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NGO ITH/18/NGO/2 Paris, 6 September 2018 Original: English Reflection on the role of accredited non-governmental organizations within the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 7 September to 19 October 2018 Questionnaire for States Parties and accredited NGOs You are kindly invited to fill out the questionnaire below no later than 19 October 2018, in order for the Secretariat to gather initial data prior to the thirteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in November-December 2018. Please provide concrete and specific comments and suggestions and avoid general statements. Further information on the reflection process is included in Document ITH/18/NGO/1. Section A pertains to the experience of accredited NGOs with the current accreditation system and therefore specifically targets NGOs. Sections B, C, D, E and F include questions for both States Parties and accredited NGOs. The questionnaire is to be completed online at the following address: https://rebrand.ly/ngo-reflection Should you have any query or issue concerning the electronic consultation or the reflection process, please kindly contact the Secretariat at [email protected]. Accredited NGO ☐ State Party ☐ Name of accredited NGO: Name of State Party: Reference number (for NGOs): Year of accreditation (for NGOs): Name and title of contact person: Name and title of contact person: Email address of contact person: Email address of contact person:  ITH/18/NGO/2 – page 2 Section A. Sharing experiences about the current accreditation system of NGOs (for NGOs only) 1. What are the main reasons that motivated your NGO to seek accreditation under the Convention? 2. Since the accreditation of your organization, has the accreditation system supported your work? Yes ☐ Rather yes ☐ Rather no ☐ No ☐ 3. Did it support your work in the way you expected? Yes ☐ No ☐ 4. If you consider that the accreditation system supported your work, please explain in which ways this was achieved. 5. Is your organization actively involved in the ICH NGO Forum? Yes ☐ Rather yes ☐ Rather no ☐ No ☐ 6. Please specify how your organization has been specifically involved in the ICH NGO Forum. If your organization has not been involved in the ICH NGO Forum, please kindly describe the main reasons why your organization did not or could not be involved. 7. What are the main challenges encountered by your NGO in its activities for the safeguarding of living heritage? Section B. Identifying potential advisory functions of NGOs at the international level (for States Parties and NGOs) 8. Beside participation in the work of the Evaluation Body, what role(s) could accredited NGOs play in the implementation of the Convention at the international level? Please be as specific as possible. Section C. Identifying potential advisory functions of NGOs at the national level (for States Parties and NGOs) 9. How can the accreditation system of NGOs support the work carried out by NGOs in the implementation of the Convention at the national level? Please be as specific as possible.  ITH/18/NGO/2 – page 3 Section D. Redefining the accreditation system of NGOs (for States Parties and NGOs) 10. Is the current accreditation system of NGOs adequate? Yes ☐ Rather yes ☐ Rather no ☐ No ☐ 11. If you wish to propose modifications to the current accreditation system, please provide specific suggestions. 12. Are the current accreditation criteria (as defined in paragraph 91 of the Operational Directives) relevant and sufficient? Yes ☐ Rather yes ☐ Rather no ☐ No ☐ 13. If you wish to propose modifications to the current criteria or propose the addition of new criteria, please provide specific suggestions. 14. When reviewing the contribution and the commitment of accredited NGOs and their relations with the Committee (ref. paragraph 94 of the Operational Directives), what should be taken into consideration in the assessment of NGOs? 15. Which specific measures should be taken to ensure a balanced geographical distribution of accredited NGOs? 16. Should the accreditation system take into consideration the disparity in size and capacities of NGOs? Yes ☐ No ☐ 17. If you think the accreditation system should take into consideration the disparity in size and capacities of NGOs, in which ways could this be achieved? 18. Should the Convention foresee different types of accreditation for NGOs? Yes ☐ No ☐ 19. If the Convention had different types of accreditation, which criteria should define those different types of accreditation? 20. If the Convention had different types of accreditation, which entity should manage each type of accreditation?  ITH/18/NGO/2 – page 4 Section E. Defining the role of the ICH NGO Forum (for States Parties and NGOs) 21. What do you expect to be the functions of the ICH NGO Forum? Do you see possible or desirable developments for the ICH NGO Forum? Section F. Other issues (for States Parties and NGOs) 22. What other suggestions would you like to make? Culture Sector Division for Creativity Intangible Cultural HéritageSection United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Organisation des Nations Unies To thé States Parties to thé pour l'éducatlon, 2003 Convention for thé Safeguarding la science et la culture of thé Intangible Cultural Héritage Organizaciôn de las Nadones Unidas para la Educacién, la Ciencia y la Cultura Opramaauyisi 06-beflMHeHHbix Hai^Miî no Bonpocaw o6pa30BaHMîi, HayKM M KyjlbTypbl SjaXall AA^I ï .. t-'- " ULSDIj ,J*Jlj Ï-H^U 7September2018 m^Bât. ^.