Objective

To Make Heritage Fun!

Initiatives

GoUNESCO is an UNESCO supported umbrella of initiatives that make heritage more engaging. Started in January 2012 by Ajay Reddy as a travel challenge with the goal of visiting all world heritage sites in India, GoUNESCO now has grown to a multitude of initiatives.

  1. GoUNESCO Challenges promote heritage tourism and understanding. Participants in country challenges are challenged to visit all World Heritage Sites in a country in one calendar year. There also are lifetime challenges where the goal is to visit all WHS and experience all ICH on the UNESCO lists. GoUNESCO has inspired thousands of travelers to visit world heritage sites in the past few years.
  2. Started with one 6 month internship in 2014, we currently run 3 different internships. All our internships are equal opportunity, online and location independent.
    • The flagship GoUNESCO Internship Program is a global student outreach program which is designed to make heritage more fun to young people. It is a 6 month certificate program in which more than 500 students from nearly 40 countries have already participated. Through simple, fun tasks, these students are being made aware of heritage around them and all over the world.
    • The GoUNESCO Content Writing Internship requires participants to write in-depth, well researched, engaging articles exploring different themes related to heritage. Led by our experienced Editor, participants of this 4 month internship are put through their paces with a rigorous focus on quality over quantity.
    • At the GoUNESCO Country Research Internship, participants research and bring out various aspects of World Heritage Sites through in-depth online research. At 2 months, this is our shortest internship and guarantees participants will learn enough to make them almost an expert about the WHS.
  3. Make Heritage Fun! is a global volunteer driven campaign to encourage laypersons to experience and engage with heritage in all its forms – built, cultural, intangible and so on. One of the other main objectives is to initiate global conversations about local heritage These events are conducted almost once every three months and coordinated centrally by GoUNESCO. These events have now been organized in 120+ cities across the world.
  4. Go Heritage Runs, an offshoot of GoUNESCO takes a unique approach to engaging with heritage. By organizing runs at heritage locations, GoUNESCO is trying to engage visitors in activities at the site. In addition to showcasing the heritage location in a different light, the Go Heritage Runs make the participant aware of the landscape, culture and people that make up this site.
  5. Go Heritage Store is another offshoot of GoUNESCO which along with Go Heritage Runs funds all activities of GoUNESCO. We host heritage themed products including hand crafted products made by National award winning traditional artists in India and products inspired by traditional arts and crafts.

Recognition and Partnerships

  • GoUNESCO is supported by UNESCO New Delhi with a financial grant and technical support. Awarded Special Recognition by the Digital Empowerment Foundation, India.
  • The German National Commission for UNESCO and the South African Heritage Research Association have commended and written about GoUNESCO earlier.
  • GoUNESCO is an associate partner with EU Heritage Tour project, a European Commission funded project to encourage tourism to world heritage sites in Italy, Austria, Portugal, Cyprus and Netherlands.
  • GoUNESCO has been written about in almost every national newspaper in India, multiple times, including the Times of India, The Hindu, DNA, Hindustan Times; several regional newspapers and international online publications too.

Legal Status

GoUNESCO is registered as The Heritage Collective Education Trust (Reg no – 1135/2014-2015/BK) in Jayanagar, Bangalore.

Funding

All activities of GoUNESCO are currently funded by Go Heritage Runs and Go Heritage Store.

Prior Funding

  • One time grant in March 2014 to expand the scope of the challenge to promote Intangible Cultural Heritage.
  • One time grant from Hyderabad Runners Society in November 2014 to promote the idea of running at heritage sites.
  • One time grant from JSW in April 2015 for promoting heritage of Hampi.
  • One time grant from Kapil Group in April 2015 for promoting awareness of heritage in Warangal.
  • One time grant from Mrs. Geeta Srinivasan extended a one time grant in May 2015 to promote awareness of heritage in Ooty.
  • Funded and maintained by founder since January 2012.