The International Year of Astronomy 2009

International Year of Astronomy 2009, IAU and UNESCO

Class: The UNESCO Commuication and Information Program

Sagarmatah community radio studio, Nepal, © UNESCO

Last night a student presented the Communication and Information Program of UNESCO to our seminar. She covered the organizational structure of the Secretariat, the program priorities and budget, the history of the program, the themes of the program, and the networks and partners involved in the program, with examples. She spent some time on the "New World Information Order" controversy that was cited in the decisions by the United States and United Kingdom to withdraw from UNESCO. She also described the UNESCO role in the World Summit on the Information Society and its followup.

The student remarked that she had been quite concerned in developing the class because it was difficult (if not impossible) to understand the program being described from the set of alternative perspectives available to her. She finally concluded that the differing perspectives were useful in helping people find the aspects of the program most interesting to themselves.

In thinking about the multiple perspectives, I was reminded of my engineering drawing classes decades ago. In those we were asked to draw orthogonal projections of three dimensional objects. It was hard to get the knack of representing a complex three-dimensional object in three two-dimensional views and to reverse the process of visualizing the object from its formal drawn representation. Having gained the knack, however, you could better understand the object from the multiple views than from any two dimensional picture. So too, I think the multiple views of UNESCO's program give a fuller understanding than any single view would allow.

A gifted teacher, our leader effectively used the classroom computer and internet connection as well as teaching aids and stimulated discussion from time to time with well chosen questions.

I was especially taken with her opening of the class with an exercise. Students were divided into groups, and each group provided with a package of paper cutouts representing the blocks of an organizational diagram for the program. They were told to race in sticking the blocks on the wall in the correct order. The effect was to get students fully involved in studying the organization managing the CI program; it was one of the most effective approaches I ever saw in getting students to focus on an organizational diagram.

There was a kicker. One team finished the complex diagram while the other had done less than half. Our leader asked why they thought that was true. After an embarrassed pause she revealed that she had provide a copy of the real organizational diagram to only the winning team. Her point: information counts, and the Communication and Information Program of UNESCO is important.

It is interesting that both groups were constrained by prior conceptions of what an organizational diagram should look like. Both sought a conventional representation although it would have been faster to stick the block on the wall in random order. Our leader pointed out that unconstrained by the model organizational diagram, students might have been more creative in illustrating the nature of the relationship in the staff responsibilities for program elements.

I was again struck by the disparity between the need for an intergovernmental body to provide leadership to the United Nations system with respect to the developing knowledge economy and the resources available to UNESCO for that purpose. The ICT Industry alone is more than $3 trillion per year, and the UNESCO CI budget (which focuses on much more than ICT) is some $36 million per year. No wonder that many of the program activity descriptions on the website seem to be sparsely populated.

JOB: UNESCO recruits Chief of Universal Access and Preservation Section

UNESCO Headquarters
© UNESCO

The post of the Chief of the Section for Universal Access and Preservation (UAP) of the Communication and Information Program of UNESCO is currently open.

The major responsibility of this post consists in managing the Section and its staff by providing intellectual, strategic and operational leadership, and by planning and executing regular programme and extra-budgetary activities.

Candidates to the post must have advanced university degree in information management or in one of the fields covered by the work of the Section. A combination of relevant professional qualification and extensive experience in the field of communication and information may be taken into consideration.

Applications are due before 27 April 2009.

Read more!

Our Man for UNESCO

The United States maintains a Permanent Delegation at UNESCO. Until a new Ambassador is in place, Stephen Engelken, the Chargé d'Affaires runs the U.S. Mission to UNESCO and leads in our relations with the Organization.

Engelken is a veteran of more than 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He began his career with service as a vice consul at the U.S. Consulate in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and subsequently served at U.S. Embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, France, and Australia. Immediately before joining the staff of the U.S. Mission to UNESCO in June 2007, Mr. Engelken served in Washington as director of the Office of Pakistan and Bangladesh Affairs in the State Department’s South and Central Asia Bureau.

Permanent Delegation of the United States of America to UNESCO
18, avenue Gabriel
75382 PARIS Cédex 08

Mr Stephen Engelken
Deputy Permanent Delegate,
Chargé d'Affaires a.i.

