Extracts from the intervention on Item 21 (C/4 & C/5) by the Hon Ro Teimumu Kepa, Representative of Fiji on the Executive Board of UNESCO

“… Fiji and the Pacific, at its June 2006 consultation in Hanoi, Vietnam, generally welcomed the structure and objectives defined by the General Conference for the 34 C/4 including the call for the presentation of a user friendly and easy to read document.

The participants unanimously reaffirmed the abiding relevance of UNESCO’s mandate and agreed that its mission statement should build on the provisions of its Constitution, especially underlining the obligation of the Organization to promote peace and sustainable development through international co-operation. Peace is still fragile in some parts of our region, and needs to be nurtured through measures aimed at mutual understanding and reconciliation. The over-arching goals for which UNESCO was established remain valid today, even though the context within which the mission is being carried out and the priorities for action continue to evolve and in the process, open up new opportunities and pose new challenges. Given its limited resources, UNESCO should concentrate its efforts on a limited number of priorities.
Given global trends and challenges, my Delegation feels that UNESCO needs to reassert its role in building and strengthening peace, to tackle poverty and to promote sustainable development. Accordingly, we support the proposal that the three themes to be included as overarching objectives for UNESCO’s 34 C/4 include peace, poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

The pursuit of peace can benefit in particular, from UNESCO’s unique position and ability in conducting through concrete action, dialogues and civilizations, cultures and peoples through its domains, which may also serve to dispel ignorance, lessen violence and ultimately help dissuade terrorist inclinations. The impact will be increasingly significant if such dialogue and action can be scaled up to a sufficient level. UNESCO should seek to reinforce international co-operation, and we also stress the importance of building human and institutional capacities in all UNESCO domains to empower Member States and allow them to address multi-dimensional contemporary challenges, including building of knowledge societies.

We reaffirm that UNESCO needs to consider top priority the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) a realization of the EFA Dakar Goals and the objectives of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). For the scattered 17 Member States in the Pacific Ocean, we feel that information and communication technologies (ICTs) should play a critical role in enabling access to quality information that will contribute to poverty alleviation and enhance learning and education at all levels. The Pacific recommends that the five functions of UNESCO namely a laboratory of ideas, standards-setter, clearing house, a capacity-builder in Member States and a catalyst for international co-operation, as defined in 31 C/4 be retained, and hopefully enriched and fine-tuned by the pertinent comments and suggestions that emanated from yesterday’s thematic discussion and symposium.

With respect to strategic programme objectives, the formulation of clear time-bound performance targets and outcomes could not be over-emphasised. This is essential and warranted given the dynamics and the never-ending array of challenges that the Organization will continue to face.

For the programme and budget (34 /5) document, the Pacific is in favour of retaining the structure of the previous C/5 documents, where each of the five Major Programmes would be built on the basis of one principle priority, and a limited set of other priorities given the status of the UN reforms and the implications on UNESCO’s budget, a more cautious approach at this time would be to consider a more realistic budget on real terms as others have alluded to.

… our priorities and that of the Pacific. These include, for education, quality basic education for all, for natural sciences, water and associated ecosystems, for social and human sciences, development of just social policies and management of contemporary social transformations, for culture, promoting cultural diversity with special emphasis on tangible and intangible heritage, and finally for communication, empowering people through access to diverse quality information, the reduction of the digital divide with special emphasis on freedom of expression. …”

EXECUTIVE BOARD DECISIONS AT A GLANCE

The 175th session of the Executive Board of UNESCO (26 September-13 October 2006) recommended as a mission statement for UNESCO: “As a specialised agency of the United Nations, UNESCO contributes to the construction of peace, human development and intercultural dialogue in an era of globalization through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information”.
• It stressed the need for the Medium Term-Strategy for 2008-2013 (34 C/4) to attach priority in all of UNESCO’s competences the needs of Africa; gender equality; youth; least developed countries; small island developing states (SIDS); and disadvantaged and excluded groups. A special emphasis to develop overarching objectives and strategic programme objectives for the 34 C/4 and the biennial programme priorities for the three successive C/5 documents on a strong intersectoral and interdisciplinary base was stressed, including in areas of interest to the Pacific such as sustainable development.
• Requested the Director-General to present a fourth budget option, based on zero nominal growth (ZNG), for the 2008-2009 biennium.
• Urged the Director-General to continue improving the culture of evaluation throughout the Organization, the need to produce an evaluation policy and further elaborate the proposed long-term evaluation strategy.
• Expressed concern on the possibility of UNESCO launching a new normative process in the field of science ethics. However, the value of pursuing reflection on science ethics was emphasised, as well as the opportunity to revitalize the UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers and the Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge, and to encourage their use by Member States, in particular with regard to their ethical principles.
• Deemed necessary to continue monitoring the implementation of UNESCO’s standard setting instruments.
• Noted that, while progress had been made on the Director-General’s Action Plan for improved management of extrabudgetary funds, more work still needed to be done. Regretted that the Director-General had still to present a real strategy and vision for UNESCO’s extrabudgetary activities.



