PRELIMINARY REPORT ON UNESCO’s IMPLEMENTATION ACTIONS TO FOLLOW-UP THE COPENHAGEN PROGRAMME OF ACTION AND THE FURTHER INITIATIVES IN THE GENEVA OUTCOME DOCUMENT I. INTRODUCTION

The opening paragraph of the 10 Commitments in the Copenhagen Declaration adopted at the World Summit for Social Development, in which initiatives to implement the commitments are outlined in the Copenhagen Programme of Action and the further initiatives in the Geneva Outcome Document, covers practically all areas of UNESCO’s concern, since it refers to striving to strengthen the role of culture in development, preserving the essential bases of people-centered sustainable development and contributing to the full development of human resources and to poverty eradication and social development. Through its programmes in Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture and Communication, UNESCO implements interdisciplinary, integrated activities for social development and poverty eradication.

In implementing the Copenhagen Programme of Action and the Geneva Outcome Document, UNESCO’s actions put the emphasis on the appropriation and exercise of human rights as a guiding principle of development; endogenous capacity-building and human resource development, through education at all levels and throughout life; democratic and participatory governance; the incorporation of cultural factors in development strategies; environmental protection and harnessing science and technology for development.

UNESCO as the intellectual and ethical organization of the United Nations system, is deeply concerned with the problems of poverty, exclusion, inequalities and lack of adequate social development and these problems impact on human rights.

To UNESCO, the transformation of the conditions in which poverty-stricken groups find themselves, is a human right, as recognized by the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the Copenhagen Programme of Action. Extreme poverty is a violation of human rights because it is the main obstacle for the implementation of all other human rights and the principle of the equal dignity of all human beings. The right to a decent standard of living, to adequate housing, to education, to work and to health are not implemented for those living in extreme poverty. The same can be said about the right to take part in political life and all other human rights. The Organization establishes in its activities a strong link between peace building, and socio-economic development and poverty eradication.

UNESCO’s rights-based approach to poverty eradication and social development is two-pronged, reflecting both economic and social rights- people’s right to freedom from want, and civil and political rights-people’s right to freedom of expression and participation. Freedom from want cannot be divorced from people’s freedom to make their voices heard- their right to participate. The bundling of developmental opportunities, which the goal of poverty eradication requires, is best realized through participatory development. Participation makes development more demand-driven, bottom-up, rather than top-down and supply- driven. Given the importance UNESCO puts in a rights-based approach to development, the Organization attended, upon the invitation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, both the first and second session of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Right to Development.

The Organization’s integrated, intersectoral approach to implement the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and the Special Session of the General Assembly on "Copenhagen + 5" involves going beyond policies and measures which address sectorally

2 poverty eradication and social development. Poverty and lack of social development is a symptom, the causes of which are multiple and complex. An integrated approach is a must, together with a close cooperation between governments, civil society, private business, the

United Nations system and international financial institutions, as well as bilateral development agencies, around concrete goals and strategies.

UNESCO submitted in 1999 an 80 page ‘Compendium on UNESCO’s follow-up activities to Copenhagen’ to UNDESA. Many of the programmes and activities described in the Compendium1, have continued without significant change. As the compendium was prepared to illustrate the Organization’s activities to implement the initiatives in the Copenhagen Programme of Action, this report will above all focus on UNESCO’s activities to implement the further initiatives in the Geneva Outcome document. Many of the activities undertaken by the Organization to implement the Geneva Outcome document are however also contributing to the implementation of the initiatives in the Copenhagen Programme of Action as several of the initiatives in the two documents contain similar elements.

A major new contribution by the Organization to follow-up Copenhagen and even more specifically Geneva will be UNESCO’s ‘Strategy on Poverty Eradication and Development’. As this strategy will be the most important tool for the Organization to implement the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and the Special Session of the General Assembly in the years to come, the strategy which is described under II should be read as the most important UNESCO contribution to the preliminary report.

As the Dakar Framework for Action was reaffirmed in paragraph 92 of the Outcome Document, the Organizations’ activities to follow-up Dakar will also be of high importance for the Organization to implement the outcome of the Special Session, and UNESCO’s activities to follow-up Dakar in this context will be reported on separately under III.

In part IV it is reported on some activities to implement initiatives where UNESCO should be one of the lead-agencies to promote the initiative (in addition to that the Organization should be one of the lead-agencies to promote the initiatives relating to promote poverty eradication and the lead-agency to follow-up Dakar).

Finally, in part V of this report there are given some few examples of activities undertaken by the Organization to implement some of the initiatives in the Geneva Outcome document which are important for UNESCO, but not among the ‘lead-initiatives’. The Organization is undertaking activities to implement several initiatives in the Geneva Outcome Document, so the selected examples have to be read with the understanding that many more activities undertaken by the Organization could have been given relating to several of the initiatives in the Geneva Outcome Document.

1 Please find the Compendium enclosed as an annex to this preliminary report. As the Compendium was prepared in the end of 1998/beginning of 1999, under the former Director-General of UNESCO, some of the activities described in the Compendium have come to an end, -and new activities have been initiated. The Compendium should thus basically be read as an example of the wide-range of activities UNESCO are undertaking to implement the Copenhagen commitments and thus to promote social development. It should also be noted that with the new UNESCO Strategy for Poverty Eradication and Development, activities to implement the Copenhagen Programme for Action and the Geneva Outcome document will in the future be developed as part of a coherent strategy.

3 It is important for UNESCO to make a point of in this report that the Geneva outcome document regrettably does not contain any cross-reference to the out-come of the World Conference on Science, Budapest, 25 June to 2 July 1999. One of the main outcomes of the Budapest Conference was highlighting the importance of Science and Technology and of Research and Development investments, not only for economic development but also for social development. In implementing activities for social development, the outcome of the World Conference on Science is also thus taken duly into consideration by the Organization.

