UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Initiative 2017 Program : Call for Projects.

Application Deadline: November 30th 2016

The World Heritage Volunteers Initiative is led by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (WHC) in the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme, in collaboration with the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS), European Heritage Volunteers (as a branch of Open Houses) and Better World.

The World Heritage Volunteers 2017 campaign shall aim to:
1) Raise awareness among young people, volunteers, local communities, and concerned authorities of the need to protect and promote World Heritage;
2) Involve young people in World Heritage preservation through concrete projects at sites;
3) Empower young people allowing them to learn skills, basic preservation and conservation techniques and raise their capacity as future decision-makers and global active citizens;
4) Strengthen sustainable cooperation between non-profit organisations, site management, communities and authorities;
5) Identify best practices and develop non-formal education tools to facilitate stakeholders’ participation in the World Heritage education;
6) Mainstream gender equality in all stages of the projects and geographical diversity among the World Heritage properties where the action camps take place.

Selection Criteria:

For selection, proposed projects must fulfil the set of criteria below (mandatory):
The project:
• Should be organised in immediate connection to a property inscribed on the World Heritage List or a site inscribed on a Tentative List
[Reference: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists ];
• Should have a minimum 10 day duration (excluding arrival and departure dates);
• Should include the same group of people for a minimum 10 day duration, consecutive or not;
• Should start after the 15 May 2017 and end by the 30 October 2017;
• Should involve as much as possible international volunteers;
• Should include awareness activities, practical hands-on activities and skills related to World Heritage sites where the action camp will be conducted (detailed definitions of hands-on activities and skills in Annex below);
• Should be developed in consultation with site managers and local authorities in planning details of the activities;
• Should include practical hands-on skills training activities as well as reflection on issues related to World Heritage;
• Should involve the community in order to deepen their knowledge around issues related to World Heritage and the World Heritage Volunteers Initiative;
• Should respect participants’ gender equality (ideally equal number of male and female) and geographical diversity (ideally from different countries and regions).

Applying organisation:
• Should be legally registered as a public or private organisation or institution in the country where the project takes place;
• All activities of the organisation related to WHV should be no profit. All local, national and
international partnerships developed by the applicant in the framework of the WHV should be submitted for approval to the WHV coordinators;
• First time applicants should submit two letters of support from recognised organisations and/or institutions recommending the applicant on the basis of past or current proven cooperation;
• First time applicants should submit a copy of their Constitution / Bylaws and of their most recent activity report in one of the UN official languages

Timeline:

• 30 November 2016 Deadline for submission of project applications
• 30 November 2016 – 1 February 2016 Additional information can be asked to the organisations by the World Heritage Centre, the CCIVS, European Heritage Volunteers, and Better World
• 1 February 2017 Announcement of selected World Heritage Volunteers projects
  A confirmation email will be sent by the regional coordination to the selected organisations
• End of February 2017 The confirmation letters will be sent by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to the selected organisations
• End of March 2017 The information letters will be sent to the World Heritage site
  managers, the UNESCO Field Offices, National Commissions, and Permanent Delegations to UNESCO Up to 2 months Submission of evaluation forms from the organisations to the regional coordinations, attached with pictures and videos of the project and signed copyright agreement

Applications:

• In order to get involved in or renew your commitment to the protection and preservation of World Heritage through voluntary action and non-formal education, please fill in the on-line application: http://bit.ly/2cQ1HLa
• If you have difficulties accessing the online form, please download the application from the following link: http://bit.ly/2dr4RWK and send it to secretariat@ccivs.org (for projects in Africa, Arab States and the Americas), to info@heritagevolunteers.eu (for projects in Europe) or whv@betterworld.asia (for projects in Asia), with a copy to the World Heritage Centre (i.yousfi@unesco.org).

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Initiative 2017 Program : Call for Projects.