[ 1976 ] Part 2 Chapter 4 the United Nations Educational, Scientific And

960 The intergovernmental organizations Chapter IV The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) During 1976, the United Nations Educational, States under a co-operative programme with the Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)1 International Bank for Reconstruction and Devel- gave priority to encouraging the development of opment. The organization also continued its work communications and cultural policies in many of its with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency member States. A broad range of activities in the for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in 512 humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and schools, gave assistance to six vocational and tech- communications fields continued. nical training centres and three pre-service teach- During 1976, the following States joined er-training centres, and supervised entrance ex- UNESCO, bringing the number of member States to aminations in Gaza for 7,400 candidates wishing to 140: Surinam (16 July), Papua New Guinea (4 Oc- continue their studies at Arab universities. A tober), Mozambique (11 October) and Seychelles United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (18 October). The organization also had two asso- project for assistance to African national liberation ciate members, the British Eastern Caribbean movements was transformed into a series of sepa- Group and Namibia. rate projects, and activities meeting the require- ments of each movement were carried out. Education The organization's programme for the access of During 1976, UNESCO emphasized the renovation women to education collected reports on achieve- of educational systems to enable education to make ments in this field from Brazil, Ghana, Japan, Tu- a more effective contribution to the solution of nisia, the USSR and the United States, and ar- major human problems. ranged fellowships for 14 women. The nineteenth session of the General Confer- ence of UNESCO, held at Nairobi, Kenya, in October Natural sciences and November 1976, recommended that adult edu- The organization's major scientific meeting in cation be regarded as an integral part of lifelong 1976, an intergovernmental conference on the as- education. The General Conference also adopted a sessment and mitigation of earthquake risks, was convention on the recognition of studies, diplomas held at Paris. Attended by 160 delegates and ob- and degrees in the Arab States and European coun- servers from 52 countries, the conference consid- tries bordering on the Mediterranean. ered the prediction of earthquakes, scientific and During the year a study of obstacles in the way of technical problems, and the human, social and eco- creating a new international order and UNESCO's nomic aspects involved in protecting populations possible role in the process, Moving Towards Change, against earthquakes. was published. A conference of ministers of educa- A Conference of Ministers of Arab States Re- tion of the African member States of UNESCO was sponsible for the Application of Science and Tech- held at Lagos, Nigeria. The conference emphasized nology to Development was held at Rabat, Mo- the study of problems involved in the renovation of rocco, in August. The meeting sought to African educational systems and adopted a declara- strengthen co-operation in the following areas: the tion urging far-reaching changes in education in study and management of water resources; the order to provide impetus to social and political ecology of arid and semi-arid lands; geological and change. geophysical research; the study of the marine envi- The first international conference of ministers ronment and coastal zones; and non-traditional and senior officials responsible for physical educa- sources of energy. The Conference decided to cre- tion and sports was held at UNESCO headquarters at ate an Arab fund to finance scientific and techno- Paris in April. The conference, which was attended logical research in the Arab States. by representatives of 106 countries, urged the es- An International Conference on the Education tablishment of a permanent body to co-ordinate and Training of Engineers was held in April at New co-operation in those fields. Training of educational personnel continued. 1 For information about the activities of UNESCO prior to 1976, More than 30 teacher-training projects were car- see reports of UNESCO to the United Nations, reports of the ried out in Africa and 47 expert planning missions Director-General of UNESCO to the General Conference and pre- on educational financing were sent to member vious volumes of Y.U.N. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 961 Delhi, India. Another meeting, which was held at intensified on the application of the social sciences Tunis, Tunisia, on the status of scientific research- to the administration and management of develop- ers in developing countries, considered ways to ment, to rural development, to the conditions of halt the "brain drain." migrant workers, to problems of drug abuse and to Progress was made in building the machinery of the social aspects of environmental problems. international scientific co-operation. The Interna- The organization continued its work on the anal- tional Geological Correlation Programme con- ysis of manifestations, causes and effects of the vio- tinued; 69 countries formed national committees lation of human rights and violations of peace. for the programme and 55 research projects were Other studies concerned conditions necessary for under way, some of which dealt with economically the respect of fundamental rights and liberties in important minerals and special problems of fossil multi-ethnic societies and the structural integration fuels accumulation. of immigrants in Western Europe. Studies con- Progress continued on the Intergovernmental tinued on societies in southern Africa in relation to Programme on Man and the Biosphere by the crea- the effects of apartheid and domination by white tion of an international network of biosphere re- minorities. In its efforts to promote international serves. A large integrated project on arid lands was co-operation, UNESCO began to concentrate on launched in co-operation with the United Nations disarmament and the study of violence. Environment Programme, and a working site was The organization continued to support the in- established in northern Kenya. creasing role of women in society by strengthening The organization also participated in the Joint international collaboration among the organs of Oceanographic Assembly held in September at Ed- the United Nations, as well as with women's move- inburgh, Scotland. The organization's Intergov- ments and interested non-governmental organiza- ernmental Oceanographic Commission helped de- tions. veloping countries in Latin America and Eastern Youth programmes were designed to promote Africa to set up a joint research programme on greater participation by youth in the affairs of soci- oceanic upwelling in offshore areas, a process ety, and young people and their organizations were which leads to increased productivity of fisheries. more closely linked to UNESCO programmes. In By the end of 1976 the UNESCO intergovernmen- 1976 such programmes dealt with studies on tal programme for co-operation in the field of unemployment among youth and the development scientific and technological information had na- of their cultural life, the problems of young work- tional committees in 80 countries. The intergov- ers, and the promotion of voluntary service for de- ernmental information programme provided as- velopment. sistance to 20 developing countries to help them Themes of other meetings held in 1976 in- strengthen their information systems. cluded: the effects of technological innovation on man's cultural environment; education goals and Social sciences and their application theories (held jointly with the International Bu- A section to deal with the social sciences and reau of Education); main trends of interdiscipli- their application was established in the secretariat nary research in the social sciences and humani- of UNESCO in 1976. Emphasis was placed on: the ties; the interpretations of experiences by and fundamental application of those disciplines and through the mass media; and the role of the so- the clarification of concepts and criteria; the profes- cial and human sciences with regard to the prob- sional responsibilities of social scientists; the rela- lems of peace. tionship between social sciences and natural sciences; and the need for interdisciplinary re- Culture search into such questions as the reaction of the Special attention was paid to the co-ordination of social sciences to problems created by scientific international effort when implementing projects and technological revolution. Among improve- financed through voluntary contributions for major ments in the information and documentation ser- restoration campaigns, such as those for Philae, vices was the incorporation of those services into Egypt, and Borobudur, Indonesia. Many of the pri- UNESCO's intergovernmental information pro- vate committees contributing to the project to safe- gramme. The World List of Social Science Publications guard Venice, Italy, were also able to carry out a and Volume I of a new series on the World-wide number of restoration projects. Service of Information about the Social Sciences were For the training of specialists in the conservation published. of cultural property and in muscology, two types of A study was carried out on the problems

Load more