In addition to the strategy and activities illustrated below, it is worth mentioning that UNESCO’s MOST Programme organized in 1998 an International Symposium on Rethinking Development: do we need a paradigm shift? which resulted in a book published in November 1999 in the framework of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations (MOST)2 Programme entitled Rethinking Development: Putting an end to Development. The strong ideas set forth in this book outlines approaches for rethinking development and will contribute to the development debates as guidelines of action, and thus to the design of social development and anti-poverty strategies in the years to come. The International Social Science Journal3 (ISSJ) nº162 on Policy Options for Social Development, published in 1999, is focusing on approaches to implement the 10 commitments in the Copenhagen Declaration, and will also thus be a UNESCO contribution to follow-up the 10 commitments in the future. Likewise, the ISSJ n°166 on The development debate: beyond the Washington Consensus, issued in December 2000, should be considered as an input by the Organization to contribute to the development debate and thus indirectly to promote social development. The articles of this issue are revised versions of papers presented at an international conference organized by the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in cooperation with the MOST Programme, in June 1999 at UNESCO Headquarters. Also, the MOST Program and CROP (Comparative Research Program on Poverty) organized during the Special Session on ‘Copenhagen +5’, in the framework of the Geneva 2000 Forum, a joint symposium on Social capital formation in poverty reduction: which role for the civil society organizations and the state? The panelists represented both the grass-root, academia, policy-makers (the Chairman of the 39th session of the Commission for Social Development) and the World Bank. A MOST/CROP publication from this symposium will be ready in the end of April/beginning of May 2001.

II. UNESCO’s STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ERADICATION AND DEVELOPMENT

2 A main UNESCO instrument to develop activities concerning poverty eradication is the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme which is engaged in relevant research and field activities on cities and urban governance, as well as on multicultural societies and local-global linkages. These activities and field programs are contributing to social integration and thus also to poverty eradication. The MOST programme on City Governance and urbanization focuses e.g. on the stimulation of urban policies aimed at enhancing social integration and rehabilitation of underprivileged settlements. The pilot sites are city-areas with great urban poverty such as Yeumbeul in Dakar and Jalousie in Port au Prince –au-Prince. An other example is the ‘Growing up in cities’ project which aims to encourage the participation of young people in research and evaluation processes and to promote actions that improve the urban communities in which they live. The project has sites inter alia in Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Australia and South Africa.

3 The International Social Science Journal, funded by UNESCO in 1949, is published quartile in six language editions: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. Its purpose is to bridge diverse communities of social scientists, working in different problems and disciplines and in different parts of the world. It provides information and debate on subjects of interest to an international readership, written by an equally international range of authors. The ISSJ has a particular interest in policy-relevant questions and interdisciplinary approaches. It serves as a forum for review, reflection and discussion informed by the results of relevant research, rather than as an outlet of ’first publication’ for the results of individual research projects.

4 Paragraph 25. Place poverty eradication at the centre of economic and social development and build consensus with all relevant actors at all levels on policies and strategies to reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015 with a view to eradicating poverty:

With its’ holistic approach to poverty eradication UNESCO can certainly offer a significant added value to the collective thrust towards poverty eradication, and wants to assume fully its’ part of the responsibility all members of the UN-family have been given both in General Assembly resolution 50/107 of 20 December 1995, in which the Assembly proclaimed the United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, in the Geneva Outcome Document as well as in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to co-operate in this field and to pursue the goal of poverty eradication in activities undertaken.

UNESCO has been called upon by its Member States, through various General Conference resolutions and Executive Board decisions, to make its specific contribution to poverty reduction through the design of an appropriate long-term strategy. In his preliminary proposals for the Medium-Term Strategy (2002-2007) the Director General responded to this concern by proposing poverty eradication as a cross-cutting theme for the whole Organization. Taking into account the last4 pertinent Executive Board decision on these issues, as well as the views expressed in the debate leading to that decision, the following strategy, aimed at defining the main parameters of a distinct and resultsoriented UNESCO contribution, is proposed to form the basis for future action;

The strategy will be implemented through an integrated approach coordinated by the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme and involving all the programs of the Organization. Stress will be laid on the identification of specific entry points for the Organization’s contribution and action bearing in mind also various plans and frameworks for action, such as the Dakar Framework for Action, the Stockholm Conference on Cultural Policies for Development, the Budapest Conference on Science, and the Plan of Action for a Culture of Peace. Likewise, the potential of collaboration with various partners inside and outside the United Nations system will help shape the specific response of UNESCO.

UNESCO will focus on three major, interrelated lines of action: 1. To contribute to a broadening of the focus of international and national poverty reduction strategies through the introduction and mainstreaming of education, culture, the sciences and capacity development with a view to creating a pro-poor policy environment; 2. To support the design and contribute to an implementation of effective poverty reduction strategies to help mobilize social capital by building capacity and institutions, especially in the public domain, with a view to advocating and enabling the poor to enjoy their rights through action in areas of UNESCO’s competence; 3. To contribute to an enabling national policy framework and environment for empowerment, participatory approaches and livelihood generation, as well as advocacy for a deeper commitment to poverty eradication and highlighting how poverty violates human rights and undermines the welfare of all.

In sum, UNESCO will focus in its activities at the following priority areas: a) Policy formulation and implementation, including influencing the formulation of country owned integrated pro-poor national policies, with the involvement of all stakeholders, and

4 October 2000

5 building the capacity of governments to design democratic participatory processes at national and local levels that involve the poor; b) Advocacy and information, placing emphasis on the point that freedom from poverty is a human rights, a global ethical imperative, and a government responsibility; c) Policy-oriented research which should contribute to the analysis of extreme poverty –and monitor progress toward its eradication; d) Capacity-building, particularly amongst those most impoverished countries immersed in or emerging from conflict or natural disasters, so as to assist the government and State institutions to prepare frameworks that respond to the requirements of the United Nations system and the international financial institutions in the context of debt relief; e) Innovative Field projects, the outcomes of which are to be translated into policies.

UNESCO’s strategy is underpinned by ongoing development initiatives, including outcomes of, and targets adopted, by international conferences, and the use of existing mechanisms such as the Common Country Assessment. The strategy will also give a framework for UNESCO’s involvement in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework and PRSPs. Given this commitment, UNESCO would like governments to call upon it for active participation in the design and implementation of their PRSPs and UNDAF.

The UNESCO Strategy for Poverty Eradication and Development will as mentioned be UNESCO’s major contribution to follow-up the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and the Special Session of the General Assembly. Logically it fits best to put the strategy under commitment 2 (especially to comply with paragraphs 25 and 28 in the Geneva Outcome Document) in the Copenhagen Declaration, but it is obvious that the Strategy also will contribute to implement the other commitments in the Copenhagen Declaration (see also paragraph 155).

III. THE FOLLOW-UP TO DAKAR - EFA

Paragraph 92. Reaffirm the Dakar Framework for Action on education for all adopted at the World Education Forum, held in Dakar from 26 to 28 April 2000, to develop or strengthen national strategies or action plans at the appropriate level to promote its goals: to ensure that by 2015 all children, with special emphasis on girls and children in difficult circumstances or with special needs, including children with disabilities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality; to improve early childhood care and education; to ensure access to appropriate learning, life skills and citizenship programmes; to achieve a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy; to improve the quality of education; and to take action to eliminate gender disparities and to ensure that girls and women have full and equal access to education.

