Follow-Up Activities of the Steering Committee (SC), 1 July 2020 ■ Work of ICH NGO Forum under Coronavirus epidemic Following the previously adopted plan (see minutes of the 7th meeting) and the current situation in Caicedo’s family, the members adopted a revised plan to broaden the number of online discussion sessions on ICH in emergencies and under COVID-19, planned in relation to the preparation of Forum’s report for 15.COM (see 6.b below), from one to several. In coordination with Nömgård, Ceribašić will present this revised plan to Matti Hakamäki, who is in charge of facilitating the work of the group dealing with emergencies and COVID-19. When the circumstances allow, Caicedo will join the group and further develop the initial plan. ■ ICH NGO Conference co-organized by ICHCAP and ICH NGO Forum Since the last meeting of the SC, the topic of the conference has been defined, and call for papers created and discussed between the ICHCAP and the Forum, represented by Sakr. The title of the conference is “ICH and resilience in crisis: Implication in the Era of B.C. (Before Corona) and A.C. (After Corona)”. It will be held online on 12–13 November 2020, while the call for papers will be published these days. ■ Next Newsletter of the Forum The new issue of the Newsletter, dedicated to responses of ICH NGOs to the pandemic, is in the process of preparation. Up to now, Nyathi prepared an overview and singled out specific transversal topics and issues that characterize responses of NGOs to UNESCO’s request to share experiences on this same topic (which are available on UNESCO’s web platform). Also, Ceribašić prepared contribution on music as a “good domain” under the pandemic. As these two parts do not seem to be sufficient, and on the other hand due to lack of responses to our own call to NGOs to share their experiences, the Committee decided that all members (including Caicedo, if possible) will prepare their individual contributions, delineating their own experiences and/or reflections, with either geographical or thematic focus (e.g., Nyathi on African, Nömgård on Scandinavian, and Choi on Korean NGOs, Nikolov on festivals, Sakr on war- vs. pandemic–provoked state of emergency). Photographs or other illustrations should also be provided. Besides, the Newsletter will include a report on IMP project 3 (except if the author would prefer to publish it in the next volume, planned for November), two calls (regarding the conference “ICH and resilience in crisis”, and regarding the formation of a working group on geographical imbalance), and the update on the next GA and COM, including the information on Forum’s planned activities during these events and ongoing preparation for them. The publication of the Newsletter is expected during the third week of July. ■ Preparation of programme for 8.GA According to the newest information that Nömgård received from UNESCO, 8.GA will be held in September. The overall number of participants will be limited to around 300, including probably (but not surely) a few seats reserved for accredited NGOs. There will be no side events, but UNESCO is considering online side events as an alternative. Taking this information into account, the Committee discussed how to proceed with our plans for 8.GA. Only Caicedo and Choi would be willing to travel in Paris, if circumstances allow. In any case, a new plan is to organize two online discussion sessions functioning as the Forum’s side events: a session held a few days in advance of 8.GA to discuss agenda and documents for 8.GA from the perspective of ICH NGOs, the result of which will be also our statement at 8.GA, and a session held towards the end of 8.GA to discuss its deliberations and decisions. Nömgård will inquire whether these two sessions can be included into official (UNESCO’s) list of side events during 8.GA. As for the planned presentation of the wheel of sustainability and its application among NGOs, Nömgård will consult colleagues from Finland concerning a possibility to arrange it as an online event, too. ■ Preparation of programme for 15.COM According to the newest information, 15.COM will be held in Paris, most likely from 14 to 19 December. Due to all circumstances, the Committee decided for its prior annual on-site meeting to be limited to only one day (instead of two days, as it was the case in 2019). Consequently, the previously planned programme, encompassing capacity-building and a symposium, should also be squeezed, and modalities will be discussed at the next meeting of the Committee. ■ Establishment of the Election Board The Committee received only one application for the seat in the Election Board. Nömgård will send a confirmation letter to the applicant. As the minimal number of members of the Board is three, Caicedo, Choi and Nyathi will contact prospective candidates from their regions, asking them to join the Board, and Sakr will take care to prevent delay of the process. Another issue, related to the elections, is that it could easily happen that on-site representation of accredited NGOs will be rather low. Therefore, the option of online voting should be examined. It will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting, and Nikolov will in the meantime inquire with Desiderio the technical requirements for a shift from in-person to online voting. ■ ICH NGO Forum report for 15.COM Nine representatives of ICH NGOs responded to the call for the formation of a sub-committee for the Forum’s report at 15.COM: four from Europe and North America (Anoine Gauthier, Matti Hakamäki, Jorijn Neyrinck, José Martínez Tormo), two from Asia and the Pacific (Qurbonidin Alamshoev, Lance Syme), and one from Eastern Europe (Hanna Schreiber), Africa (Ani Casimir) and international NGOs (Robert Baron). As there were no volunteers from Latin America and Arab States, these regions will be represented by the members of the Steering Committee (Caicedo and Sakr). The sub-committee had its first online meeting, at which it decided to form three thematic groups: A. on the history, organization, principles, roles, objectives of the NGOs accredited to the Convention and the ICH NGO Forum; B. on the reform of the listing mechanism; and C. on ICH in emergencies, including COVID-19. These three themes will make the main parts of the Forum’s report for 15.COM. The work of each thematic group is decided to be as participatory as possible, in terms of a relatively small group preparing the very first draft notes or key points for discussion, followed by the discussion sessions organized online and open to all NGOs. Facilitators are Ceribašić for group A, Schreiber for group B, and Hakamäki for group C. Each group will finish its cycle of deliberations, consisting of preparation for the discussion sessions, the three sessions itself, and consolidation of notes from the sessions, by the end of July. ------------------------------------ Minutes of the SC's monthly virtual meeting are uploaded a month later after the confirmation in the next meeting. See more details at the SC's Monthly Minutes. Link: http://ichngo.net/SC/Minutes