Namibia: Unesco Project Benefits San Children

UNESCO and USAID joined forces to promote early childhood development in San region of Namibia. The project started in 2002 with the financial support from USAID and US Hero Campaign. UNESCO works with caregivers to ensure quality education in early childhood development centers.

Namibia: Unesco Project Benefits San Children

UNESCO and USAID joined forces to promote early childhood development in San region of Namibia. The project started in 2002 with the financial support from USAID and US Hero Campaign. UNESCO works with caregivers to ensure quality education in early childhood development centers.

Landmark Decision on the Old City of Jerusalem

UNESCO's Executive Board has adopted a decision reaffirming the outstanding universal value of the Old City of Jerusalem and the need to protect and safeguard this World Heritage site. The decision followed a special meeting of the Board – whose 176th session has been underway in Paris since 10 April. Israelis and the Palestinians worked together to ensure the protection of Jerusalem, an endangered World Heritage site common to all of humanity.

“The ability of the parties involved to achieve what, at the outset seemed unachievable, demonstrates UNESCO's unique ability – as a specialised agency within a reforming United Nations – to build bridges, generate solidarity, and, most especially, to help in our own way towards building a harmonized world, thus creating greater peace and relieving tensions in the Middle East.”

Zhang Xinsheng
Chairman of UNESCO’s Executive Board

Read the full news release from UNESCO.

Landmark Decision on the Old City of Jerusalem

UNESCO's Executive Board has adopted a decision reaffirming the outstanding universal value of the Old City of Jerusalem and the need to protect and safeguard this World Heritage site. The decision followed a special meeting of the Board – whose 176th session has been underway in Paris since 10 April. Israelis and the Palestinians worked together to ensure the protection of Jerusalem, an endangered World Heritage site common to all of humanity.

“The ability of the parties involved to achieve what, at the outset seemed unachievable, demonstrates UNESCO's unique ability – as a specialised agency within a reforming United Nations – to build bridges, generate solidarity, and, most especially, to help in our own way towards building a harmonized world, thus creating greater peace and relieving tensions in the Middle East.”

Zhang Xinsheng
Chairman of UNESCO’s Executive Board

Read the full news release from UNESCO.

Global Action Week - 26 April: Education “webchat” with U.S. experts

US Mission to UNESCO will have a 'webchat' on April 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM EST. This is a great opportunity to learn about UNESCO's role in promoting literacy worldwide.
The discussion will include White House Conference on Global Literacy and the First Regional Literacy Conference in Doha, Qatar. The webchat will also carry expert opinions on literacy's importance in Education for All goals.

Global Action Week - 26 April: Education “webchat” with U.S. experts

US Mission to UNESCO will have a 'webchat' on April 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM EST. This is a great opportunity to learn about UNESCO's role in promoting literacy worldwide.
The discussion will include White House Conference on Global Literacy and the First Regional Literacy Conference in Doha, Qatar. The webchat will also carry expert opinions on literacy's importance in Education for All goals.

"Global-Literacy Work at UNESCO Undergoes Shake-Up"

Read the article subtitled "Activities and jobs cut; resources shifted from Paris to regional office" by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo in Education Week, April 17, 2007. (Registration required, but free.)

UNESCO "is reorganizing its education sector and decentralizing its extensive literacy operation, with the aim of strengthening that work in the world’s neediest countries." While the attempt "has earned widespread support among member nations and experts in the field, a recent shakeup in its leadership, dissatisfaction over the restructuring process, and uncertainty about how the changes will play out have generated worries over UNESCO’s capacity for advancing the cause of universal literacy......

"The United States rejoined UNESCO in 2003 after a nearly 20-year absence because of the promise of straightening out the organization, which had long drawn complaints of mismanagement and of an anti-democratic agenda.......

"Since then, the education sector has halved the number of activities it supports, to 750, reduced high-level positions, and honed its focus on countries with the highest illiteracy rates to accelerate their progress toward universal basic education.

"The organization’s historic push for improving literacy has undergone some of the most visible changes. UNESCO is responsible for overseeing the U.N. Literacy Decade, which began in 2003, and the ambitious Education for All initiative, which aims to provide basic education for all the world’s people by 2015. Through its new Literacy Initiative for Empowerment, or LIFE, the organization is pressing for country-led education policies and a greater focus on nonformal educational programs targeting children, youths, and adults who are not in school."