^^Jt^â&^R Réf. : CLT/CRE/ITH/18/272 Subject: Reflection on thé advisory functions of accredited non-governmental organizations (NGO) within thé 2003 Convention for thé Safeguarding of thé Intangible Cultural Héritage Dear Ambassador, It is my pleasure to invite your country to take part in an electronic consultation on thé rôle of accredited NGOs in thé implementation of thé 2003 Convention, which will be held online from 7 September to 19 October 2018. As you are aware, thé Intergovernmental Committee for thé Safeguarding of thé IntangibleCultural Héritagerequested at its twelfth session in 2017thé Secrétariat and thé informai ad hoc working group, now open-ended to ail interested States Parties, to undertake a reflection in consultation with accredited NGOs. This would focus on thé possible ways in which thé participation of NGOs under thé 2003 Convention could be further enhanced and how this would be reftected in thé accréditationand renewal mechanisms of NGOs(Décision 12. COM 171). Pursuant to this décision, thé Secrétariat proposed to facilitate thé reflection process through a multi-step consultation leading up to thé fourteenth session of thé Intergovernmental Committee in 2019. Thé context of this reflection is presented in Document ITH/18/NGO/1 (attached to thé présent letter). Within this framework, ail States Parties and accredited NGOsare invited to fill out a survey questionnaire available online2 no laterthan 19 October2018, in order to provide ideas and concrète suggestions to define thé future of accredited NGOs in thé life of thé 2003 Convention. Comments and propositions will feed thé reflection on thé advisory functions that accredited NGOs will fulfil in thé future and on thé necessary changes that need to be implemented to facilitate thèse advisory functions. It is foreseen that results from this electronic consultation serve as a basis for discussion for a consultation meeting between thé informai ad hoc working group, thé ICH-NGO Forum and thé Secrétariat to be organized at UNESCO Headquarters in thé first semester of 2019. Outcomes of thé consultation meeting 7, place de Fontenoy 1 htt s://ich. unesco. or /en/Decisions/12. COM/17 75352 Paris 07 SP, France Tél.: +33 (0)1 45 68 24 27 2 htt s://rebrand. l /n o-reflection www.unesco.org  -2- will then be presented to thé Intergovernmental Committee at its fourteenth session in November/December2019. Should you hâve any query or issue concerning thé electronic consultation or thé reflection process, please kindly contact thé Secrétariat at ich-ngo@unesco. org with copy to k. nakata@unesco. org. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your support to thé implementation of thé 2003 Convention for thé Safeguarding of thé Intangible Cultural Héritage. Yours sincerely, Tim Curtis Secretary, Convention for thé Safeguarding of thé Intangible Cultural Héritage Enc. 1: Background note on thé rôle of accredited non-governmental organizations within thé 2003 Convention for thé Safeguarding of thé Intangible Cultural Héritage(Document ITH/18/NGO/1) Enc. 2: Questionnaire for States Parties and accredited non-governmental organizations (Document ITH/18/NGO/2) ce. : National Commissions concerned NGO ITH/18/NGO/1 Paris, 6 September 2018 Original: English Reflection on the role of accredited non-governmental organizations within the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 7 September to 19 October 2018 Electronic consultation / Background note The aim of this electronic consultation is to solicit experiences and observations concerning the involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (thereinafter referred to as ‘the Convention’) under the current accreditation system and gather ideas on:  potential advisory functions that accredited NGOs could fulfil for the governing bodies of the Convention (General Assembly of States Parties and the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage),  potential functions that accredited NGOs could fulfil in the implementation of the 2003 Convention at the national level,  the evolution of the accreditation system of NGOs, and  the role of the ICH NGO Forum. At the request of the Intergovernmental Committee, the informal ad hoc working group of the Intergovernmental Committee and UNESCO are initiating, in cooperation with the ICH NGO Forum, a reflection on the possible ways in which the participation of NGOs under the Convention could be further enhanced and how this would be reflected in the accreditation and renewal mechanisms of NGOs (Decisions 12.COM 131 and 12.COM 172). This electronic consultation from September to October 2018 represents the first step in the reflection process that is foreseen to lead up to the fourteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee in December 2019. I. Current situation of accredited non-governmental organizations Brief background on the current accreditation system Article 9 of the Convention requires that the Committee propose to the General Assembly the accreditation of non-governmental organizations with recognized competence in the field of intangible cultural heritage to act in an advisory capacity to the Committee. The current accreditation system of NGOs was established at the second session of the General Assembly of States Parties in 2008. Since then, five cycles of accreditation (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018) and two cycles of reviewing the accreditation status of NGOs (2015 and 2017) have taken place. Over eight years, a total of 231 NGOs were accredited, 55 of which saw their accreditation terminated after the quadrennial review by the Intergovernmental Committee of their contribution and commitment to the implementation of the Convention. 