Mr Michael T. Peay
Legal Adviser

Ms Jennifer Larson
Second Secretary (Public Affairs)

Mr. John Hoff
Health Attaché

Ms Sally Lovejoy
Attaché (Education)

Mr David Ostroff
Political Assistant

Mr Geoffrey Prentice
Science Attaché

AU Board Member Calls for Science Masters Programs

Americans for UNESCO Board of Directors member, Rita Colwell, has published an article in the current issue (27 March) of Science titled "GRADUATE EDUCATION: Professional Science Master's Programs Merit Wider Support."

In most fields in the natural sciences, master's degrees have long been viewed mainly as milestones en route to a doctorate, rather than destinations in their own right. But about a decade ago, foundations and universities began experimenting with new master's programs that develop advanced scientific knowledge and professional skills such as communication, project management, and commercialization. Most of these innovative Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree programs are interdisciplinary and provide hands-on learning through internships and team projects. They are not intended to displace traditional programs. Instead, they aim to engage students with professional goals and help them become scientists uniquely suited to the 21st-century workplace, equipped with a deeper and broader scientific knowledge than that acquired with a Bachelor of Science degree and the skills to apply it.

Dr. Colwell concludes:

PSM programs can make a vital contribution to this century's work force, which needs employees who can work well in teams and across disciplines (3). It is time for leaders in government, education, and industry to show similar teamwork in supporting these programs--an investment to yield a talented group of scientists with the skills our nation requires most to meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Dr. Colwell recently chaired a National Research Council committee that wrote the report Science Professionals: Master's Education for a Competitive World.

Job: RECTOR, UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE OF WATER EDUCATION

RECTOR, UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE OF WATER EDUCATION

Location: Delft, The Netherlands
Deadline for Applications: 14 May 2009
Description: http://recrutweb.unesco.org/pdf/NETSC0001readv.PDF
To Apply: http://tinyurl.com/c49dp2

The Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations

On 6-7 April 2009, the second Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations will be held in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to high-level plenary debates, the event is intended to feature:

• An international platform for participants to develop joint initiatives and launch new programs.

• A range of project-specific working sessions, which will provide an interactive, inclusive convening space for policy-makers, international organizations and civil society groups to share lessons on best practices and develop joint work platforms.

• A unique 'Marketplace of Ideas' that will showcase some of the most innovative and successful grassroots projects with the purpose of transcending cultural divides and building peace.

Go to the Forum website.

The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) was established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations. The AoC Secretariat, which is based in New York, works in partnership with States, international and regional organizations, civil society groups, foundations, and the private sector to mobilize concerted efforts to promote cross-cultural relations among diverse nations and communities, and in particular between "Muslim" and "Western" societies.

The Alliance works in four program areas to support such projects. These areas are: youth, media, education, and migration.

At a political level, mainly through role of our High Representative President Sampaio, former President of Portugal, the Alliance works to establish platforms for dialogue among political, religious, media and civil society personalities who are prepared to use their influence in advancing the Alliance of Civilizations’ objectives.

The Alliance has developed memoranda of understanding with a number of partner organizations, including UNESCO, the Arab Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ALESCO) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).

The Alliance of Civilizations Group of Friends community is vital to the AoC’s implementation process. The Group of Friends consists of representatives of States, UN agencies, and other international organizations and bodies that have demonstrated active interest in and support of the Alliance.

Surprisingly, there is no representative of the United States Government listed among the Group of Friends. Perhaps this is something that the Obama administration can rectify.

The Alliance of Civilisations International Network of Foundations brings together foundations working to build trust and cooperation among religions, cultures and peoples. The Network includes U.S. foundationsL the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, as well as many of the most important foreign foundations.

Puerto Rican Biosphere Reserve - UNESCO

Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico is initiating its 25th anniversary celebration with a local, national, and international campaign directed at having the UNESCO proclaim the Bosque del Pueblo a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.

The organization is inviting students, teachers, professors, labor unions, associations, groups, churches, and citizens at large to participate.

Read more!