The World Education Forum in Dakar, April 2000, was a milestone event in many respects. Convened by UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank, it afforded an opportunity to review past achievements, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen the commitment and resolve of all partners to achieve the six main EFA goals by 2015 at the latest. The Dakar Framework for Action re-confirmed UNESCO’s mandated role of “co- ordinating EFA partners and maintaining their collective momentum” and as the Secretariat for the global EFA movement. UNESCO fully embraces this role and the responsibilities it entails; it has already undertaken or planned a number of follow-up activities and has designed an action plan, in consultation with partners, that will help to maintain and accelerate the post-

6 Dakar momentum. The analysis that follows outlines actions already taken and key aspects of the post-Dakar strategy that UNESCO will pursue.

1. Mobilizing partner agencies a) High-level contacts:

The Director-General met, in the summer 2000, with the Administrator, UNDP. It was agreed that UNDP would ‘provide a home for UNESCO’s activities at field level’, in view of UNESCO’s decentralization through clustering and UNDP’s ending of its technical involvement in education at international level.

The Director-General has held discussions with the OECD, where he urged a considerable increase in official development assistance for education.

The G-8 countries are another important strategic ally in UNESCO’s efforts, and the Director-General has maintained close contacts with the Presidency of the G-8 (Japan). The communiqué of the G-8 summit in Okinawa includes specific reference to some of the Dakar goals, namely, achieving universal primary education by 2015, achieving gender equality in schooling, and insisting that ‘no countries seriously committed to education for all will be thwarted in their efforts by a lack of resources’.

During the Millennium Summit, the Director-General addressed the meeting on the Dakar issue. b) Maintained contact with the United Nations system and bilateral partners:

ADG/ED has travelled to New York for two meetings at high level with UNFPA (July), UNICEF (July and September 2000) and with the EFA task force at the World Bank (July and September). At the latter meeting, both organizations exchanged their draft lists of respective priority countries for Dakar follow-up. ADG/ED has also held consultations with major bilateral agencies (from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom and with USAID) regarding Dakar follow-up (in particular during the last session of UNESCO’s Executive Board).

2. Leadership, promotion and co-ordination

Within the framework of Dakar follow-up, UNESCO will seek to play a key role as a catalyst for EFA development, as a promoter of partnership and collaboration, and as a co- ordinator so that comprehensive, thorough and continuous policy-making and donor co- ordination takes place at all levels (national, regional and international). The strengths of the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, specific bilateral donors and other key actors will be harnessed. Together with its partners, UNESCO will be centrally engaged in a range of post- Dakar activities and initiatives. It should be noted that UNESCO has prepared, in consultation with several partners, an Outline of the Action Plan for the Follow-up to the Dakar Forum. This document has been shared with the Heads of UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, and the World Bank as well as with USAID. Thanks to their valuable input, a consolidated version has been prepared. Further fine-tuning of the action plan is in process. The main lines of strategy and

7 action that will be undertaken simultaneously at national, regional and international levels are as follows: a) Action at national level

To help countries to set up broad-based national forums and to develop or strengthen national EFA plans before 2002, we have prepared Country Guidelines on the Preparation of National EFA Plans of Action. On these we have also received valuable comments from several agencies. We are in the process of widely distributing this document (translated into all 6 UN languages) to governments and field offices.

Country EFA plans need to be fully integrated into existing sector-wide approaches and supported by United Nations Common Country Assessment (CCA), United Nations Development Assistant Framework (UNDAF) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) mechanisms, considering the centrality of education for all strategies in poverty reduction

UN co-operation: For this, UNESCO would appreciate the co-operation with partner agencies, in particular UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank and the major bilateral donors, notably with a view to firming up viable strategies for EFA and promoting the exchange of information and possible coordination of activities and programmes. UNESCO particularly looks forward to working closely with the UN Resident Coordinators so as to make full use of the UNDP extensive field structure. b) Action at regional and sub-regional levels

The former inter-agency Regional Technical Advisory Groups (RTAGS), set up for the EFA 2000 Assessment, no longer exist in that capacity so UNESCO will identify, in each region, the existing network most conducive to furthering EFA goals. We will concentrate our action on the following points: - to monitor and report progress on EFA (through the Observatory, based in the UNESCO Institute for Statistics); - to collect, document and promote best practices in EFA; - to strengthen national capacity at sub-regional level, notably through capacity building workshops (through UNESCO’s institutes: UIE, IBE, IIEP and UIS); and - to promote a political dialogue and exchange between EFA partners.

UN co-operation: At regional and sub-regional level, close co-operation with the regional education advisers of UNICEF will be particularly important.

c) Action at the international level i) UNESCO’s internal reorganization:

UNESCO has been entrusted with the task of leadership in Dakar follow-up at a particularly difficult time. Since April 2000, the Director-General has taken important steps towards restructuring the whole organization in order to place the outcomes and priorities of

8 Dakar at the heart of its work. The Director-General has also created an inter-sectoral strategic group, placed under the authority of ADG/ED, which is addressing the design of UNESCO’s intersectoral strategy and overseeing the generation of specific projects related directly to Dakar follow-up; these projects, on issues such as education and HIV-AIDS, Early Childhood Education, education in situations of emergency, etc., could eventually become flagship programmes. The ADG/ED has assumed direct personal responsibility for Dakar follow-up, supported by a Technical Secretariat of staff drawn from all of the Education Sector’s divisions. The whole of the Education Sector, not just a particular unit or only one division, is oriented towards ensuring that UNESCO fulfils its leadership role in Dakar follow-up on behalf of the whole EFA movement and that UNESCO’s own5 programmes, strategies, projects and workplans fully incorporate the commitments made in Dakar. ii) Advocacy and information sharing:

UNESCO has translated the Dakar Framework for Action and the Final Report and is currently distributing these printed documents in English, French and Spanish (the Arabic, Chinese and Russian versions are forthcoming) to all UNESCO field offices and National Commissions. It also produces an electronic Bulletin Board on Dakar follow-up, and it is being sent out every two weeks to some 1000 partners. iii) EFA partners co-ordination:

UNESCO is exploring its possible participation in the work of the United Nations Development Group, especially with a view to highlighting the key role of UNESCO in education, drawing on the Dakar Framework for Action.

