Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
During the 2026 Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW), a session explored ways to better incorporate culture into emergency responses, drawing on experiences from Ukraine, Gaza, Colombia, Cameroon, and Greece. Culture is increasingly seen as a strategic asset for inclusive and sustainable crisis response, with living heritage playing a key role in anchoring identity and restoring normalcy after crises.
Displacement disrupts the transmission of cultural practices, but UNESCO supported a project from 2023 to 2025 in Romania called "Community-based Teaching and Learning of Ukraine’s Living Heritage in Romania." This initiative engaged more than 1,500 displaced Ukrainian children and families through workshops designed to transmit traditional practices and reinforce cultural identity, demonstrating how living heritage can serve as a source of resilience and social cohesion. An anthropologist involved noted that this encouraged neighboring countries to assess the needs of displaced Ukrainian communities.
In Greece, UNESCO provided humanitarian workers with practical tools to integrate living heritage into their daily work. Displaced communities identified and passed on traditional cultural practices such as dances, stories, and culinary traditions to younger members. This approach reportedly improved trust and communication by enhancing understanding of cultural backgrounds among humanitarian actors.
At the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon, which hosts over 80,000 people fleeing conflict in northeastern Nigeria, UNESCO organized workshops where participants discussed living heritage as part of collective recovery. Practical solutions proposed included intergenerational learning, documentation, and shared cultural spaces to safeguard cultural practices and foster cohesion between refugees and host communities.