UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) was launched in 1953 to co-ordinate and encourage experimental activities aimed at developing education for international understanding and co-operation. In 1999, it includes over 5,600 educational institutions in 162 countries, which are conducting pilot projects to enhance education for a culture of peace. Innovative pedagogical materials recently produced include the UNESCO Peace Pack, World Heritage Education Resource Kit, etc.

ASPnet schools are invited to focus on four main themes of study:

• World Concerns and the United Nations system,
  
• Human Rights and Democracy,
  
• Intercultural Learning,
  
• Environmental Issues.

Examples of ASPnet projects:

• Young People’s World Heritage Preservation and Promotion Education Project;
  
• Breaking the Silence: the ASP Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project;
  
• Environmental and Intercultural Projects: Baltic Sea Project, Caribbean Sea Project, Blue

Danube River Project;

• Using New Communication Technologies: Time Project, World-wide Day of Solidarity Project;
  
• International Campaigns: XXIst Century Free of Drugs, Young Scientists, etc.
  
• Observance of International Days and Years;

What does it mean to be a member of ASPnet?

• Being able to interact with others who have similar values, visions and hopes for a peaceful and just world and are committed to achieving this goal through education;
  
• Teachers and students of Associated Schools work together on projects and participate in encounters at the international, regional and national levels to share their ideas, experiences and views;
  
• Successful initiatives are shared, through newsletters, bulletins, Internet websites and, through the production of prototype teaching materials for teachers for a multiplier effect.

WORLD HERITAGE PRESERVATION AND PROMOTION PROJECT

Co-ordinated jointly by ASPnet and the World Heritage Centre, the Young People’s Participation in World Heritage Preservation and Promotion Project gives students a chance to voice their concerns and to become involved in the protection of our common cultural and natural heritage. They learn about World Heritage sites, the history and traditions of their own and other cultures, ecology and the importance of protecting biodiversity. The project features two concrete activities: the conduct of World Heritage Youth Fora and the experimentation of the innovative World Heritage Education Kit.