The Director-General was convening the first meeting of the Working Group on Education for All, 22-24 November 2000, which brought together some 35 persons representing: developing countries and countries in transition; bilateral, multilateral and regional agencies; civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations and private foundations, as well as the OECD and the G8. Part of this technical group’s deliberations will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of inter-agency initiatives (especially via flagship programmes) through Dakar follow-up. The importance of inter-agency cooperation in the launching of new initiatives and in the strengthening of existing ones is clearly recognized by UNESCO.

The high-level flexible group will meet before the first anniversary of Dakar. It will bring together twenty to twenty-five high-ranking and influential individuals: representatives of developing countries; of donor countries that participate in financing basic education; and of multilateral aid agencies. The purpose of this group is to advocate for EFA at the highest

5 Because of the internal reform process going on within UNESCO, a number of important developments affecting the programme work of the Organization will be forthcoming in the months ahead, particularly in the areas of poverty eradication strategies, the impact of NICTs and the implications of the Dakar World Education Forum for different types and levels of education.

New strategies and future activities of the Education Sector are being developed in the light of major United Nations recommendations and various specific initiatives, as expressed in the Geneva Outcome Document. In particular, the strategic objectives for 2002-2007 in the field of education –as is stressed in the proposals for the Medium-Term Strategy- will focus primarily on the promotion of education as a fundamental human right, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. High priority will be attached to pursuing basic education for all and the promotion of quality education.

9 level, to mobilize resources (in particular, educational investments), and to provide advice for achieving EFA goals.

A key area of international collaboration will be that of interagency flagship programmes that respond to certain key objectives adopted at Dakar, notably:

 The interagency initiative FRESH (Focusing Resources for Effective School Health)  The Early Childhood Regional Capacity Building Initiative  The Literacy for All initiative  The 10-year United Nations Girls Education Initiative  The proposed initiative on education in emergency situations

Paragraph 93. Recognize that achieving education for all will require additional financial support by countries and increased development assistance and debt relief for education by bilateral and multilateral donors, estimated to cost in the order of USD 8 billion a year. It is therefore essential that new, concrete financial commitments be made by national Governments and also by bilateral and multilateral donors, including the World Bank and the regional development banks, by civil society and by foundations.

Financial support: During the Director-General’s address to the OECD Development Assistance Committee in early October, he presented his provisional thinking on how the international community could work together to ensure greater and more reliable financing for Education for All in the context of poverty eradication.

The Director-General, in agreement with several other agencies, believes that an immediate increase in Official Development Assistance is necessary in support of national EFA efforts. He proposes that support for education should be doubled from the current $3.5 billion per annum to $7 billion by 2005, $10.5 billion by 2010 and $14 billion by 2015. Within that framework, support for basic education should be drastically increased from the current small amount of $700 million. He recommends that the underlying conditionalities for education aid should be reviewed, bearing in mind that education has a special role to play in societal development and, therefore, should be supported on special terms.

The Director-General is also strongly supportive of the use of debt relief to enhance social and educational development. HIPC schemes should be designed to specifically enhance support for Education for All. In addition, UNESCO recognizes the need to explore the use of other, neglected financial mechanisms. In particular, opportunities to work actively with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and the financial services industry should be explored. Finally, UNESCO believes it remains vital that the financing of education should be subject to scrupulous and transparent mechanisms of accountability in order to ensure that all funding for education is both well targeted and well spent.

IV OTHER INITIATIVES WHERE UNESCO SHOULD BE ONE OF THE LEAD- AGENCIES TO PROMOTE THE INITIATIVE

Paragraph 59. " Ensure that education at all levels promotes all human rights and fundamental freedoms, tolerance, peace, understanding of and respect for cultural diversity and solidarity in a globally interdependent world, as expressed in the Declaration and

10 Program of Action on a Culture of Peace, as well as in the context of the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations (2001), the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2005) and the Third Decade to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance"

Examples of UNESCO’s activities:

Human Rights education:

Since its’ creation, UNESCO has promoted human rights education following the assumption that human rights can be protected and promoted when they are known. The Organization is persuaded that there is an inseparable link between human rights, democracy, development, tolerance and peace.

In a number of teaching materials prepared by UNESCO in recent years, this provision was duly taken into consideration. For example education kit prepared for schools includes teaching aids on tolerance, peace and democracy and a manual on human rights entitled All human beings. In the three-volume Manual on Human Rights for Universities, articles on various aspects on human rights, including the right to development, eradication of extreme poverty, protection of cultural diversity, the struggle against racism and xenophobia are written by well-known specialists.

The publication Human Rights: Questions and Answers (published in more than 30 languages) provides basic information on major human rights instruments, procedures for their implementation and activities of international organizations in order to promote and protect human rights and represents a contribution to the realization of the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004). (Democracy: Questions and Answers is also published in more than 30 languages). Other publications are: Human Rights of Women A Collection of International and Regional Normative Instruments (English version, 1999); UNESCO and Human Rights, that includes UNESCO standard-setting instruments in the field of human rights (only in English version, 1999); Human Rights. Major International instruments (English and French), Status as at 31 May 2000, which is dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education; World Directory of Peace Research and Training Institutions (trilingual English/French/Spanish, 9th ed., 2000). The web-site www.unesco.org/human_rights/index.htm provides a more detailed list of publications designed for sale and for distribution.

UNESCO’s Chairs in Human Rights, Democracy, Peace and Tolerance (49 chairs in 43 countries) are working on ensuring education in respective fields and sensitization of public opinion on major threats and challenges to human rights.

In order to encourage the adoption and implementation of national plans for human rights education, UNESCO has initiated a cycle of regional conferences on this issue: Europe (Turku, Finland, September 1997), Africa (Dakar, Senegal, December 1998), Asia and the Pacific (Pune, India, February 1999) and the Arab States (Rabat, Marocco, February 1999).

11 The cycle will be completed in 2001 when a conference will be organized for Latin America and the Caribbean (date and place to be confirmed).

Within the context of the Decade, UNESCO works closely with Member States and its various partners such as National Commissions, UNESCO Clubs, Associated Schools and human rights research and training institutes in giving a reinforced impetus to human rights education as an essential precondition for ensuring the observance of all human rights for all.

Tolérance :

L’UNESCO, organisation éthique et intellectuelle du système des Nations Unies, est chargée par l’Assemblée générale de veiller, conformément à son mandat, à l’application de la Déclaration de principes sur la tolérance et du Plan d’action destiné à donner suite à l’année des Nations Unies pour la tolérance, adoptés l’une et l’autre par la Conférence générale à sa 28e session (novembre 1995).

