In April 2021, Heritage Education Network Belize was invited to be a partner of Our World Heritage (OWH).

What is OWH?

OWH is a new NGO that aims to protect heritage, support science-based decision-making, stop politicization and engage civil society, and promotes gender, regional and age balance in their activities, intending to foster the role of youth in all aspects of heritage management.

The global outreach team, partners and organizers include researchers who served with ICOMOS, UNESCO and other influential organizations in the culture and heritage field. We are honoured to work with all of them!

What does Heritage Education Network do?

OWH focuses on different themes related to issues in heritage and management. We have been invited to tackle challenges related to “Heritage Places and Memory”. This means we are focusing on intangible heritage, memories and culture transmitted in intangible forms and the memories associated with heritage sites and cultural spaces – essentially the voices and memories of communities. We look at how international conventions (like the UNESCO World Heritage Convention) or programs address this issue and what are practical ways to ensure the representation of intangible culture and local memories.

As part of this collaboration, we are also planning events with OWH to involve the community narrative and engage people in protecting our heritage.