■ Work of ICH NGO Forum under Coronavirus epidemic As a follow-up regarding the UNESCO’s platform on living heritage experiences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jorge Gustavo Caicedo presented to the Steering Committee the draft call to all accredited NGOs to participate in a video presentation with Q&A on how the pandemic has impacted their activities, what are the measures that they are implementing to confront the situation, and what is the expectation of NGOs on the forthcoming future. All presentations are planned to be held in English, French or Spanish (in one of these languages for a single event) on the Zoom communication platform, and broadcast live to ichngo.net, ichngoforum.org, YouTube and Facebook. The proposal was endorsed by the members of the Steering Committee. The first such “conversation” or “debate”, as these events will be called, will be held towards the end of June or the beginning of July. Jorge Gustavo Caicedo will facilitate those in English and Spanish, and Donghwan Choi those in French. For the start, Caicedo will provide his Zoom key, while further on, if the events will take hold, the Forum will purchase its own license for the Zoom. At the moment, the first task is to complete the call, which will be done by Caicedo in a few days, then to sent it to all accredited NGOs, and then to form the actual online events which, depending on the responses, will stem from regional or thematic interconnections. ■ ICH NGO Conference co-organized by ICHCAP and ICH NGO Forum The Steering Committee has received from ICHCAP the first draft of the Conference concept note containing the outline, background, objectives, provisional programme, and the list of responsibilities for each of the two coorganizers, ICHCAP and ICH NGO Forum. It was decided that Reme Sakr and Meg Nömgård will be our contact persons for this joint project, while Naila Ceribašić will provide help if/when necessary. These days Sakr and Nömgård will analyze the concept note in detail, elaborate our position on each of the mentioned aspects, and clarify with ICHCAP some points (such as the proposal that Forum will be responsible to“ manage online platform during the Conference”). As for the main topic, the Steering Committee is of the opinion that it should be ICH and education, while the pandemic can be one of important sub-topics. In contrast, it seems that ICHCAP is in favour of placing the pandemic as the main topic, and education as one of sub-topics. ■ Next Newsletter of the Forum The next Newsletter was initially planned to be published in June, focusing on 3 responses of NGOs to the pandemic. As only a few NGOs responded to our call published in the last Newsletter, it was decided that by the mid June Butholezwe Kgosi Nyathi will contact individuals from each of six regions of the world, asking for their contributions to the Newsletter. In addition, Naila Ceribašić will prepare contribution on musical responses of ICH communities to the pandemic, and Jorge Caicedo on responses of communities devoted to traditional games and sports. Besides, the Newsletter will include a report on IMP project, which will be prepared by Kia Tsakiridis, as well as information on ongoing work related to the preparation of the Forum’s activities at 8.GA and 15.COM, and the joint conference with ICHCAP. ■ Preparation of programme for 8.GA These days, Meg Nömgård was in contact with Tim Curtis regarding the date and format of 8.GA. At the moment, there is no new information. It is expected to be announced in a few weeks. ■ Preparation of programme for 15.COM (1) Establishment of the Election Board The call regarding the establishment of the 2020 Election Board was prepared by Reme Sakr, and due to help of Gabriele Desiderio and Kaloyan Nikolov it was sent to all accredited NGOs after the last meeting of the Steering Committee. Up to now, we did not receive any application. It was decided for a reminder to be sent on 8 June, two days prior to the deadline. (2) ICH NGO Forum report for 15.COM On 22 May Naila Ceribašić drafted a letter to be sent to accredited NGOs concerning the formation of a sub-committee for the Forum’s report at the 15.COM. In its amended form (concerning the clarification about the planned way of work of the sub-committee), it was endorsed by the Steering Committee. These days, Gabriele Desiderio and Kaloyan Nikolov will send it to the membership. ■ Follow-up on each member responsibilities Naila Ceribašić suggested reviewing the division of labour between the members of the Steering Committee, which was agreed upon at our first meeting, held in Bogotá in December 2019. It has appeared that some continuous aspects of the work of the Committee still deserve more attention, namely the enhancement of regional networks (all members of the SC, but especially those from under-represented regions of Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and Arab States), and the improvement of contact with the chairs of the Working Groups (responsibility of Kaloyan Nikolov). As for the Forum’s main projects that were designed in Bogotá last year, the Committee has confirmed that the preparation of programmes attached to 15.COM is expected to start very soon, namely the capacity-building (responsibility of Naila Ceribašić), the symposium (responsibility of Reme Sakr in collaboration with programme coordinator Albert van den Zeijden), and the “Report on the state of safeguarding ICH in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the role of ICH NGOs in safeguarding processes” (responsibility of Jorge Gustavo Caicedo in collaboration with CRESPIAL). ------------------------------------ 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

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