British Council’s ‘Our Shared Cultural Heritage’ project connecting youth with heritage

The activities carried out under ‘Our Shared Cultural Heritage’ (OSCH), a youth-led programme by The British Council, have recently been showcased in Rajshahi. The activities were showcased on 28 and 29 July 2022.
This project has been designed to connect young people and inspire them to work with cultural heritages through organising a series of trainings and activities. 31 young people from different institutions have been working with cultural heritages since 2021 under this project. It is to connect the heritages to the youth as well as to the wider audience so that people can understand and work on our heritages.
On 28 July, a programme was held at Varendra Research Museum, the research partner of this project. Robert Chatterton Dickson, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh was present at the programme with Tom Miscioscia, Director Bangladesh, The British Council and other guests in attendance.
During the programme, OSCH Partners and Youth Board gave a presentation explaining the activities conducted so far and then, there was a screening of a short documentary on Varendra Research Museum. Later, the guests were given a tour of the museum, during which OSCH youth board members shared their experiences of working in the museum.
Robert Chatterton Dickson, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, said at the event, “This is a fanstactic initiative. Bangladesh is a country with rich heritages and it has a good number of young population as well. So, it’s important to connect this young population with the country’s rich cultural heritages. The British Council’s job is to create such opportunity for young people.”
On 29 July, a tour to Puthia Palace was organised. OSCH Youth Board members described its history to the guests. There was also an open discussion involving OSCH Youth Board members, partners and OSCH UK team on OSCH Year 1 activities and the challenges faced while implementing this. A group of young people also showcased a scroll with narration called ‘puthi’, an ancient storytelling technique which is linked to Bangladesh’s cultural heritage.
It is mentionable that Our Shared Cultural Heritage (OSCH) is a youth-led programme by The British Council that aims to explore the shared cultures and histories of the UK and South Asia. The programme in Bangladesh is conducted by CCD and Uronto with a concentrated focus on the heritages of Rajshahi with support from Varendra Research Museum. The main objective of this project is to inspire the youth to work in the heritage sector.