The Chief Director of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr John Yao Agbeko has stated that there is a need for Ghana to explore the intangible cultural heritage assets that we have since there has not been any substantive investigation within the context of the country.
He made this statement during the project launch of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for Sustainable Development in Ghana on Monday 4th July 2022 at the Ministry’s Conference Room. The project aims at providing training on Intangible Cultural Heritage for knowledgeable people through networking, as the trainees will serve a technical team for community-based inventorying across the country in all 16 regions. The amount budgeted for this project is USD122,423.00 and will end within two years.
Mr John Yao Agbeko said it is expected that a national strategy will be developed to ensure that the contextualized safeguarding measures drawn up for the (ICH) in Ghana are in line with the spirit and principles of the convention that Ghana signed at the end of this project.
According to Mr Carl Ampah, the representative of UNESCO Ghana elaborated that UNESCO is looking forward to collaborating with France and Ghana, through the upcoming projects in addition to the project in the consolidation of a Fort in Amsterdam. He conveyed UNESCO’s gratitude and appreciation for the generous contribution to the ICH fund by the Government of France.
He added that France had contributed immensely to the preservation of the cultural heritage of Ghana. The Reparation and Restitution of cultural heritage and artefacts are the two main milestones constituting strengthening the cultural sector and the sustainability of the cultural assets to tourism.
Mrs Elizabeth Matilda Mantebeah, a trained facilitator and heritage practitioner at UNESCO, gave an overview of the project, touching on the importance of the convention in safeguarding, respecting other cultural heritage and creating awareness about what we have as a country.
The Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICU) is a collaboration among the National Folklore Board, The National Commission on Culture, UNESCO Country Office, Ghana National Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
Source: MoTAC Public Relations Unit
