UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers 2019 Campaign

This year’s theme for the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) 2019 campaign is Empowering Commitment to World Heritage. For its twelfth year, 68 action camp projects will be implemented at 62 World Heritage properties and sites inscribed on the Tentative Lists, from June to December 2019, by 55 organizations in 36 countries.

The WHV 2019 campaign provides empowering and enriching opportunities to young people and enables them to go beyond borders in some of the most outstanding places in the world. Volunteers will work together to preserve natural and cultural sites, as well as to raise awareness among local communities about their heritage.

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

Volunteering for World Heritage preservation is a unique experience.

To become a volunteer, please refer to the selected project descriptions for the WHV 2019 campaign below and directly contact the organization implementing your chosen action camp. The organizations will provide you with the procedure to follow and all the information needed for the application.

• International Heritage Camp, India, Elixir Foundation
• Let's Heritage (Ahmadabad), India, Elixir Foundation
• Let's Heritage (Champaner- Pavagadh), India, Elixir Foundation
• Let's Heritage (Rani-ki-Vav- The Queen's Stepwell), India, Elixir Foundation
• Nature's Paradise, India, Field Services and Learning (FSL) India

Country	WH Site			Organization	Action Camp	Dates
India	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus)	WH List	Cultural	Elixir Foundation	WHV - International Heritage Camp	25 October - 03 November
India	Historic City of Ahmadabad	WH List	Cultural	Elixir Foundation	WHV - Let's Heritage (Ahmedabad)	01 December - 12 December
India	ChampanerPavagadh Archaeological Park	WH List	Cultural	Elixir Foundation	WHV - Let's Heritage (Champaner- Pavagadh)	10 August - 19 August
India	Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat	WH List	Cultural	Elixir Foundation	WHV - Let's Heritage (Raniki-Vav- The Queen's stepwell	) 22 June - 01 July
India	Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area	WH List	Natural	Field Services and Learning (FSL) India	WHV - Nature's Paradise	12 August - 25 August

What is the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) Initiative?
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 created by youth organizations or institutions in cooperation with multiple stakeholders and partners that work all together for the state of conservation of World Heritage sites.

Through hands-on and awareness-raising activities for the conservation of our common cultural and natural heritage, the World Heritage Volunteers 2019 provides empowering and enriching opportunities to young national and international volunteers.

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

How to become a Volunteer?
To become a volunteer, please refer to the list of selected projects for World Heritage Volunteers 2019 campaign. You will be able to choose an action camp that you would like to participate in, based on your interests, as well as the its duration and timeline.

Please note that, as UNESCO World Heritage Centre is not responsible for the selection of individual volunteers, you will need to contact directly the organization implementing the chosen action camp who will provide you information about the application procedure, and any further information needed. The contact details will be available in the selected projects’ brief descriptions.

Who can participate?

Generally, participants are students between 18 and 30 years old, but the requirements can vary according to the country and the project. To learn more about an action camp and the application requirements, you must contact the local organization in charge of that project (UNESCO does not accept applications)

Click here for more information