UNESCO Non-Alligned Countries Meet

There is a report in Diario Granma, in Spanish (Havana, March 25, 2009), on a recent meeting of the Non Aligned Nations of UNESCO. The follow is extracted from that article:

The participants in the meeting reaffirmed the priorities given to South-South cooperation on education, cultural diversity and human rights. The meeting also identified as important UNESCO fields of action:

• New information and communications technologies
• The effects of the global economic crisis on education
• the defense of linguistic diversity and
• the support of the Palestinian peopls.
  

In the plenary meeting, chaired by the Héctor Hernández Pardo (Cuban Ambassador to UNESCO and president of the Group, Farouk Hosni was presented as the candidate of the Arab nations in the October election for the new Director General of UNESCO.

UNESCO and 15 to 24 Year Olds

The question often comes up as to how UNESCO serves youths. There is a facet of the UNESCO website that describes the Organization's approach to youth, but there doesn't seem to be a separate Youth Portal specifically designed to be lively and directed to the interests of young adults.

I would guess that UNESCO's most important function with respect to youth is encouraging countries to develop youth-friendly policies and services. This is a prototypical function for an intergovernmental organization.

In this respect, the Infoyouth Network was created by UNESCO to provide an overview of youth policies and programs throughout the world.

The Infoyouth network operates in conjunction with the National Commissions for UNESCO, youth organisations, governmental and non governmental institutions and information and data research agencies and bodies. The Steering Committee, made up of representatives from UNESCO, the French National Commission for UNESCO, the Youth and Community Education Unit of the French Ministry for Youth and Sports and the National Institute for Youth and Community Education ensures a regular follow-up of all Infoyouth projects.

UNESCO also engages in partnerships with young people’s networks and organizations both to solicit information from them and to help them develop projects and programs in the areas of UNESCO’s competence.

Recall that UNESCO has a relatively small staff and budget as compared with the challenges it faces at the lead agency in the intergovernmental United Nations system in education, science, culture and communications and information. As such its direct services to youths must necessarily be limited. One important function however, is the Youth Forum UNESCO holds in conjunction with each of its General Conferences. The next Youth Forum will be this fall.

John Daly
(Opinions expressed above are mine and do not necessarily represent those of Americans for UNESCO.)

WSIS Forum 2009

UNESCO, the ITU, UNCTAD and the UNDP are cosponsoring the WSIS Forum 2009 to be held from 18 to 22 May 2009, at the ITU Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.

The Forum will offer participants a series of highest level panels addressing critical issues to the WSIS implementation and follow-up in multi-stakeholder set-ups.

Read the Report on the World Summit on the Iinformation Society Stocktaking 2008

Class Exercise: ExBrd Working Group on Old City of Jerusalem

Last night in our UNESCO Seminar we did a role playing exercise based on a real negotiation that took place in May, 2007 in the context of a Special Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO.

The Old City of Jerusalem has been inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1981. There is a ramp leading from the square in which the Wailing Wall (perhaps the most sacred place in Judaism) is located to the mount above where the Al Aqsa Mosque (which includes the Dome of the Rock), one of the holiest sites in Islam.

A retaining wall supporting the ramp failed and the Israeli authorities began archaelogical works prior to restoring the ramp. The communication between Israeli and Palestinian archaeological authorities has long been broken, and Palestinians were concerned as to the scope and purpose of those works, which they felt should have been under Arab auspices; the site of course holds remains of more than 1000 years of Muslim rule and occupation. The World Heritage Center was also experiencing difficulties communicating with the Israeli authorities.

Arab delegates asked for the Special Session of the Executive Board to review the situation. A subcommittee of the Executive Board was formed to draft a resolution on the matter, to be considered by the entire 58 member Board. The subcommittee consisted of Delegates from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Norway, the Palestinian Authority, and the United States as well as the Deputy Director General of UNESCO. In our role playing exercise, students took the roles of these participants.

A team consisting of the Director a staffer from the World Heritage Center, the Director-General of ICCROM and the President of ICOMOS had previously visited Jerusalem and investigated the situation; their report was made available to the subcommittee.

The purpose of the exercise was to help the students understand the complexity of such a negotiation and the many levels at which it take place.

