National Folklore Board urges Ghanaians to preserve cultural heritage

The National Folklore Board has called on Ghanaians to safeguard the country’s cultural heritage and ensure that traditional practices are passed on to younger generations.

The Board said preserving Ghana’s traditions, beliefs and practices was essential to maintaining a sense of identity, belonging and continuity across generations.

In a statement issued in Accra to mark World Folklore Day 2026, the Executive Director of the National Folklore Board, Felix Yao Adzavor, said culture provided an important link between the past, present and future.

He noted that rapid social transformation and the adoption of new technologies had pushed many traditional cultural practices into the background, resulting in some young people losing touch with their heritage.

Mr Adzavor said the situation was particularly worrying because some young people no longer understood the relevance of cultural practices to contemporary society.

According to him, cultural practices shape the moral values of societies and provide people with a sense of identity and belonging, making their preservation important for national development.

The National Folklore Board, therefore, urged societies around the world to use World Folklore Day to focus on the preservation, protection and promotion of cultural heritage as a means of strengthening communities and social cohesion.

The Board called on Ghanaians to take responsibility for protecting the country’s cultural heritage and creating opportunities for children and young people to learn traditional practices firsthand.

It said exposing the younger generation to Ghanaian cultural practices would help shape their values and understanding of society while ensuring that knowledge and traditions were transferred from one generation to another.

The Board also noted that cultural preservation could contribute to economic growth by creating opportunities around Ghana’s cultural heritage, traditions and creative expressions.

The National Folklore Board urged Ghanaians to recognise cultural heritage not only as a link to the past but also as a resource for shaping the future.

World Folklore Day 2026 is being observed globally with renewed attention on the role of folklore and traditional practices in preserving cultural identity and connecting generations.

Irene Wirekoaa Osei, ISD