The growing importance attributed by different stakeholders to the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is evident, and its visibility and appeal have grown at an incredible pace in recent years. However, in the absence of a shared framework for monitoring and evaluation drawing reliable conclusions about the progress in its implementation is difficult. Building on the achievements of an expert meeting held in 2016, States Parties will now look closely at developing an overall results framework to monitor the current and future progress of the 2003 Convention, through an open-ended intergovernmental working group.

Generously hosted by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the three day meeting is taking place in Chengdu (from 11 to 13 June 2017) with the main goal of reaching consensus on a set of indicators capable of effectively measuring the outputs, outcomes and impacts achieved by the Convention. The open-ended intergovernmental working group will enable the draft overall results framework to be examined by the Committee at its twelfth session (Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, December 2017) and, if the Committee so agrees, to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventh session (Paris, June 2018).