On Thursday, 27th August 2009, the National Council for Arts and Culture with their Senegalese counterparts together with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, held a joint steering committee meeting between the Gambia and Senegal on the UNESCO Sponsored Kankurang Project, held at the Baobab Hotel in Kerr-Serign.

The Central objective of the meeting was to bring together experts and stakeholders on the Kankurang project from Senegal and the Gambia to see how best the two sister countries can work collectively and pave a way for the future.

Addressing participants in the opening ceremony, Mr. Kaliba Senghore Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture said that it was in 2005, that (UNESCO) proclaimed the Kankurang as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.

He said according to (UNESCO), the Kankurang fulfilled all the six criteria laid down by UNESCO for proclaiming a form of popular traditional expression as a masterpiece of the world's oral and intangible cultural heritage. The Permanent Secretary went ahead to outline the criteria during the meeting, he said

1. That the Kankurang must possess outstanding value as a masterpiece of the human creative genius.

2. That they are rooted in the cultural tradition or cultural history of the community concerned.

3. That they play a role as a means of affirming the cultural identity of the community concerned.

4. That they are distinguished by excellence in the application of skills and technical qualities displayed.

5. They constitute a unique testimony of a living cultural tradition

6. That they are threatened with disappearance due to insufficient means for safeguarding or to process of rapid change.

Mr. Senghore said the significance of this project cannot be over emphasized verbally; noting that the Kankurang tradition to both the Gambia and Senegal is akin. He said the two countries working in this project are patient considering the common historical, cultural and social relations between the Gambia and Senegal.

He said it is also important for both the two countries to work together to share expertise and knowledge in the formulation of strategies and the adoption of measures that are critical to the safeguarding of the tradition and the establishment of the Kankurang Centres cum museums in our two countries.

The P.S further noted that their strategies must include the creation of synergies between our national Cultural institutions and the communities where the Kankurang tradition exists; protection of forest including afforestation of the trees that are associated with the Kankurang creation at Kankuragn centres and the provision of information, education and promotional literature on the Kankurang.

On his part, Mr. Momodou C. Joof director general of the National Center for Arts and Culture also recommended the significance of the UNESCO funded project. He said the project was meant for preservation of our cultural values for generations yet unborn.

Mr. Joof who spoke in Wollof for the benefit of their Senegalese counterparts said preserving this project means preserving the long time Senegambian cultural heritage. He said (UNESCO) proposed Jangjanbureh (Georgetown) for the venue of the Kankurang center. He said it is only because of their preserving of the Kankurang culture that is why UNESCO identified "Tinyang-sita" in Janjangbureh where the museum is to be built.