UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers 2024 - Let's Heritage!
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, India
UNESCO WHV 2023 – Let’s Heritage at CSMT, Mumbai video
The WHV Initiative was launched by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete actions and play an active role in protecting, preserving and promoting World Heritage. It consists of action camp projects organized by organizations or institutions, involving national and international volunteers in awareness-raising and hands-on activities. These projects are implemented in cooperation with multiple stakeholders and partners, including the local communities, who work together towards the preservation of our common cultural and natural heritage. The World Heritage Volunteers Initiative is led by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in collaboration with Better World.
90 action camp projects will be implemented from April to December 2024 at 85 World Heritage properties and sites on the Tentative Lists, by 69 organizations in 41 countries around the globe.
This year, the WHV Campaign will also contribute to the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage Education Programme, which provides a unique opportunity to advocate the importance of education, empowerment of youth and concrete actions towards protecting, preserving and promoting World Heritage.
After sixteen years of grassroots youth activities and international cooperation, the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Initiative continues to involve young people, communities and site managers in building together new, inclusive societies where World Heritage is a source of resilience, humanity and innovation, beyond the challenges that face the World. National and international volunteers will work together with the local communities to preserve our common cultural and natural heritage, through concrete hands-on and awareness-raising activities, which will provide empowering and enriching opportunities to young people and enable them to go beyond the constraints of geography to some of the most outstanding places in the world.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, in Mumbai, is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The building became the symbol of Bombay as the ‘Gothic City’ and the major international mercantile port of India. It is an outstanding example of the meeting of two cultures, as British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural tradition and idioms thus forging a new style unique to Bombay.
The project is part of a nationwide campaign extending the outreach of the first ‘Let’s Heritage’ program, implemented in 2017 by the Elixir Foundation at Rani-ki-Vav. Running for the Fourth year in Ahmadabad with over 300+ global participants from 20 different countries, Let’s Heritage program aims at promoting World heritage site’s preservation among youth and local communities, documenting and spreading examples of active participation, stimulating a sense of responsibility and connecting international and local people with the management and conservation authorities.
Eligibilities
· Participants must be 16 – 35 years old.
· Participant has to be involved in the entire time frame of the program.
· Participants must be enthusiastic to explore heritage conservation and promotion at the World Heritage Site
Eligible Regions: Open for All
Dates: 16 – 25 November 2024
Participation Fees: The Participation fees include – Accommodation, Meals and Local Travel during the entire program which is non-refundable.
(Kindly note – the travel to & from the WHV site has to be arranged by the participant)
- INR 16000 for Indian Nationals
- USD 350 for Foreign Nationals
You can also write to us – [email protected] or [email protected]