Le but de ces activités est de faciliter l’intégration sociale en développant, en particulier chez les jeunes, mais aussi dans le grand public, une capacité d’ouverture et de dialogue culturel qui développe la cohésion des divers membres du groupe social.

Ce travail de sensibilisation formative et préventive est entrepris notamment en organisant, à l’occasion de la Journée internationale de la tolérance (16 novembre), un certain nombre d’activités et d’événements dans les écoles, à la télévision, à la radio et dans la presse, et en remettant le prix UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh pour la promotion de la tolérance et de la non-violence. Ce prix bisannuel récompense un particulier ou une institution ayant pris des initiatives particulièrement remarquables en faveur du développement de la tolérance. Il a été décerné pour la première fois en 1996 à une association de femmes rwandaises, puis en 1998 conjointement à un éducateur indien et à une organisation non gouvernementale pakistanaise. Il a été remis pour la troisième fois par le Directeur général de l’UNESCO le 16 novembre 2000.

L’important outil normatif qu’est la Déclaration de principes sur la tolérance fait de la tolérance un instrument moderne et dynamique du dialogue et une des clés du pluralisme social et culturel. L’UNESCO veille à ce que la Déclaration connaisse la plus grande divulgation possible, notamment sous forme d’éditions en langues différentes (28 au mois d’octobre 2000) et comme outil de base dans les politiques éducatives et les rencontres sur le thème de la tolérance.

Dans le cadre des réseaux régionaux pour la tolérance et la non-violence, la deuxième réunion du réseau régional Méditerranée-mer Noire a eu lieu à Primorsko, en Bulgarie (17- 21 juin 1999) juste à la fin de la guerre du Kosovo. Les participants ont exprimé leur soutien à l’action menée par Nations Unies et l’UNESCO, et proposé une série de projets pour encourager la tolérance et le dialogue dans la région des Balkans («appel de Kosovo »). Les deuxièmes réunions respectives du réseau Amérique latine et Caraïbes et du réseau Afrique sont prévues en 2001.

12 Le Festival international du film contre l’exclusion et pour la tolérance a eu lieu cette année pour la troisième fois (13-23 novembre 2000 au Siège) et a mis l’accent sur la lutte des femmes pour leurs droits et leur dignité. Cette activité de sensibilisation éducative destinée au grand public et aux jeunes a rencontré en 1999 un franc succès (5 000 spectateurs).

Dans le domaine des publications, l’UNESCO a publié en 1999 Penser la non- violence de Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosophe iranien, spécialiste de Gandhi. Dans la même collection, «classiques de la tolérance », deux autres ouvrages doivent paraître en 2001. Une enquête sur les formes contemporaines de violence, publié sous forme de livre collectif, est également en chantier.

Transdisciplinary project “Towards a Culture of Peace”:

- Taking into consideration that the formation of mutual perceptions of different peoples and countries influence significantly both international relations and relations between various ethnic, national, religious, linguistic and specific groups of people and constitute an important mechanism of prevention, education and protection against all kinds of negative prejudices and stereotypes through the provision of objective information about different peoples, their cultures and civilizations, UNESCO has supported the organization of the International Symposium “From Enemy to Partnership Images through the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Dialogue” which was held by the Institute of Universal History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the framework of the International Conference « New History of the Cold War : Theory, Methodology and Historiography » in Moscow, Russian Federation, from 8 to 10 June 2000. More than 100 well-known scientists and public figures took part in the conference and the symposium, among whom were historians from the Czech Republic, the Commonwealth of Independent States, France, Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, the United Kingdom and the USA. The meeting dealt with the problems of violence and non-violence and analyzed the mechanisms which form enemy images and hostile stereotypes in the mass and elite consciences. The participants underlined that the reference to the lessons of the Cold War is pertinent and important today when there is an urgent need to denounce all forms of violence and to advocate the principles of tolerance, peace and peace-making. They adopted recommendations for decision-makers in governments, parliaments and mass media in relation to elaborating measures to overcome the heritage of the Cold War and to strengthen the positive changes in the images of countries and peoples who were in opposition to each other during the Second World War.

- The International Conference "Young Russia Facing Global Challenges on the Eve of the New Millennium" (How to Counteract Aggressive Extremism, Xenophobia and Violence among Young People) was held by the Youth Institute of the Russian Federation in co- operation and with support of UNESCO 18 and 19 November 2000. The conference was held under the auspices of the Russian Parliament and the Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation.

Paragraph 90. Encourage new action at the international level, including the feasibility of proclaiming a United Nations literacy decade, to support national efforts to achieve universal access to basic education and primary health services for all by the year 2015.

13 In preparing a draft action plan for the proposed United Nations literacy decade, as requested by the UN General Assembly, UNESCO is undertaking an extensive consultation with governments, civil society institutions and international agencies on the possible outcomes of the proposed decade as well as the actions and mechanisms for securing effective implementation. Such a decade would advocate a renewed vision for literacy for all within the context of global efforts towards Education for All. UNESCO’s preparations are on- going. A draft action plan for the United Nations literacy decade will be submitted to the fifty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly, via ECOSOC, for consideration.

In preparing for a UN literacy decade within its renewed actions for EFA and the follow-up to Dakar, UNESCO will strengthen its role in advising and informing Member States about policies, strategies and practices that express a broader vision of literacy as an integrated part of basic education, lifelong learning and social development.

Paragraph 97 Take multisectoreal measures at the national level to enable all women and men, including young people, to protect themselves and others against and be protected from HIV infection to counteract the devastating impact of the epidemic on personal, social and economic development. It is particularly important to protect the dignity and the human rights of and to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections may include (b) Strengthening information, education and communication campaigns to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and to promote safe and responsible sexual behavior, in full partnership with youth , parents, families, educators and health-care providers ; (c) Providing social and educational support to communities, households, orphans and children affected by HIV and AIDS

UNESCO’s work in regard to educational programmes and activities associated with HIV/AIDS has largely been undertaken to date through preventive education approaches, often in collaboration with other agencies and donors (notably UNAIDS and Swedish SIDA). Focused on promoting greater awareness, responsible behaviors and attitudinal change, UNESCO’s work has encompassed the following forms of activity:

 The establishment of innovative school-based pilot projects (in collaboration with WHO);  The establishment of a resource centre and database of educational material related to HIV/AIDS education, based initially at UNESCO HQ but now decentralized to field offices (IBE to become more involved in this activity in future);  The development, in collaboration with WHO, of a prototype resource package for curriculum planners (now adapted and translated into several languages and available for further adaptation to new contexts);  The organization of skills-building workshops on HIV/AIDS prevention for grassroots women’s organizations in 17 African countries;  The organization of six regional seminars for decision-makers from Ministries of Education (plus representatives from ministries of health and NGOs) to address the need to design effective educational school-based programmes for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Sixty-eight countries participated. Particular emphasis was placed on increasing awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS and its consequences in terms of supply, demand, and quality of education.