1 https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/12.COM/13 2 https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/12.COM/17 ITH/18/NGO/1 – page 2 Profile of accredited non-governmental organizations As of June 2018, there are 176 NGOs accredited to provide advisory services to the Committee. The geographical representation of these NGOs is as follows:  Western Europe and North America (Group I): 97;  Eastern Europe (Group II): 18;  Latin America and the Caribbean (Group III): 9;  Asia and the Pacific (Group IV): 26;  Africa [Group V(a)]: 20; and  Arab States [Group V(b)]: 6, as also illustrated below: Figure 1. Geographical distribution of accredited NGOs (176 in total as of 12 June 2018) Arab States (EG V(b)) 4% Africa (EG V(a)) 11% Asia and the Pacific (EG IV) 15% Western Europe and North America (EG I) 55% Latin America and the Caribbean (EG III) 5% Eastern Europe (EG II) 10% Role of non-governmental organizations in the Convention and Operational Directives The Convention3 encourages State Parties to work with ‘communities, groups and relevant non‐governmental organizations’ in its inventorying efforts (Article 11(b)). Beyond, the Operational Directives4 foresee a number of ways in which NGOs may be involved in the safeguarding of living heritage at the national and international levels. These include:  the participation in the evaluation of nominations to the Lists of the Convention, proposals to the Register of Good Safeguarding practices and International Assistance requests, as well as of the effects of safeguarding plans for elements inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (Paragraphs 27 and 96 of the Operational Directives) ;  the implementation of the Convention at the national level (Article 15 of the Convention);  the contribution to the preparation of States’ periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention at the national level and on the status of elements inscribed on the Lists of the Convention (Paragraphs 151, 157 and 160 of the Operational Directives);  the development of scientific studies aimed at understanding the contributions of intangible cultural heritage to sustainable development and its importance as a resource for dealing with development problems (Paragraph 175 of the Operational Directives). 3 https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention 4 https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/ICH-Operational_Directives-7.GA-PDF-EN.pdf Document prepared by the UNESCO Secretariat  ITH/18/NGO/1 – page 3 In addition, several decisions of the Intergovernmental Committee specifically refer to the role of NGOs, for instance concerning the issue of ethical concerns in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (Decision 10.COM 15.a5). II. Challenges for the participation of NGOs in the implementation of the Convention at the international level While the important role of NGOs in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage has been underlined by the governing bodies of the Convention, as well as in the 2013 evaluation of the Convention carried out by UNESCO’s Internal Oversight Service (Document IOS/EVS/PI/129 REV6), the specific ways in which NGOs can be involved in the life of the Convention at the international level have not been clearly and extensively defined. Both States and NGOs have on several occasions regretted the lack of opportunities for NGOs to leverage their expertise, their experience and their reach among communities, in the work of the governing bodies of the Convention. Stemming from this realization, the Secretariat has identified the following several challenges that seem to impede the involvement of non- governmental organizations: Which advisory functions? Despite the provisions of the Operational Directives and in particular the mention of advisory functions to the Committee (Paragraph 96), the actual participation of NGOs in the work of the Committee has so far been limited to the work of the Evaluation Body, in the sense of paragraph 27 of the Operational Directives, involving only six NGOs, each elected from each of the Electoral Groups of UNESCO. In other words, the Committee has not yet elaborated on what other advisory functions – mentioned as inter alia – it wishes to request of the accredited NGOs. This in turn means that, for the majority of the accredited NGOs, they have not been concretely involved with the work of the Committee, notwithstanding their enthusiasm to contribute to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Which NGOs? Based on the experience accumulated in the past eight years, there seems to be at