Goals

• Enhance the knowledge and skills of students on concepts related to heritage and the importance of its safeguarding.

Description

The Heritage in a Box toolkit is a revised version of the UNESCO World Heritage in Young Hands kit adapted by UNESCO Beijing Office and its partners to the Mongolian context of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage site. However, the toolkit has been enriched to include other types of heritage, notably intangible cultural heritage.

Piloted in 2016, the toolkit was used as an extra-curricular activity in seven schools located in the vicinity of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage site. Evidence gathered from the schools confirmed that the implementation of the toolkit enhanced knowledge and skills of pupils on concepts related to heritage and the importance of its preservation. Most importantly, interviews of students revealed new affection and pride towards the heritage of the Orkhon Valley as a source of common identity.

The kit is comprehensive, with teacher guidelines and heritage-related handcrafted objects, replicas, games and activities. It serves as an interactive and practical instrument to educate pupils on heritage in an integrated manner. These heritage objects are carefully stored in a beautifully decorated leather saddlebag, recalling the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols.

Developed in line with the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme, the toolkit aims to encourage young people to participate in the protection of our common cultural and natural heritage. Raising awareness about the importance of heritage is particularly crucial at a time when the preservation of Mongolian heritage – both tangible and intangible – is threatened by globalization, urbanization and modernization in the country.

Outputs

• Heritage in a Box toolkit for schools, including teacher guidelines and heritage-related objects and activities

The content of the projects and documents referenced in this platform do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO, including designations employed concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.