Chiba said George Town was chosen for its efficiency in heritage-driven projects. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

GEORGE TOWN, Oct 1 — Unesco has selected George Town to participate in two heritage pilot projects, one on intangible cultural heritage and another to create an action plan for industries within heritage sites.

Unesco Jakarta Cultural Unit Head Moe Chiba said the UN agency is rolling out the two projects soon, with the Penang city being the only heritage city in South-east Asia chosen.

“The other two cities we chose are in Africa and Latin America,” she said in a press conference after the official opening of an International Conference on Managing Urban Cultural Heritage 2018 here.

She said George Town is known for its efficiency in such projects.

“We want these projects to succeed, that’s why we chose George Town,” she said.

The first pilot project is to draw up an inventory on intangible cultural heritage in heritage cities.

“The project will approach the local community to do an inventory of the intangible cultural heritage in the city, it will be a community-led project,” she said.

Chiba said it is important to draw an inventory at a local level where the communities are involved.

“It will utilise the local communities so that they can tell their own stories and focus on what the local people consider as important,” she said.

The second project that Unesco will be rolling out is to look at how to develop the local industries in world heritage sites.

“We are starting this project that seeks to bring in all these related parties, museums, creative centres, local artisans, heritage practitioners and site managers together to develop an action plan for a better livelihood in heritage cities,” she said.

This will be another community-driven project as stakeholders, museums and communities will be mobilised to take part in the project.

“What we want is some coherence between the industries within the heritage zone, because we noticed in some sites, not necessarily in George Town, where the local industries and artisans do not cooperate with the site managers,” she said.

She said there were instances where there were souvenir shops selling items such as cheap toys and souvenirs that were not related to the heritage site.

“We need to work out an action plan that will benefit the local livelihood of the industries within the heritage zone and still be in line with the heritage guidelines and requirements,” she said.

These two projects are expected to start in 2019.