ICCN, Interurban Cooperation Network for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, is an international organization of local governments and cultural institutions which includes 31 states, 29 cities and 34 associations. Its main objective is the protection of the intangible cultural heritage around the world and the promotion of sustainable local development. Moreover, it also seeks to achieve cultural peace through mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue between the different populations that are part of it. Julio Nacher shared some good examples of cultural events that successfully held in pandemic situation.

To ensure the possibility of cooperation and networking amongst relevant higher education institutions in the Asia-Pacific region, ICHCAP and UNESCO Bangkok Office co-organised the First Meeting for Asia-Pacific Tertiary Education Network for ICH Safeguarding in July 2018, in which 19 universities and educational institutions from 11 countries arrived at a consensus to establish a higher education network for ICH safeguarding. Later that year, the Asia-Pacific Education Network for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (APHEN-ICH) was officially formed, beginning with 15-member institutions. A similar direction was journeyed in Europe when the European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (ENCATC) carried out an extensive mapping of higher education programmes throughout the continent, identifying a total of 146 programmes at all levels containing ICH subjects. This 2017 UNESCO-ENCATC project dubbed as “Learning on intangible heritage: building teachers’ capacity for a sustainable future” pushed recommendations for the further insertion of ICH in higher education curricula, which have to do with sharing terminologies and rationales, envisaging the needs of the job market, sharing knowledge and practices, as well as cross-disciplinary pollination and cross-assessment of relevant policies. Dr. Cristina Ortega Nuere shares networking experience of higher education institutions for ICH safeguarding in Europe. \n\nCRISTINA ORTEGA NUERE works as the Chief Scientific and Operating Officer of the World Leisure Organization since January 2016. She combines her principal professional activity with teaching at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and as an invited professor in different universities such as the University of Zhejiang, China. Doctor in Leisure and Human Development, she holds a Master degree in Leisure Management – specialized in Cultural Management and Policies, graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy from the University of Deusto, Spain, and completed her studies in London, at Middlesex and Westminster University.

UNESCO organized, in collaboration with ICHCAP an intersectoral online expert meeting on ‘Education-related indicators in the Overall results framework (ORF) for the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and their relationship with SDG 4. This online meeting held in three sessions in December 2020, generated important knowledge on the interface between living heritage and education, identified examples to illustrate the relationship, and provided advice for future monitoring and reporting in these related fields.\nThe public webinar aims to raise awareness for the benefits and challenges of monitoring living heritage in education by sharing the results of the above-mentioned intersectoral expert meeting. It will include a brief presentation on the education-related indicators of the ORF and how they can inform the monitoring system of SDG 4. Speakers will be invited to share their experiences and discuss the benefits of this intersectoral monitoring to inspire relevant stakeholders from the education and culture fields to undertake their own initiatives in this innovative intersectoral field. \n