Why are there ships in the middle of the desert? Who were the first women to win the right to vote? Where does the alphabet come from? On International Children’s Day, UNESCO, in partnership with Barbanera, launched an amazing adventure program that allows children all around the world to explore “global memory”.
Based on the twelve items from the Memory of the World (MOW) International Register, an electronic calendar has been established that includes important historical events from around the world. Each month, Nala and Leo, two young personalities, take their companions to different parts of the world to discover local treasures and learn facts about the world’s collective history.
Libraries, archives, museums, as well as elementary and middle schools, can use this electronic calendar to promote active learning in the field of cultural heritage, as well as intercultural dialogue and global citizenship among children, while still providing an engaging and fun learning experience.
This electronic calendar includes the following from the International MOW Register:
- A collection of ancient maps from the Qajar period (Islamic Republic of Iran)
- Manuscripts of Panji stories (Cambodia, Indonesia, Netherlands, Malaysia, and Britain)
- The Phoenician alphabet (Lebanon)
- A Suez Canal Memorial (Egypt)
- A Collection of old postcards from West Africa (Senegal)
- The Aral Sea Archive Fund (Kazakhstan)
- Government vs. Mandela and others (South Africa)
- An Indigenous languages collection (Mexico)
- The Women’s Suffrage Petition 1893 (New Zealand)
- Documentation of Slavery in the Caribbean (Barbados)
- An Archive of the Semitic Village of Swangel (Finland)
- The Wizard of Oz (USA)
These stories are available in English, Indonesian, Spanish, and Swahili within the electronic calendar. The calendar is available through PC and tablet and will soon be available as an app (via Apple and Android).
The UNESCO World Memory Program has launched the course in line with its strategy to promote documented heritage among young people. In addition to the electronic calendar, the Global Memory of the World Program has launched an electronic course for teachers that includes practical tools and sample curricula to incorporate MOW International Registration works into art, history, language, and literature classes.
Join the course: www.mowcalendar.org
Contact: mowsecretariat@unesco.org
