UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture. UNESCO’s programmes contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in the 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.

VACANCY NOTICE
UNESCO

Position: Community Volunteer-Intangible Cultural Heritage, Climate Change, and DRR
- Assignment country: Nepal
- Expected start date: 10/05/2025
- Sustainable Development Goal: 13. Climate action
- Volunteer category: National UN Community Volunteer
- Host entity: UNESCO Nepal
- Type: Onsite
- Duration: 6 months (with possibility of extension)
- Number of assignments: 2
- Duty stations: Salleri (2)

Context
This United Nations Volunteers (UNV) assignment is part of UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund project. Situated in Solukhumbu District within Sagarmatha National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site- Thame village is home to Indigenous communities whose living heritage is deeply connected to the surrounding natural environment. The village was affected by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in 2024, causing widespread destruction, damaging homes, an elementary school, a clinic, a nursery and a monastery.

Increasing threats from climate-induced hazards, particularly Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), endanger both community livelihoods and intangible cultural heritage (ICH). This climate change induced loss extends beyond physical structures, threatening the community’s cultural fabric by displacing approximately 135 individuals and dismantling spaces vital for passing down local and indigenous communities’ traditions and knowledge systems.

Anchored in the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) Programme and 2025 International year of Glaciers’ preservation, the project focuses on safeguarding the cultural heritage of the ecologically sensitive and culturally rich Sagarmatha region. It focuses on documenting the impacts of the of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) on the intangible cultural heritage of Thame’s Indigenous communities while exploring the role of living heritage in addressing climate-induce disasters

This UNESCO-led project aims to document the and living heritage, integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) into ICH safeguarding processes, and develop recommendations for climate-resilient cultural heritage management.

National UN Community Volunteers will support community-based inventorying, awareness raising, and stakeholder engagement to safeguard ICH while promoting resilience to climate change and disasters. The UNCV will work closely with local authorities, community leaders, and the UNESCO project team to assist in field data collection for the ICH inventory. Support coordination for training workshop, missions and validation workshop.

Application Deadline: 12 September 2025

HOW TO APPLY
click [ HERE ] to view original vacancy for more details and application procedure.