least two types of accredited NGOs. On the one hand, there are a certain number of NGOs that are willing and able to participate in the evaluation or monitoring of various mechanisms of the Convention. On the other hand, there are a number of organizations whose primary focus and expertise relate to the operational safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in various contexts, without necessary wishing or having the competence to participate in the statutory work of the Committee, such as evaluation and monitoring. The current accreditation system does not fully tap into the potential of either type of NGOs, even though they could play a significant role in advocating for the 2003 Convention at different levels. How to identify relevant NGOs? The current mechanism, especially the criteria used, for evaluating the accreditation and renewal of NGOs may need to be revised if the Convention were to grow further and to involve partners with diverse profiles. A weakness in the current system partly relates to the asymmetry seen in the criteria; while accreditation requests are evaluated against administrative and legal status of the organizations together with the description of their activities, renewals are conditional on the contribution of the NGOs to the statutory activities of the Committee and the activities carried out at the bilateral, sub-regional, regional or international levels. In other words, the basis for examining renewals of accredited NGOs is not the same as that used for their accreditation. 5 https://ich.unesco.org/en/decisions/10.COM/15.A 6 https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/IOS-EVS-PI-129_REV.-EN.pdf ITH/18/NGO/1 – page 4 How to coordinate the participation of NGOs? The accredited NGOs are invited to participate into a consortium called the ICH NGO-Forum, which was established in 2010 to provide a platform for NGOs accredited under the 2003 Convention. In terms of its structure, an important milestone was reached in 2015 with the appointment of a steering committee of six persons, one from each of the six regions corresponding to the Electoral Groups of UNESCO, who act as contact persons for the NGOs and for the activities of the Forum in their respective regions. The ICH NGO-Forum has also started to undertake thematic activities, with a focus, for example, on sustainable development and intangible cultural heritage or on the ethical conduct of NGOs, which are closely aligned with the development of the Convention. Their activities are reported during the Convention’s Intergovernmental Committee meeting and, in recent years, its members have met for plenary sessions on the margins of the Committee meeting. While the ICH NGO-Forum faces a number of challenges, notably in terms of its own financial and operational sustainability, the consortium might present assets for the implementation of the Convention through its various activities at the local, regional and international levels. NGOs from which region? The imbalance in terms of the geographical representation of the accredited NGOs has been a persistent problem, with a heavy representation of organizations from Western Europe on the one hand and only six accreditations from the Arab region on the other. In other regions, large numbers of NGOs are known to be active in the field of intangible cultural heritage, but the actual number of submissions for accreditation requests has been moderate. In addition to the General Assembly’s encouragement for such qualified NGOs to request accreditation, especially from countries and regions that have less representation and participation (Resolutions 6.GA 87 and 7.GA 118), it is important to explore practical methods to redress such disparity. Who to ensure the continuity of the accreditation system? For both the accreditation and the renewal mechanisms, the Secretariat collectively reviews each file against the criteria set out in the Operational Directives, helps the organizations to provide any missing information, if necessary, prepares recommendations to the Committee and transmits the decisions of the Committee to the organizations. The volume of work has become considerable since 2015, when the Committee started to review the contributions and commitments of the advisory organizations. For instance, a total of 101 accredited NGOs are expected to submit their quadrennial report in 2019 on their work in the past four years so that the Committee could decide on maintaining or terminating their accreditation. III. Way forward In light of the challenges mentioned above, it becomes clear that the ways in which accredited NGOs can provide advisory services to the Committee needs to be re-thought. With this in mind, the questionnaire addressed to States Parties and accredited NGOs (Document ITH/18/NGO/2) aims to gather ideas to define the future of accredited NGOs in the life of the 2003 Convention. Comments and suggestions will feed the reflection on the advisory functions that accredited NGOs will fulfil in the future and on the necessary changes that need to be implemented to facilitate these advisory functions. 7 https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/6.GA/8 8 https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/7.GA/11 Document prepared by the UNESCO Secretariat