UNESCO: Placing Humanity at the Heart of Development

Have you ever wondered what role UNESCO plays? Here, SI UNESCO Representatives Marie Christine De La Barbelais and Dominique Mertz report back from the 36th UNESCO Conference where the role and achievements of UNESCO in 2011 were reviewed:

This was the title of the opening statement to the 36th UNESCO Conference which took place at the end of 2011. Opening the general policy debate of the Conference, Mrs Irina Bukova, General Director, entitled her statement ?Placing Humanity at the heart of development, to ensure long-term development?. The particular challenges facing our planet call for new public policies and new forms of cooperation. It was this understanding which formed the basis of this UNESCO Conference.

The focus points of this challenge to UNESCO are:

• Rethinking our vision of peace: The ?Culture of peace? today is very different from it was 20 or 50 years ago. Peace is not just the absence of war. The Culture of peace is ?built? and must be ?reinvented? day after day, in tune with the context. This peace draws its strength from knowledge-sharing, education, respect for human rights etc. UNESCO must continue to be a universal platform for dialogue and for seeking solutions for the protection of our heritage by acting as a bridge between cultures.

• Build a multilateralism which is more effective, open and responsive: Recognise the capacity for collective action through UNESCO, in partnership with the Civil Society, NGOs and private sector, around two mains guidance lines: The development of Africa and gender equality.

UNESCO's duty guides Member States towards a new model of development for our time. This ?new humanism? is the compass in all UNESCO activities. It was seen as highly relevant by the member states to address the world global issues.

• Strengthen UNESCO?s intellectual authority and its capacity to act?on:

1. Education.
2. Reconstructing Culture.
3. Science and technology.
4. Creating space for policy discussion on ethical issues.
5. Post conflicts and disasters reconstruction.
6. Building bridges between peoples and cultures.

UNESCO must make maximum use education, culture, science and the free sharing of information and knowledge to promote sustainable development and improve global understanding.

EDUCATION:

Education expenditure in many sub-Saharan countries rose by an annual rate of 6% in the last ten years. The effective coordination of UNESCO?s ?Education for All? programme is a part of the foundations of a much more integrated and visible mechanism which gives Member States more ways to get involved in promoting education.

For the first time in its history, the Annual Ministerial Review of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, held last July in Geneva, was dedicated to the theme of education. Soroptimist International delivered a statement as part of the discussions and the final document endorses the inclusive vision of education promoted by SI. UNESCO was supported in its leadership role.

The annual global report on ?Education for All? became an international reference point for education policy and practice. In particular the 2011 report on the devastating impact of armed conflict on education was the inspiration for a resolution on the protection of schools in armed conflicts adopted by the United Nations Security Council in July.

UNESCO helped launch the global partnership for women and girls education, in conjunction with private-sector stakeholders, and with the support of eminent political figures. Prohibiting girls and women from receiving quality education means blocking the road to decision-making posts and political power for half of humanity. Educating women and girls is the way to educate entire families. It also contributes to a country?s stability, solidarity and economic growth. Member States called on UNESCO to improve the quality of education. They praised UNESCO?s support for broader action at all educational levels, from early childhood to the tertiary levels and adult learning.

CULTURE

This dimension was absent from the debate on the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. The adoption of a United Nations resolution in December reflects this historic turning point of the most recent Millennium Development Goals Summit who acknowledged the importance of the cultural dimension to the attainment of each of the Millennium Development Goals. Reconstructing culture means reconstructing society as a whole.

Here are a few examples:

1. In Cambodia, UNESCO helped revive the traditional weaving technique, forgotten by the indigenous communities during the Khmer period. Today, this skill is ensuring them employment and a better lifestyle.
2. In Haiti, UNESCO helped to re-launch the production of masks, costumes and crafts in order to attract tourists and boost economic recovery.
3. In Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, UNESCO set about ensuring the protection of heritage sites and curbing the trafficking in illicit cultural property.?

Culture is inseparable from freedom of expression and respect for pluralism. UNESCO renewed its promise to build bridges between peoples and cultures and outlined some of their programmes:

1. In South-East Europe under the "Building Cultural Bridges for Development" scheme. The reconstruction of the Old Bridge at Mostar, destroyed by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of the symbols of culture?s capacity to build unity in diversity.
   
2. Bridging the oceans with the publication of the General History of Africa in Portuguese, thus enabling millions of Brazilians to learn about their history.?
3. The "Tagore, Neruda, Cesaire" programme which highlights the contributions of all cultures to our common values.?
4. Brazil?s open schools, in which thousands of children learn to control and avoid violence through sport, music and culture.

UNESCO REFORM:

The external audit?commissioned by Member States in 2010/2011 found?unsatisfactory?cooperation?with NGOs and forwarded several areas for improvement.?UNESCO has therefore?revised its?criteria for?relationship with NGOs in order to strength working relations and to ensure greater geographical representation amongst NGOs in offical relationship with UNESCO.

UNESCO wishes to reinforce its cooperation with NGOs and become more efficient in how we engage. So, NGOs are now? ?partners? - the new term for what was previously called ?NGOs in official relationship with UNESCO? . Partners are now classified into one of two categories:? ?Consultation? or ?Association?. This is to simplify and clarify the actual role played by each NGO to UNESCO. Soroptimist International has been classified as being in ?Consultation?.? We hope that these new structures will improve engagement and enable us to better represent the voices of women and girls.?

For more information about UNESCO, visit their website. ???

Source: http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/who-we-are/news/post/284-unesco-placing-humanity-at-the-heart-of-development

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