HP-UNESCO Partnership

Scientists at the Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar (Senegal) are now better placed to cooperate with researchers overseas thanks to the installation of the first computing grid at the university, the fruit of a joint effort by the UNESCO/Hewlett-Packard project “Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa” and the Grid Computing Institute of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

The project aims to provide universities in five African countries with grid computing technology so as to reduce migration of African university graduates by giving them the tools they need for their research.

The joint project “Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa” follows the successful implementation of a similar UNESCO/Hewlett-Packard initiative for Southeast Europe, launched in 2003.

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Some Great World Heritage Sites on the Internet

Archeological Zone of Paquimé, Casas Grandes, Mexico

Here are some sites to help you learn about and experience the world heritage sights selected by UNESCO:

• World Heritage Tour with interactive, panoramic images of some 300 sites
• The World Heritage List of WikiTravel with travel and tourist information
• The World Heritage Foundation with a fancy website, photos and more
• Friends of World Heritage, a non-governmental organization, that among other things offers tours of world heritage sites on it web pages.
• World Heritage Google Maps with interactive online maps
  
• UNESCO World Heritage and American Museum of Natural History Expeditions
• The Salmon's World Heritage List, by true aficionados.

Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries
Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains

Decentralization in the Culture Program

Underwater archaeology
the Saint-Honorat1 wreck 17th century
© UNESCO; M L Hour / Drassm

While UNESCO's Culture Program is centered in UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, a great deal of its work is decentralized into a network of Institutes and Centers, as well as country field offices and cluster offices providing education related services to a cluster of nations. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics provides statistical support for the education programs as well as the other UNESCO programs.

The World Heritage Center although located in Paris has its own World Heritage Committee which provides oversight for the program implementing the World Heritage Convention.

Other centers under the auspices of UNESCO and its culture program are:

• International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations (IISNC), Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
• International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
• International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Rome, Italy.
• Nordic World Heritage Foundation, Oslo, Norway.

The Cluster and Regional Offices for Culture

• Venice (Europe and North America)
• Havana (Latin America and the Caribbean)