A/HRC/17/38/Add.1 CPP is considered an inspiring initiative in the context of the Mercosur12, and among the countries of the Ibero-American block. 2. Other illustrative initiatives 52. Brazil has adopted a number of measures to strengthen the institutional infrastructure for the promotion of the right to take part in cultural life. Innovative approaches, in addition to those already mentioned,13 include the Living Culture Agent Programme, which particularly encourages youth, by providing capacity-building activities to boost cultural point projects for young people. Seeking to contribute to education, entrepreneurship, and the use of micro-credits in the cultural arena, the programme is implemented in partnership with the National Programme for First Employment. 53. Inspired by UNESCO’s Living Human Treasures programme, the Griot programme aims to preserve intangible cultural heritage, in particular oral traditions transmitted across generations, cultural practices, representations and expressions, as well as associated instruments, objects, artefacts and places. The programme is being implemented in a few Brazilian cities by the Ministry of Culture in a variety of partnerships with UNESCO and the Ministries of Labour, Social Welfare and Education. It provides financial and material support to griots, (griô in Portuguese) which are considered to be the repositories of oral tradition, belonging to entire communities. 54. The National Culture System is working to recognise and document traditional knowledge and to register authorship of individuals and communities, and sometimes “unknown authors.” Projects are carried out by the Ministry of Culture, in association with communities and the Ministry of Agriculture. Concern was expressed about the weakening of traditional knowledge systems, of which the repositories are often women, as well as about tensions arising from the use and commercialization of traditional knowledge by pharmaceutical companies. Recently, ethno-environmental protection efforts have been initiated, including a pilot project in Rio Negro (Amazonas State) supported by the Ministry of Culture to enable women to continue their traditional agricultural practices on which their culture is based. Stakeholders indicated that further training of the staff of ethnoenvironmental projects was required. 3. Lessons learnt and good practices 55. In the independent expert’s view, Brazil is to be commended for the Constitutional recognition accorded to cultural rights, and the important steps taken to promote and protect the cultural expressions and heritage of all, including marginalized peoples, and to disseminate knowledge of such expressions and heritage through very dynamic and often innovative processes. These include relevant legislation, plans, policies and projects, frequently developed through consultative processes from the grassroots to the federal level. 56. The right to take part in cultural life is reflected in the NPC which promises to ensure universal access to culture, and to democratize the production of cultural expressions and goods. In the independent expert's view, the adoption of the NPC is a major breakthrough for the promotion and protection of cultural rights in Brazil. It provides new impetus for the Government to renew and intensify efforts to make laws, plans and programmes a reality on the ground, through a variety of partnerships. This is of special 12 13 Mercosur member states are Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. States with associate membership status include Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. See section III.B herein. 13