Sudan has a long history of ethnographic researches, which started during colonial times and continued after becoming independent. Academia, relevant federal and states’ government entities, entertainment teams / bands and individual enthusiasts collected diverse ethnographic data; and today it hosts important collections related to cultural expressions and ICH practices.

After ratification of the UNESCO 2003 Convention in 2008, the work for re-arranging institutional framework in view of compliance with the Convention started, establishing what we could call as the ICH-Sub-Sector. Currently the care of the Sudanese ICH is assigned to the National Council for Cultural Heritage and Local Languages Development (NCCH), who has to cooperate with the National Commission for Education, Science and Culture (NatCom) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in communications with UNESCO – under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture.

The NCCH coordinates different Academia, government, and private entities, who acts in areas described in the ICH Convention. For this, it developed the Sudanese ICH Strategy for 2020-29, defining 14 areas of national development needed for moving forward in implementation of UNESCO 2003 Convention in Sudan. Special place among the ICH entities working for the Sudanese ICH Heritage is given to the so called ICH Core Teams – groups of cultural professionals, who was trained in managing the issues related to the ICH Convention.

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