Together with the 16 state coordinators, the Federal Coordination of the German Commission for UNESCO networks project schools throughout Germany, provides new impulses on UNESCO issues, initiates new projects and promotes the involvement of schools in the international UNESCO network.

In 1994, the UNESCO project schools and the UNESCO worldwide network launched the "World Heritage for Young People" project in Paris.

UNESCO project schools anchor UNESCO's goals and values in their school profiles and mission statements as well as in everyday school life and educational work. In doing so, they are committed to peace, openness to the world and sustainable development. The network is an actor and initiator for achieving the Education Agenda 2030 in the areas of Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development.

Objectives are to ensure that pupils

• learn more about the cultural and natural heritage sites inscribed on the World Heritage List because they are of particular importance to humanity;
• learn how they can contribute to the conservation of these sites, which are under the protection of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention;
• develop new perspectives and dedicate themselves in the long term to the protection of local and national heritage and World Heritage sites in order to preserve them for present and future generations;
• The aim is also to use a multidisciplinary approach to familiarise pupils with the tasks of heritage conservation, both at school and - in cooperation with museums and experts in nature and heritage conservation - at the sites themselves.

Inclusion in the network of UNESCO project schools in Germany is carried out in three stages: Interested school at country level, employee school at national level and recognized UNESCO project school as part of the worldwide network. The entire certification process takes four to six years.