heritage?

Community recognition is central. External organisations can facilitate documentation and planning but should not replace the role and consent of the communities concerned.

Is documentation always beneficial?

No. Documentation can create risks involving misrepresentation, unwanted exposure, access, ownership, or exploitation. Decisions should be made transparently with the people concerned.

Does safeguarding mean keeping a practice unchanged?

No. Living heritage is continually recreated. Safeguarding supports viability and transmission rather than fixing a practice in one form.

What is the final course output?

Participants produce a Community-Led Safeguarding Plan with roles, consent, documentation, risks, transmission actions, resources, indicators, and review arrangements.