14  Joint organization of teacher training seminars on school health and HIV/AIDS prevention, in collaboration with Education International;  Support for projects, programmes and campaigns on HIV/AIDS prevention for youth (including street children);  Publications on the impact of HIV/AIDS on education; on migrant populations and HIV/AIDS prevention;  The elaboration of a cultural approach to HIV/AIDS prevention and care, based on 12 country assessments in South Africa, the Caribbean and S.E. Asia.  On-going or planned research studies on the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems and on the educational needs of young people affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as the diffusion of research data and studies.  UNESCO’s programme “Educating Girls and Women in Africa - Guidance and Counselling for School-Aged Girls” aims at the development and institutionalization of guidance and counseling services, with special attention to the issues of girls and to HIV/AIDS education. It now reaches 27 countries in Africa. Since 1996, regional training courses have been organized for policy-makers, teachers and teacher trainers, literacy and non-formal education personnel, and social workers. The programme has 16 training modules produced by country teams, covering areas such as gender sensitivity, social work, and adolescent reproductive health (that includes HIV/AIDS education). The modules are complemented by various booklets and videos. An additional module on guidance and counseling for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS is being prepared.  UNESCO has organized a round table discussion on the issues on children orphaned by AIDS with high level officials from Zambia, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Central African Republic. As a follow-up to the round table, and in the context of the Guidance and Counselling Programme, Youth Fora for Children Orphaned by HIV/AIDS have been organized in order to bring these children and young people together to share their experiences, concerns and challenges and to develop strategies on how to best assist them to help themselves.

This review of some of UNESCO’s work in the area of HIV/AIDS shows it to be focused on assisting Member States through information sharing, the development of resource packages and training materials, capacity building and networking, research, and advocacy. This work, which has spanned many levels and types of education, will continue within the Education Sector of UNESCO, other sectors at HQ, UNESCO field offices (notably Harare, Beijing, Rabat and Bangkok) and UNESCO Institutes (particularly the International Institute for Educational Planning, IIEP, and the International Bureau of Education, IBE).

V SOME SELECTED EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED TO COMPLY WITH OTHER INITIATIVES IN THE GENEVA OUTCOME DOCUMENT

The below examples of activities should not be read as though they are more important than the many other activities the Organization is undertaking to follow-up the Outcome of Geneva and for social development in general. The below activities are meant to illustrate the variety of UNESCO’s activities for social development in addition to those mentioned above where the Organization should have a lead-role in promoting the initiatives. It should be kept in mind that with the new UNESCO Strategy for Poverty Eradication and Development, activities undertaken for poverty eradication and development will in the future be developed as part of a coherent strategy.

15 Paragraph 6. Urge the international community, particularly creditor and debtor countries and pertinent international financial institutions, to identify and implement development- oriented and durable solutions to external debt and debt-servicing problems of developing countries, which constitute an element affecting the development efforts and economic growth, inter alia, through debt relief, including the option of official development assistance (ODA) debt cancellation and thereby strengthen the efforts of the Government of such countries to attain the full realization of the economic, social and cultural rights of their people.

In the document " Debt Relief for Science and Technology" that UNESCO prepared, following the Budapest Conference on Science, UNESCO clearly showed the correlation between the level of development of countries and their investment in research and development as well as in science and technology education.

Moreover, UNESCO wishes to highlight the importance of science and technology in poverty reduction6 using debt-relief through the HIPC and PRSP initiatives, in such areas as water supply and sanitation, energy use, housing, transportation, employment, income generation and appropriate science and technology policy frameworks, in the context of environmentally sustainable development.

Paragraph 11 Strengthen the capacities of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to address the obstacles that hinder their participation in an increasingly globalized economy through:

(b) Facilitating the transfer of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, of appropriate technology, know-how, knowledge and information including for social development and capacity-building, complementing efforts of these countries in this regard through enhanced international cooperation, including technical cooperation and adequate financial resources;

The work realized by UNESCO in assisting Member States in drawing up strategic plans, e.g. in countries in transition (Albania, Republic of Moldovia), and formulating policies for development of their scientific research programmes and institutions are relevant for this initiative.

Paragraph 27. In the context of comprehensive national strategies on poverty eradication, integrate policies at all levels, including economic and fiscal policies, capacity-building and institution-building, and giving priority to investments in education and health, social protection and basic social services, in order to help empower people living in poverty by; (f) Improving access for people living in poverty to productive resources by implementing measures, such as skills training and microcredit schemes;

At the request of the weavers of Central Highlands of Madagascar a microfinance mechanism was set up in August 2000, which will cover several villages and 300 weavers will initially benefit from this programme. The microfinancial services will completed with a

6 Within its UNISPAR Programme, the Sector is for example developing an activity in the field of " Appropriate Technology for Poverty Reduction and Development" in conjunction with leading NGOs in appropriate technology. A consultative meeting was held in UNESCO on 8 December 2000.

16 social development programme which will provide education, health as well as technical and marketing services in due course.

Paragraph 627 " Recognize the contribution of indigenous people to society, promote ways of giving them greater responsibility for their own affairs, through, inter alia: (a) Seeking means of giving them effective voice in decisions directly affecting them; (b) Encouraging United Nations agencies within their respective mandates to take effective programmatic measures for engaging indigenous people in matters relevant to their interests and concerns"

Recently, ‘local and indigenous knowledge systems (LINKS)’, also referred to as ‘traditional knowledge’, have re-emerged as a priority concern for UNESCO. In particular, for the Sectors of Social & Human Sciences and Natural Sciences, the World Conference on Science (WCS) in Budapest (1999) brought to the fore the issue of the relationship between ‘Science and Other Systems of Knowledge’. WCS recognized that traditional/ indigenous knowledge systems can make and historically have made a valuable contribution to science and technology, and recommended preserving, protecting, researching and promoting this cultural heritage and empirical knowledge.