UNESCO planned activities contributing to sustainable development in the Pacific region, a document highlighting what is planned by UNESCO in the framework of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and elaborating on the Natural Sciences Sector’s approach to address current challenges can be found under the Australian Permanent Delegation’s website at the following address: http://www.france.embassy.gov.au/pari/unesco.html




Some Forthcoming Events

2007

19 January: Executive Board Information Session

10-26 April: 176th session of the Executive Board

18 June: 40th session of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Executive Council

19-28 June: 24th session of the IOC General Assembly

23 June-2 July: 31st session of the World Heritage Committee, Christchurch, New Zealand

25 September-11 October: 177th session of the Executive Board

16 October-3 November: 34th session of the General Conference



2007 Global Monitoring Report

What are the benefits of programmes for the very young? Why have countries been slow to implement policies that integrate care, health, nutrition and education? Besides taking a closer look at early childhood care and education, the first of six Education for All goals the world is committed to achieving by 2015, the fifth edition of the Report also assesses progress towards the other goals and levels of aid to basic education.

Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO 1945–2005 offers an inside perspective on the past six decades of UNESCO’s engagement in favour of science. Written by historians and scientists from all over the world as well as by former and active staff members, the story is enriched by an historical analysis of the first 20 years of the Organization’s action in science.

The volume traces through six parts the role played by UNESCO in the history of international science cooperation in an ever-changing world: I. Setting the Scene, 1945–1965; II. Basic Sciences and Engineering; III. Environmental Sciences; IV. Science and Society; V. Overviews and Analyses; and VI. Looking Ahead. It also features a list of chronological milestones set along the way.



Reform of UNESCO’s Education Sector

In June 2006, Mr Peter Smith, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General (ADG) for Education, announced the blueprint for the long-awaited reform of the Organization’s Education Sector. He did this precisely one year after taking up the post, after having worked intensively on the matter during that period.

The main focus of the report is ‘accountable decentralization’. Headquarters’ personnel located in Paris will work more closely with colleagues in Regional Offices to serve the needs of UNESCO Member States in more effective and efficient ways. At Headquarters, four Divisions replace the six previous ones. Two are cross-cutting in nature (Co-ordination of United Nations Priorities in Education; Country Planning and Field Support), and two correspond to the functional areas in which ministries of education operate their education systems (Basic Education; Higher Education).

The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and its Governing Board are pleased to give their full support to the reform initiative. In line with IIEP’s mandate, particular attention is being focused on capacity development, not only for educational planners in UNESCO Member States, but also with the Organization itself.

Mark Bray, Director of IIEP
director@iiep.unesco.org

As another part of UNESCO’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, a series of seminars entitled 60 minutes to convince have been held. A recent one of interest to the Pacific was regarding the operation of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), excerpts below.



Alchemy for the statisticians: turning data into information

For the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), data quality goes beyond the prevention of error. Statisticians must focus on current issues, not just the numbers, to provide a rich array of information.

The drive towards efficient management has sparked growing demand for internationally comparable data by governments and international organizations. In this sense, business is booming for the UIS. It conducts the world’s most comprehensive survey on education, while breaking ground in fields such as science and technology.

In fact, much of the education data floating around the international community actually comes from the UIS. The Human Development Index, the World Development Indicators and the State of the World’s Children report all rely on statistics provided by the Institute, which is also the main source of data for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report.

The UIS therefore takes a multi-pronged approach to improve quality assurance. Part of the task lies in creating new indicators to ensure that the data remain relevant.

Another strategy for improving the quality of data is diversifying their sources. This has been a major concern for the UIS with regards to out-of-school children. Their numbers have fallen significantly over the past five years, which is obviously a positive sign. But the UIS is widening the field of exploration with household surveys from UNICEF in order to verify the reliability of its administrative data, while accounting for the new trend.
WHY DO CHILDREN LEAVE SCHOOL?
The aim is not just to provide a final count but to identify the characteristics of these children in order to reach them. How many enrol and then drop out? Do they tend to live in rural or urban areas? What about their socio-economic backgrounds? How does a mother’s education level affect her child’s chances of staying in school? These are the kinds of data needed for effective policymaking.
THE NOTORIOUSLY SHORT SHELFLIFE OF DATA
In general, governments recognize the value of contributing data to international agencies like the UIS. But they will not necessarily use the resulting information without a sense of ownership over it. This can only happen by building partnerships as in the case of the UIS regional training workshops for the national experts providing data to the UIS. Over the years, relationships have grown closer and roles have changed. Participants are now active partners in improving UIS survey questionnaires or applying new concepts.

This ‘loop’ illustrates a guiding principle for the UIS: statistics are not about ‘crunching numbers’ but transforming data into information needed for effective policymaking.

To find out more: consult the UIS website at
www.uis.unesco.org and contact
information@uis.unesco.org.



First Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

In June 2006, the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage accepted, by Resolution 1.GA 7A, the offer of the Algerian authorities to organize the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Algiers. The Committee met for two days: 18 and 19 November 2006. Prior to the meeting, an extraordinay session of the General Assembly on 9 November increased the number of States Members of the Committee from 18 to 24. Thus, the Committee, from its first session, was composed of the maximum number of members foreseen by the Convention.

During this session, the Committee adopted its Rules of Procedure and opened preliminary discussions on:
• Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention (Article 7)
• Advisory assistance to the Intergovernmental Committee (Article 8 and Article 9)
• Criteria for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Article 7, Article 16 and Article 17).

The Oral Report and Decisions will soon be available at the following address:
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich_convention/?pg=00051