The ICH, SDGs and Digital Technologies Expertise Hub
Living Heritage at the Heart of Sustainable Development
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is a vital vector of social cohesion, innovation and sustainable development. Yet many traditional practices and know-how are currently under threat.
As an expertise hub, Constellation Sociale supports communities, advises institutions, and collaborates with cultural organizations to safeguard, enhance and transmit intangible cultural heritage.
Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Lever for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Our work is fully aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting how ICH contributes to addressing 21st-century challenges:
- SDG 11.4 – Safeguard intangible cultural heritage as a common good essential to communities.
- SDG 4.7 – Ensure quality education by integrating cultural diversity and traditional knowledge into learning.
- SDG 2.4 – Promote sustainable agricultural practices by valuing traditional knowledge related to farming and natural resource management.
- SDG 12.8 – Encourage responsible consumption and production by drawing on artisanal practices and communities’ ecological knowledge.
- SDG 13.1 – Strengthen climate resilience through the transmission of knowledge adapted to local ecosystems.
- SDG 16.10 – Improve access to information and good safeguarding practices through digital tools.
Our Areas of Expertise: Linking ICH, Digital Technologies, and Sustainability
Our work is rooted in the ICH domains defined by UNESCO, while connecting them to the knowledge themes identified by our partner communities.
- Social practices, rituals and festive events
- Highlighting traditional rituals and festivals as catalysts for social cohesion.
- Integrating these practices into intercultural mediation strategies and global citizenship education.
- Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe
- Safeguarding ecological knowledge and sustainable resource management practices.
- Supporting local initiatives that connect intangible heritage and ecological resilience.
- Traditional craftsmanship and food-related knowledge
- Documenting and transmitting agricultural, culinary, and artisanal know-how linked to local economies.
- Developing digital platforms to encourage inter-community exchange of traditional techniques.
- Oral expressions and narrative traditions
- Digitizing and preserving stories, tales, and oral traditions from communities.
- Designing immersive digital tools to make cultural expression more accessible.
Our Forms of Support
Strategic expertise and guidance :
- We provide methodological and strategic support to institutions, associations and local communities to identify, document and enhance their intangible cultural heritage in connection with sustainability and digital technologies.
Networking and intercultural cooperation :
- We facilitate exchanges between knowledge holders, researchers and institutional actors to foster intergenerational transmission and innovation in heritage safeguarding.
Digital tools development :
- We support the creation and use of tailored digital tools for the transmission, documentation and valorization of ICH: collaborative platforms, mobile apps, interactive databases.
Training and awareness-raising :
- We organize participatory workshops, training sessions and educational events to raise awareness of ICH and intercultural issues, notably through our innovative Intercultural Fresco approach.
Support for autonomy and local development :
- We co-create sustainable economic models with communities, based on traditional knowledge, while promoting autonomy, self-sufficiency, and sustainable development principles.
Our Strengths
A community-centered approach :
- We work directly with heritage-holding communities, respecting their local dynamics and valuing their knowledge according to their own aspirations.
A strong link between heritage, digital innovation and sustainability :
- We use digital tools to facilitate documentation and transmission of knowledge, while ensuring they are embedded in long-term, sustainable development strategies.
Expertise in intercultural dialogue and knowledge transmission :
- Through our projects such as the Intercultural Fresco and the mapping of know-how, we foster exchange between cultures and mutual learning, which are key to ICH safeguarding.
Concrete and participatory actions :
- Our interventions are grounded in the field: we favor collaborative formats (workshops, gatherings, training, digital platforms) that allow active involvement of communities and partners.
A committed and diverse network :
- We collaborate with researchers, tradition bearers, cultural institutions, and digital actors, creating innovative synergies for the safeguarding and promotion of intangible heritage.
– Site under development –
Constellation Sociale, Copyright 2024, All rights reserved