Deadline: 31-Dec-22
UNESCO World Heritage Centre is pleased to launch the Call for Projects for the ‘World Heritage Volunteers 2023 – Working on the Future’.
The WHV Initiative was launched in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete actions and to play an active role in the protection, preservation, and promotion of World Heritage sites. It consists of action camps organized by youth organizations or institutions in cooperation with multiple stakeholders and partners, who work together for the state of conservation of World Heritage sites. The initiative mobilizes national and international volunteers through hands-on and awareness-raising activities for the conservation of its common cultural and natural heritage.
Micro-Grants and Mobility Fund
The 2023 Campaign will see the return of micro-grants that are intended to ensure that selected organisations receive at least partial compensation for the basic administration work required by their involvement in the WHV Initiative. The funds will be automatically attributed upon completion of the project activities and reporting, with priority given to projects taking place in Low Income Countries, Lower Middle Income Countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The amounts will be between a minimum of 100 USD and a maximum of 300 USD per project. In addition, a limited amount of mobility funds will also be provided to partially cover exchanges between implementing organisations that develop sub-regional and regional cooperation and common activities on key World Heritage cross-cutting themes and programs, such as Climate Change, Earthen architecture, Marine heritage, Forest Initiative, Indigenous People, Sustainable Tourism, Small Islands, Intangible Heritage.
Project Criteria
- Should be organised in immediate connection to a property inscribed on the World Heritage List or a site on a Tentative List.
- Should have a minimum 10 day duration consecutive or not, (excluding arrival and departure dates); and include the same group of people for the duration of the action camp;
- Should ideally start after 1 April and end by 15 October 2023;
- Should involve as much as possible, international volunteers;
- Should include awareness-raising activities, practical hands-on activities and skills related to UNESCO World Heritage sites where the action camps will be conducted.
- Should be developed in consultation with site managers and local authorities, reflecting the needs of the sites.
- 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 balance (ideally equal number of male and female participants) and geographical diversity (ideally representing different countries and regions).
Eligibility Criteria
- The applicant 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 non-profit. All local, national and international partnerships developed by the applicant in the framework of 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 of their most recent activity report in one of the UN official languages.
- Each organisation is eligible to apply for a maximum of 4 projects to be carried out at different sites (you may apply to run several projects at the same site: these will be counted as one project unless they involve a completely different set of local partners and differ substantially in terms of activities and theme).
- In order for the new WHV proposals to be considered in 2023, organisations must have submitted the evaluation form of the projects implemented in the previous years.
For more information, visit UNESCO.