Building Capacity in Caribbean Heritage

CCBP: Caribbean Capacity Building Workshop in preparation for the sites nomination dossiers to the World Heritage List. Kingston, Jamaica, 5-15 June, 2012 Within the framework of the celebrations for the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , took place from 5 to 15 June 2012 in Kingston, Jamaica, the Caribbean Capacity Building Workshop to prepare the nomination dossiers for the INESCO World Heritage List. The workshop was organized by the UNESCO Kingston Office with funding from the government of Japan and the cooperation of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean in Havana and the National Jamaican Commission for UNESCO. The course was addressed to professionals working in the field of cultural and natural heritage, staff in national institutions and specialists sent by National Commissions for UNESCO in each country and was focused in the development of capacities for the nomination of sites to the tentative lists of World Heritage on the Eastern Caribbean countries as a way to expand the number of sites representing Caribbean heritage in the world list and to balance its geographical location. The workshop aimed at providing support to the conservation of world heritage and to expand the knowledge about places of memory in the Caribbean taking into account their own specific characteristics and their high potential to promote social participation and improve sustainable development of the communities in small island states. Another objective was to strengthen the participants capacities for the effective implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and increase the participation of Caribbean countries in the preparation and submission of the nomination dossiers to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre , thus increasing in number and quality the nominations to world cultural and natural heritage and highlighting the perspective of the Places of Memory existing in the Caribbean. The workshop used the modules of the Caribbean Capacity Building Programme for the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Caribbean 2004-2014 (CCBP), to facilitate the participants’ work in the nomination of the sites in their respective countries. The CCBP consists of six training modules that deal with the application of the 1972 Convention, the management of tourism, risk prevention, management of cultural landscapes, management of historic centres and management of natural heritage. Outstanding international experts, specialists from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and from the UNESCO Offices in Havana and Kingston taught the workshop, which was facilitated by consultants Arch. Patricia Green of Jamaica and Dr. Arch. Isabel Rigol of Cuba. Several other highly prestigious professors were invited to lecture, outstanding among them for their contribution and the special relationship established with participants, Dr. Alissandra Cummins, President of the UNESCO Executive Council and one of the most active promoters of the inscription in 2011 of y Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, in Barbados, in the World Heritage List. Dr Cummins, who is also head of the National Commission for UNESCO in Barbados, exchanged experiences and shared important details with regards to the nomination process. After a brief stay in the country, Mrs. Cummins returned to her country to welcome UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, in her official visit to Barbados, where she visited the site most recently inscribed in the World heritage List, the twenty-first in the Caribbean. Sixteen places of memory were studied in the workshop, new proposals were considered to be included in the national tentative lists for their submission by the countries to their inscription in the World Heritage List. https://sites.google.com/site/krisrampersadglobal http://www.unesco.lacult.org/proyectos/showitem.php?lg=2&id=137&paginasweb=29&idtitulo=1589