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)
  

UNESCO Intersectoral Platforms

In the 2008-2009 biennium, UNESCO is implementing a dozen "intersectoral platforms" that focus on key global challenges. The platforms promote an interdisciplinary approach through the combined action of UNESCO's five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, communication and information.

The programs are:

1. Science education
2. HIV and AIDS
3. Education for sustainable development
4. Contribution to the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
5. Fostering ICT-enhanced learning
6. Strengthening national research systems
7. Languages and multilingualism
8. Contributing to the dialogue among civilizations and cultures and a culture of peace
9. Support to countries in post-conflict and disaster situations
10. Priority Africa: coordinating and monitoring the plan of action to benefit Africa
11. UNESCO action to address climate change
12. Foresight and anticipation

Click here to see a Power Point Presentation
by a senior UNESCO official on the program!

Decentralization in the Education Program

While UNESCO's Education 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 Centers and Institutes of the Education Program are:

• The International Bureau of Education (IBE)
  
• The UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA)
  
• The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)
• The International Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC)
  
• The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
• The Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE)
  
• The European Center for Higher Education (CEPES)
• The International Center for Girls' and Women's Education in Africa (CIEFFA)
  
• The International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC)
  

Other Centers or Institutes under the auspices of UNESCO

• International Research and Training Centre for Rural education, Boading, China
• Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding, Inchon, Republic of Korea
• Guidance, Counseling and Youth Development Centre for Africa, Lilongwe, Malawi
• Regional Centre for Book Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, Bogotá, Colombia
  

The Cluster and Regional Offices for Education

• Dakar (Africa)
  
• Beirut (Arab States)
  
• Bangkok (Asia and Pacific)
• Santiago Chile (Latin America and the Caribbean)
  

The Intangible Heritage Network

This network's website is dedicated to the involvement of non-governmental organizations and civil society in topics related with the intangible cultural heritage. The network's founders feel that "the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage represents an important achievement concerning the recognition and advancement of cultural rights. Moreover, it has involved State Parties undersigning it in a consistent exercise towards the identification and study of their intangible cultural heritage."

YOu might want to check out this site with interesting photos posted by the Intangible Heritage Network.

Online Volunteer Needed

One or more online volunteers sought to help post materials on this blog. The volunteer would scan the UNESCO websites to identify materials from UNESCO's educational and/or cultural programs worth spotlighting, such as news, new events or publications, or interesting programs. The blog is widely read internationally, but is especially focused on materials of interest to people in the United States.

Several neophyte bloggers have learned to post on the site in less than one hour. An effort of an hour or two per week on the average should do the job, and would be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested, please send an email to me with your biography or a brief description of your background and interests.

john.daly@gmail.com