UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura to Visit U.S.A.

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will attend the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. During his visit to New York, 21 - 25 September. He will meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and participate in a series of high-level events:

• 22 September: White House Symposium on literacy; luncheon hosted by First Lady Laura Bush; high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs


• 23 September: meeting of the five UN agencies responsible for the Education For All (EFA) program; host lunch on “Financing Education for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”, and present Rumi Medal to Afghanistan President Karzai


• 24 September: side event hosted by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Spain on the MDG Achievement Fund


• 25 September: act as rapporteur in Roundtable on Education and Health.

White House Symposium on Literacy

Mrs. Bush, who serves as an Honorary Ambassador
to the United Nations Decade of Literacy,
addresses a UNESCO roundtable in 2007.

First lady Laura Bush will host a symposium titled “Advancing Global Literacy: Building a Foundation for Freedom,” in New York on September 22, 2008.

First Ladies from over 80 countries, ministers of education and other high-ranking representatives are expected to underscore how literacy helps build a strong foundation for freedom during this White House Symposium.

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International Day of Peace, 21 September 2008

Each year the United Nations system celebrates the International Day of Peace on September 21st. As part of the observation of the day, this week UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura awarded the 2008 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education to the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (South Africa) in recognition of its outstanding efforts in building sustainable reconciliation through education and in addressing systemic injustice in Africa.

UNESCO Global Literacy Conference in Mexico City Highlights U.S.-Sponsored Programs

A Bolivian mother reads to her infant son
© Photo Whitehouse Conference on Global Literacy

Two U.S. government funded literacy programs will be among the organizations highlighted at the upcoming UNESCO Regional Conference for Global Literacy in Mexico City, on September 10-13, 2008.

• Alfalit International, Inc. (Bolivia), a USAID funded non-profit educational organization that offers literacy and basic education programs in 25 countries.
• Educatodos (Honduras), an alternative basic education delivery system created by the Ministry of Education and USAID for out-of-school youth and adults to complete a primary and lower secondary (grades 7-9) education.