May 11, 2023 / BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – UNDP and the creative association ILGERI launched the game ILGERI JOLU in the format of a quest for the residents of Bishkek. The aim of the initiative is to raise awareness and support the protection and preservation of the city's cultural heritage using innovative approaches. The quest was launched on 29 April 2023 following the Create4 Creative Industries Festival, and highlights the importance of preserving cultural heritage in an interactive form adapted to a wide audience. 

Cultural heritage and infrastructure, creative industries and sustainable tourism can serve as a strategic tool and a powerful engine of development with social, economic and environmental implications for the entire community. It also includes a range of non-monetary benefits such as greater social inclusion, sustainability, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship for individuals and communities, and the use of local resources, skills and knowledge. 

“Innovative projects like ILGERI JOLU, are created to promote the cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan through creative tools, and achieve several goals at once. In addition to the fact that participants gain new knowledge about the culture and history of the country, such initiatives stimulate the development of the urban community and creative start-ups. The use of technologies such as NFT and AR make the quest as interactive and interesting as possible for young people. For our organization, this is a great opportunity to test the use of innovative approaches to development” - said Viktoriia Petrova, Head of Exploration, UNDP Accelerator Lab.

The quest participants are requested to visit 21 locations in Bishkek city that have a sign with a text description of the object and a QR code with additional illustrations, as well as an audio guide provided in Kyrgyz and Russian language options. While taking part in the quest, participants learn facts about Kyrgyz history, cultural institutions, city sights, and historical figures and answer interactive questions and tasks. The finalists of the game are assigned a unique token allowing them to be part of the final prize draw.

“We are involving popular Instagram and Tik-Tok bloggers from Kyrgyzstan as the “protectors of cultural objects and institutions”. We believe that their participation will enable us to reach bigger audiences to convey the value of developing and promoting culture, history, education and tourism in our country,” - shared one of the quest developers, Erik Abdykalykov.