The ICH NGO Forum is the platform for communication, networking, exchange and cooperation for NGOs accredited by UNESCO to provide advisory services to the Intergovernmental Committee in the framework of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Yap State Historic Preservation Office (YSHPO), located in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), operates under the Department of Youth and Civic Affairs of the Yap State Government and has a regular budget funded by the local government and the National Park Service (NPS) and the United States Department of the Interior (DOI). YSHPO also receives occasional funding assistance for projects, technical or capacity building, and training and workshops from esteemed regional and international organizations—such as UNESCO, ICHCAP, and CRIHAP—and various national governments, including those of Australia, France, United States, and the FSM. YSHPO also collaborates and networks with other regional organizations, universities, and other bodies. To name a few, they include the University of Oregon, the University of Guam, Queens College, La Trobe, and others by conducting field schools in Yap during academic breaks.\nYSHPO has five main functions: 1) collecting Yapese written and oral history, 2) registering and surveying cultural and historical properties, 3) inventorying and mapping cultural and historical sites and properties, 4) restoring and rehabilitating cultural and historic properties, and 5) performing general YSHPO administration, including NPS/DOI Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The organization also occasionally assists and supports the operation of the Yap State Living History Museum. Of some related projects, ICHCAP has funded three in Yap: 1) Youth Meets ICH with OurYAP, an umbrella youth organization for all the youth clubs, including high school children in Yap State, 2) the Preliminary Survey on Dormant ICH Data in the Pacific with a mixture of project workers from the Waab Cultural Heritage Society (elders) and some young people along with YSHPO staff, and 3) the 2017 ICHCAP-YSHPO Joint Cooperation Project for Safeguarding Intangible Heritage by Digitizing ICH-Related Analogue Data of the FSM, which is still ongoing.

The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (Bangladesh Academy of Fine and Performing Arts) is the apex institution in the field of culture. Located in the heart of the capital city Dhaka and overlooking the historic Ramana Park, an oasis to the bustling city of nearly fifteen million people, the academy is a huge complex of three magnificent buildings that bear the hallmarks of modern architectural beauty.\nThe Academy is a statutory body under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1974, under the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Act. Its main objective is to safeguard and foster national cultures as well as intangible cultural heritage in Bangladesh. The duties and responsibilities of the academy include promoting arts and national culture as well as creating necessary facilities for their development. The activities of the academy also include organizing workshops, seminars, discussion meetings, short-term specialized training sessions; providing scholarships and financial grants for talented artists; and organizing competitions in the various fields of fine and performing arts, and it regularly holds the Asian Biennial Art Exhibition. Recently it has completed a project in cooperation with UNESCO Dhaka for safeguarding Baul Songs, the only intangible cultural heritage element of Bangladesh on the Representative List. The academy is the premier venue for the expression of traditional and contemporary arts and culture of the people of Bangladesh, and it is planning to extend its collaborative activities internationally, especially through the Asia-Pacific region.

The World Crafts Council AISBL (WCC-AISBL) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that was founded in 1964 to promote fellowship, foster economic development through income generating craft related activities, organize exchange programs, workshops, conferences, seminars, and exhibitions—and in general, to offer encouragement, help, and advice to the craftspersons of the world. The organization is now formally registered in Belgium as an international organization and AISBL is there the French shortcut for an international association without lucrative purpose. The WCC is organised into five regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The organization is affiliated to UNESCO.\nThe WCC was founded in 1964 by Kamaladevi Chattopadhay and Aileen Osborn Webb (who had founded the American Craft Council in 1943.) The WCC (Europe) meets once a year and the 2011 meeting was held in Dublin, Ireland.\nThe World Crafts Council meets every four years. In 2012, the General Assembly occurred in Chennai when Usha Krishna was the President. After this General Assembly the Presidency will move from India to China. Mr. Wang Shan was the president, Ms. Jing Chen was the Secretary General. In 2014, WCC Golden Jubilee Celebration Summit was held in Dongyang, China, more than 2000 craftspeople from 63 countries participated. In 2016, the General Assembly occurred in Isfahan, Iran from September 22 to 29.

Tiapapata Art Centre exists and is registered with the government of Samoa as a charitable trust, a nonprofit organization promoting traditional and contemporary arts and crafts. Its patron is His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese, Head of State of Samoa. With its vision of establishing a model art school fostering creative excellence in Samoa and the Pacific, the Tiapapata Art Centre’s mission is to provide an accessible and dynamic learning and creative environment that facilitates the achievement of educational, professional, and personal goals of students, artists in residence, and teaching staff in an atmosphere that fosters excellence in creativity, diversity, and innovation.\nThe Tiapapata Art Centre recognises the importance of Samoa’s intangible cultural heritage as expressed in its traditional arts and crafts, and the center is actively involved in promoting an understanding of this heritage through photography and films. Galumalemana, with the support of the Tiapapata Art Centre, has produced several films exploring Samoa’s creative economy. O le Aganuu Manogi a Sāmoa explores making and using fragrant coconut oil; Ole Aso ma le Fīliga, o le Aso ma le Mata’igātila examines using natural fibers in Samoa; tanoa features the making of the traditional wooden bowls used to serve ceremonial drinks called ‘ava; and tatau depicts the art of Samoan tattooing.

Waa’gey is a community-based organization that uses traditional skills to confront the social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by the people of Micronesia’s most remote outer islands in the Pacific. We pursue the preservation of native knowledge, technologies, and arts both to protect our distinctive outer islands’ identity and to solve specific problems relating to import dependency, urbanization, climate change, and unemployment.\nWaa’gey organizes the efforts of volunteers to pass specialized local knowledge from community elders to young people. Traditionally, this occurred as a matter of cultural and familial course in the outer islands. Today, with the introduction of the cash economy and a surge in emigration to the urban centers on high islands, continuation of such instruction must be deliberate. On-going Waa’gey projects include making dugout canoes, learning traditional way-finding navigation skills using stars and ocean swells, and developing handicraft carving skills as well as specialized skirt weaving.

The International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) was established as a UNESCO category 2 center in 2011. Working within the framework of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, we operate information and networking programs to support UNESCO’s strategic plans among the forty-eight Member States of the Asia-Pacific region, with the ultimate goal of promoting the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals through intangible cultural heritage. We believe that safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is necessary to promote cultural diversity and sustainable development in the region.

The Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) is a regional, non-governmental organization that assists museums, cultural centers, national trusts, cultural departments and ministries, cultural associations, and arts councils. PIMA acknowledges the richness of the Pacific’s ICH and has undertaken some successful initiatives to support ICH safeguarding.\nPIMA was established in 1994 as a regional forum where heritage professionals could exchange their views and work towards improving the quality of service provided to the public. It is the first and only regional, multilingual, multicultural, non-profit organization that assists museums, cultural centers, and people to preserve Pacific heritage.\nPIMA develops community participation in heritage management and brings together over forty-five museums and cultural centers in the Pacific to develop their capacity to identify research, manage, interpret, and nurture cultural and natural heritage. PIMA advocates the development of regional cultural resource management policies and practices, facilitates training, and provides a forum to exchange ideas and skills. It provides and encourages regional and global linkages to support heritage safeguarding. In this article, PIMA highlights a case study on initiatives that PIMA fully supported in Vanuatu as one of its ICH safeguarding activities.