Mission of Regional Centre Sofia:
- Promote the cooperation in the field of intangible cultural heritage on national, regional and international level;
- Carry out initiatives for safeguarding and popularization of the intangible cultural heritage of the countries in South-Eastern Europe;
Objectives of the Centre:
- Promote the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and contribute to its implementation in the South-Eastern European sub-region;
- Increase the participation of separate communities, groups and individuals in safeguarding intangible heritage in the South-Eastern European countries;
- Enhance the capacity of the Member-States in UNESCO from South-Eastern Europe in safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage;
- Coordinate, exchange and disseminate information regarding the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the sub-region;
- Foster regional and international cooperation for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage;
- Support the efforts for safeguarding of the elements of intangible cultural heritage from the region that are included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;
- Support and assist the countries from the region in the processes of identifying and inventorying the intangible cultural heritage and in developing systems at the national level for recognizing the intangible heritage present in their territories;
- Cooperate with the institutions engaged in studying and safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage on a local, national and regional level as well as for establishment of relations between them;
- Support and participate in activities for training of specialists in the field of intangible cultural heritage;
Make efforts for strengthening the cooperation with UNESCO and the respective related institutions in other countries and regions.
Specific functions of the Centre:
- Encourage and coordinate the research of practices of safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage elements applied in the South-Eastern European countries according to Articles 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the 2003 Convention;
- Organize training courses with the following scope: the 2003 Convention and its Operational Directives, policies fostering the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage etc.;
- Expand international, regional and sub-regional cooperation through networking with institutions operating in the sphere of intangible cultural heritage, especially those established under the auspices of UNESCO (category 2), in order to coordinate activities, exchange information and knowledge on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, and promotion of best practices