ICCROM’s mandate is often distilled down to ‘promoting worldwide the conservation of cultural heritage, both movable and immovable’. The organization has a statutory obligation to pursue this mandate through five main areas of activity: training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy.

The mandate is a very broad canvass for ICCROM to work with. In order to provide a more focused structure for all its activities, a series of strategic directions were devised for the organization in 2001. Following a recent request by Council, these have now been reformulated:

Strategic Directions

1. Enhancing the capacity of national cultural heritage institutions in Member States to achieve their goals.
2. Encouraging risk preparedness, preventive conservation, and maintenance strategies in Member States.
3. Promoting integrated approaches to conservation of cultural heritage.
4. Increasing access to information about conservation, for professionals and wider audiences.

There is a strong element of continuity among the principal programmes proposed for the biennium, many of which have been established with long-term objectives (e.g. Africa 2009, ATHĀR, CollAsia 2010). The main new elements are: a programme on the Conservation of the Built Heritage, as approved in 2005 by the XXIV General Assembly; a programme on the Conservation of Collections which incorporates both existing and new elements within an overall framework designed to promote common tools and methodologies for the preservation of movable heritage; and a regional programme for Latin America.

updated on: 19 December, 2007