A foundation course on Culture and Heritage of Bangladesh was organized at University of Development Alternative (UODA), Dhaka, Bangladesh in August 2018. This innovative workshop aimed to help young students to gain confidence about their identity, their role as model citizens to preserve values, traditions, customs, culture and the heritage of Bangladesh by using creative methods. It was a two days’ workshop facilitated by Sultana Arfin Nury and her colleagues from UODA which was well attended by 110 enthusiastic students. The participants were divided into 11 small groups and the duration of this workshop was approximately 3 hours for each day. The first day included a short briefing and a video presentation on the topic, followed by a group discussion. The theme of the first workshop was “A journey with your cultural luggage: be aware of your luggage”. During the discussion session, the participants talked about the differences between culture and heritage.

The second day focused on insights from the students by group presentations. The theme was “Me and my identity”. They discussed on how culture has changed over time, what the youths should do to protect the heritage, how they can prevent the degenerated culture. As per the students, these workshops helped the students to improve their teamwork and leadership skills. The students were involved, open & gained confidence about their cultural identity. Sultana expressed that creative method was easy & comfortable for her and took minimum time to deliver lessons than she did before by using other traditional techniques.

She developed the skills for using this innovative method from CASIC and New Vic Borderlines, UK and wants to express gratitude for learning this new creative technique and cultural animation to implement in a low resource setting like her country context. She believes for a country like Bangladesh low cost initiatives like this can help young generation to develop leadership with clear understanding of their root, culture and beautiful heritage. She also suggests including this method in academic curriculum for creating an inclusive society.