By Olimatou Coker
Unesco Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) under the Gambia National Commission for Unesco in collaboration with the ASPnet and clubs for UNESCO, has recently held a two-day sensitisation and awareness raising for students and teacher coordinators on the national inventoried list of intangible cultural heritage held at Janjangbureh.
The programme targeted 26 school children, teachers and regional coordinators from different schools and clubs.
Maimuna Sidibeh, the secretary general of National Commission For Unesco said intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a living heritage transmitted from generation to generation and is a source of community-based resilience, which can be a driver for sustainable development in many ways
She reiterated how skills and knowledge of traditional agricultural systems provide many societies worldwide with a varied diet for adequate nutrition, while preserving ecosystems and maintaining genetic biodiversity.
Regional education director Pa Gumbo Saine thanked the National Commission for Unesco for the initiative.
Mamat Sallah from the National Centre for Arts and Culture, said the NCAC is happy to partner with the National Commission for Unesco in raising awareness on the inventoried ICH list of The Gambia which was collated since 2022.
He described intangible cultural heritage as the traditions, practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and individuals recognised as part of their cultural identity. “Education plays a very important role in safeguarding and transmitting the intangible cultural heritage; it helps to ensure that knowledge, skills and practices are passed on to the younger generation,” he added.
