Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage through UNESCO Partnership

Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (SICH) contributes to sustaining culture, folklore, and traditions, linking present nations to their ancient pasts. This paper explores previous projects of SICH, funded by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention of UNESCO. The paper develops A SWOT analysis for three case studies, namely UNESCO projects conducted in Malawi, India, and Europe. The three projects are selected to explore how safeguarding is adopted in developed and underdeveloped countries. The results suggest that safeguarding projects provide substantial opportunities for both spheres. Yet, they have several pitfalls, such as creating various forms of inequity and turning heritage into a commodity. The paper concludes that SICH provides different opportunities when funded by UNESCO, namely by promoting cultural tourism, developing education, and sustaining heritage. However, certain pitfalls need to be addressed to avoid repeating mistakes to sustain safeguarding culture and heritage projects.