UNESCO WHV 2018 – Let’s Heritage at Historic City of Ahmedabad, India

World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) 2018: Empowering the Commitment to World Heritage. The UNESCO WHV 2018 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.

For its 11th year, 53 action camp projects will be implemented at 52 World Heritage properties and sites inscribed on the Tentative Lists, from June to December 2018, by 46 organizations in 29 countries.

The walled city of Ahmedabad, founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah in the 15th century, on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati River, presents a rich architectural heritage from the sultanate period, notably the Bhadra Citadel, the walls and gates of the Fort city and numerous mosques and tombs as well as important Hindu and Jain temples of later periods. The urban fabric is made up of densely-packed traditional houses (Pols) in gated traditional streets (Puras) with characteristic features such as bird feeders, public wells and religious institutions. The city continued to flourish as the capital of the State of Gujarat for six centuries, up to the present.

The city got inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 2017 and became India’s First World Heritage City.

Project objectives
The project aims at promoting heritage 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 site management an conservation authorities.

Project activities
The volunteers will organize and take part in study visits to heritage sites, awareness raising actions, from a heritage walk to classes, quizzes, treasure hunts and art performances with local youth, school students and community representatives. They will also organize painting and photo contexts and promote the site and youth involvement in heritage protection across different social media.