At the 30th General Conference of UNESCO (November 1999), several Member States underlined the importance of taking action on the emerging theme of traditional knowledge. In view of Member State interest, also expressed through several Draft Resolutions, the Organization decided that an intersectoral initiative on indigenous knowledge should be proposed for inclusion in the next Medium-term Strategy.

At the 4th Biennial Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Five Scientific Programmes (IGCP, IHP, IOC, MAB, MOST, November 1999), it was recommended that UNESCO’s scientific programmes should collaborate further on issues related to indigenous/ traditional knowledge systems. The meeting also recommended exploring ways of conceptualizing “traditional knowledge” and in formulating definitions of the term “indigenous/ traditional knowledge” through an interdisciplinary/ intersectoral approach, with MOST co-ordinating in collaboration with MAB, CSI and ENV.

As follow-up to this recommendation, an intersectoral working group was established to facilitate information and ideas sharing and to prepare a coherent programme in the field of traditional and indigenous knowledge at UNESCO. To respond to several aspects which local and indigenous knowledge systems contain, the interdisciplinary/ intersectoral approach, including social & human sciences, natural sciences, culture, education, information & communication technologies, is indispensable and this is one of UNESCO’s advantage in comparison with other UN agencies working in the same field. In February 2000, an internal

7 The example concerning indigenous knowledge is given as there was no initiatives concerning indigenous people in the Copenhagen Programme of Action, and UNESCO’s activities for this group is not mentioned in the ‘Compendium’ submitted to UNDESA last year. This is therefore an occasion to illustrate what the Organization is doing for this group as reference to this group was given in the Geneva Outcome Document.

17 website (http://intranet.unesco.org/lk) was launched to further coordinate internal activities, and also serve as a test bed for an external website on UNESCO’s activities in this domain.

Responding to this priority concern, the MOST Programme contributes to developing international scientific cooperation in the field of LINKS by protecting, promoting and revalorising such knowledge systems. On one hand, MOST has the aim to assist local communities to recognize the value of their knowledge developed over generations and to articulate such knowledge with science knowledge. On the other hand, MOST aims at promoting the application of this knowledge in research and development projects among academic and professional development communities. These elements are essential to build up a cooperative development model taking into account the community’s social and cultural context, which will contribute to sustainable development. The role which such knowledge can play in the development process for the sake of local communities has been increasingly recognized at the theoretical level, and it should be seriously considered at the practically level as well. To this end, MOST has established (June 1999) and maintains a Best Practices Database on Indigenous Knowledge (http://www.unesco.org/most/bpindi.htm) and coordinates the collection of best practices which demonstrate successful development projects based upon indigenous knowledge. In collaboration with other Sectors, MOST develops several activities for the conceptualization of a new development model which would be socially, culturally, economically and environmentally well-balanced, involving actively local communities in the decision making processes.

Activities: 1) “ Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCTs) for Indigenous Knowledge Development” was launched in collaboration with CII/INF and Nuffic-CIRAN (the Netherlands) in January 2000. In the project, an information mechanism will be developed for collecting, evaluating and disseminating indigenous knowledge through an UNESCO sponsored community telecentre in Uganda. This pilot project explores possibilities to establish community based indigenous knowledge resource centres, which will contribute to empowering local communities through MCTs.

2) Preparation of UNESCO Chairs on Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge: efforts are being undertaken to establish a UNESCO Chair at Université de Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) in collaboration with the Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme of UNESCO, and another one at University of Papua New Guinea in collaboration with the Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and in Small Islands (CSI) Unit. The aim is to foster a well-balanced view of ‘how development should be envisaged and implemented in fast changing rural communities’ and ‘why traditional and cultural structures should be acknowledged and equally promoted’. The Chairs are expected to take action towards providing young scholars from different faculties and disciplines with a basic culture of sustainability and interdisciplinary tools based upon traditional and cultural structures.

Other activities, such as the following, are foreseen for 2000-2001:  Further development of the Best Practices Database on Indigenous Knowledge with more numerous and detailed thematic categories and extended coverage of regions (under preparation);  Pilot projects on the active participation of indigenous peoples via LINKS in the decision making process: especially for the sustainable development and natural resource management/ conservation (under preparation);

18  Organization of a LINKS expert meeting;  Establishment of a worldwide network among training and research institutions specialized in LINKS.

Commitment 7 To accelerate the economic, social and human resource development of Africa and the least developed countries

Instead of making reference to specific initiatives in the Geneva Outcome document for the Organization’s activities in Africa, the below is presented as a general overview. Some of the examples relate also to other commitments such as commitment 5 and 6 in the Copenhagen Declaration. Because of the concerted efforts which are needed to promote social development in Africa, it is thus presented as some of the Organization’s integrated efforts for this continent. The before-mentioned UNESCO Strategy on Poverty Eradication and Development will evidently be a major tool for the Organization to implement activities for social development and poverty eradication in Africa.

A. Education for All

As stressed in the Dakar Framework of Action, “education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty-first century, which are witnessing rapid globalization.”

The declarations and resolutions of African Heads of State and Government, in various regional instances like OAU, ECOWAS, SADC, ECA, etc., and through regular consultations with UNESCO, all underline that one of the top priorities for Africa is the development of human resources through education and training. In this context, within the follow-up of the Dakar Forum and in the framework of the United Nations Special Initiative on Africa for which the World Bank and UNESCO are lead agencies for the component “Education for all”, the Director-General participated in the regional Summit (Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Chad) on “Strategies for the acceleration of education for all“, held in Bamako, Mali from 26 to 27 November 2000.

Particularly in Africa, the fight against poverty and for development is intimately linked with the promotion of a culture of knowledge, which also includes the development of science, culture and communication. UNESCO is now engaged in mobilizing, at national and regional levels, both the political will of governments and the commitment of civil society, as well as encouraging the increase of external finance for education, in order to achieve the objective of Universal Primary Education and halving extreme poverty by 2015.

In this connection, the Organization intends: i) to maximize the capacities of Member States to design pro-poor policies and define national plans of action to pursuit EFA; ii) to create a deeper commitment to poverty reduction and a better understanding of the ways in which persistence of poverty violates human rights and

19 undermines the welfare of all; and iii) to engage the international community in a concerted effort to fulfil its stated commitments to EFA.

B- The prevention of HIV/AIDS

UNESCO is pursuing its transdisciplinary and trans-sectoral actions against HIV/AIDS within the programme UNAIDS. In cooperation with the African Itinerant College of Culture and Development and the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO, the Organization convened the Nairobi International Conference from 2 to 4 October 2000 (Kenya). This Conference, held within the framework of the UNESCO/UNAIDS Joint Project “A Cultural Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care” was aimed at reviewing the situation and the promotion of the use of a cultural approach in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

C - Regional cooperation

Regional cooperation and integration are considered as important strategies for the promotion of sustainable development in Africa, namely in the context of globalization. The Treaty of Abuja establishing an African Economic Community (1991) and the sub-regional groupings such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were initially related to the promotion of trade expansion, industrial or agricultural development, transport and communication. Since their creation, these organizations have developed mechanisms for social and cultural integration: SADC’s Protocol on education and training and the promotion of a common cultural approach, ECOWAS’s project of Protocol on Education currently in consultation with UNESCO, OAU’s project of sectorial Protocol in UNESCO’s areas of competence, according to the recommendations of the Sixth UNESCO/OAU Joint Commission (Paris, 23 October 2000).

D. Consultations with intergovernmental organizations

- Between September and October 2000, the Director-General invited the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Acting Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to visit UNESCO Headquarters, in order to review joint cooperation and exchange views on priority areas for Africa.

In his statement before the 160th session of the UNESCO Executive Board, the OAU Secretary-General, Mr Salim A. Salim, stressed particularly the need to promote a Culture of Peace in Africa, as several countries, presently torn by serious armed conflicts, are not in a position to tackle with development issues. He also reminded the imperious necessity to address very seriously the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa by adequate prevention policies, and urged the process of economic integration, specially after the “The African Union” had been created by the African Heads of State and Government in July 2000. He also expressed the hope that the issue of digital divide, which retains the international community’s attention, will be adequately solved in order to let African countries be part of the globalization process.

20 The Joint Commissions, which took place between UNESCO and the three above- mentioned organizations, put particular emphasis on the following: i) As regards education, a reinforcement of cooperation has been decided, especially in the implementation of: a) the Harare Program of Action, adopted in Harare in March 1999 by African Heads of State and Government (COMEDAF I); in the framework of the Decade for African Education, launched by the Organization of African Unity, b) and the Dakar Framework for Action. The regional framework for Africa adopted in Johannesburg (6- 10 December 1999) defined three areas of focus for the continent: improving access and equity, improving the quality and relevance of education, reinforcing institutional and professional capacity-building, and improving partnership. Special attention should be given to women and girls’ education. ii) In the field of science, the top priority for regional organizations in their cooperation with UNESCO is the scientific and technological development for social welfare, as well as research for development. iii) As for culture, the cultural dimension of development, promoting a culture of peace and tolerance through cultural diversity, and developing cultural industries, particularly book production and distribution, are some of the main challenges stressed at regional level. iv) In communication, along with the international mobilization on this issue (G-8, UN ECOSOC and ACC), the main concern of African countries is the bridging of the digital divide between the “info-rich” and the “info-poor” and giving equal access of communication to all. In this connection, UNESCO is actively participating in the preparation of the forthcoming World Summit on Information Society which will debate on the problem. Moreover, the UNESCO initiative to develop Community Multimedia Centres in several African countries could be a good way of addressing this issue.

E. Regional initiatives

- In their final resolution adopted in Durban (MINEDAF VII, South Africa, April 1998), the Ministers of Education of African Member States declared that they were resolved to work together towards regional integration within the framework of the Organization of African Unity (OUA) and the African Economic Community, and called upon UNESCO and their regional and international partners to give priority support to their capacity-building and reform efforts. An Intergovernmental Committee was established to ensure follow-up to the “Durban Statement of Commitment”. In this framework, an agreement was reached with the South African authorities to develop a fellowship scheme for the training of specialists from other African countries.

- An effort has been made to reinforce and interlink the various cooperative frameworks for promoting Education for All (EFA) in order to achieve the goals of the Dakar Framework for Action: MINEDAF follow-up, the OAU Decade for African Education, the African Paolo Freire Literacy Decade, the United Nations Special Initiative on Africa (UNSIA). In this connection, reinforcing regional capacity building is one of the main priorities fixed by African countries, with the active cooperation of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA).

21 - The International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa (IICBA) was set up in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in 1998 following a decision by the Executive Board at its 155th session and taking into account the “Statement of Commitment” of the African Ministers of Education (MINEDAF VII) in order to reinforce capacity-building in educational management, curriculum reform and teacher training. Presently, the action of the Institute concentrates on four priority areas: teacher education, curriculum development, educational policy, planning and management, and distance education. A multigrade pilot programme is being completed and should be followed by a large-scale implementation programme in several sub-Saharan countries. A teacher education network has been established and so far covers Senegal, Liberia, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Activities in the field of distance education have also been implemented.

- Concerning the gender issue, several initiatives have been undertaken in view of implementing at regional level, the Platform of Action approved at the Beijing Conference on Women, with the active cooperation of the Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a Pan-African NGO created in 1992 to stimulate broad policy reform and create a conducive environment for increasing parental demand for girls’ education. One of these initiatives is the implementation of the Special Project “ Promoting girls’ and women’s education in Africa ”, in cooperation with the 22 Member States concerned, multilateral donor agencies, the Forum of African Women Educationists (FAWE) and the Federation of Women Association in Africa, where increased emphasis has been put on regional training of trainers, in particular by setting up: i) an International Centre for Girls’ and Women’s Education in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) - UNESCO and the Government of Burkina Faso organized in July 2000 a three-day seminar to discuss the establishment of the Centre, during which the programme and time frame for implementation were discussed. This centre is the result of several initiatives undertaken since the Jomtien Conference in 1995 as a follow-up to the Declaration and the Plan of Action adopted on that occasion and to the organization of the Pan-African Conference on Girls’ Education (Ouagadougou, 1993). ii) a Guidance, Counselling and Youth Development Centre for Africa (Lilongwe, Malawi) where regional programmes are prepared for trainers of trainers in order to strengthen the regional and national capacities in guidance and counseling.

Launched in 1996, the African Itinerant College for Culture and Development (AICCD) is a regional project aiming at strengthening national capacities in Africa for planning, monitoring and evaluating development strategies, programmes and projects in a cultural perspective, in order to sensitize decision-makers, planners and development workers to the interactions between cultures and different development issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention. It also aims at stimulating networking and cooperation between specialists, universities and scientific institutions with a view to promoting research, training and dissemination of information relating to culture and development in Africa, and consultations on the role of culture in the implementation of development plans.

22

23