Of course, a common concern among all the Delegates was the preservation of a site which is of huge cultural importance to billions of people, and which is must be managed to accommodate millions of visitors.

Underlying the negotiation of course was a concern for the potential for violent confrontations in Jerusalem. The Al Aqsa Intifada was ignited at the very location under discussion. And of course, the negotiation was conducted in the context of the overall Peace Process in which Norway and the United States have played key roles.

The participants in the Working Group were unanimous in their statements that the issue should not be dealt with as a political issue, yet of course the Delegates were all diplomats of ambassadorial rank, and the venue was not the specialized agencies dealing with monuments and heritage sites, nor the World Heritage Center, but rather the governing body of UNESCO itself.

Students discussed the fact that each participant in the negotiation faced domestic constituencies that were very concerned with the condition of the sites and the political contexts. Israel's government was facing upcoming elections and the Palestinian authority was soon to dissolve in civil war; a large portion of the Jordanian population describes itself as Palestinian.

The media was characterized as influential in the negotiations even if not present. While U.S. media were silent on the situation, it was extensively covered in Israeli, Palestinian and Arab media. While the actual conduct of the negotiation would not be revealed, the results would be publicized in the countries of several of the delegates.

Moreover, Delegates were likely to be concerned with groups of nations, as the European Delegate might have been concerned with representing the views of European powers, and the Arab nations with representing other Arab and Islamic nations.

It was recognized that much of the work of the committee would be done outside of the meeting room, that the Delegates were likely to have received instructions from their governments, and that there were possibilities of incentives being offered or sanctions being threatened in the process of the negotiations. Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority are all heavily dependent on European and American support.

While the secretariats of UNESCO and other involved organizations were concerned with the integrity of the organizational processes, they must also have been concerned with the potential benefits and threats implied by the negotiation to their own organizations. The key organizational members were the heads of their respective organizations, rather than lower level technical staff.

And of course the Delegates were individuals, with their own ideological positions. One at least was probably chosen both as a neutral party and because of the respect he had earned as a skilled and experienced diplomat. Two of the Secretariat members have since been mentioned as attractive candidates in this year's election of a new UNESCO Director General. And of course, while all were internationally experienced, each Delegate came from his/her own cultural background -- Arab, Israeli, Scandinavian, Texan, etc. and might have understood the negotiations in part from that cultural background.

We reviewed the actual Resolution that had been approved

• which documented the previous agreements that set the stage for the current resolution
• recognized the universal cultural importance of the site
  
• acknowledged the work of the team that had done the site visit
• referred future work on the issue to the World Heritage Center
• called upon Israel to provide more information and coordinate with Islamic authorities on the works, and
• thanked the Secretariat for its work

The students agreed that this resolution probably represented a result which did not fully achieve the objectives of any party, but which all parties could accept. It clearly represented a substantive and informative product of detailed negotiation. The United States diplomats thought the negotiation very successful, but we had little insight as to the satisfaction of other Delegates in the outcome.

The seven students and two coordinators had a lively, two hour discussion greatly facilitated by the fact that all of the students had prepared for the class. A fairly extensive set of case study materials had been made available for their review prior to the class, but most had gone beyond those materials.

Job: Chief of Section C&I

CHIEF OF SECTION (UAP), Communications and Information Sector

Section for Universal Access and Preservation (UAP), Information Society Division
Duty station Paris, France
Grade P-5
Closing date 27 April 2009

For more information: http://recrutweb.unesco.org/pdf/CI063.pdf

To apply click here.

An Arab Plan of Action for Science and Technology

The Economic Summit of the Kings, Heads of State and Governments of the Arab League has adopted an Arab Plan of Action for Science and Technology. The plan was adopted at the summit held in Kuwait from 19 to 20 January 2009. UNESCO and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) are spearheading efforts to implement the plan.

Under the plan, a network of centres of excellence in the Arab world will be set up. These centres will work together on joint research projects to facilitate cooperation and thereby strengthen scientific ties and mobility within the Arab world. As many Arab scientists are living and working farther afield, the plan includes a collaborative research programme with the diaspora.

An Arab observatory of science and technology will be set up to monitor progress in research and development (R&D) and the application of research results to problem-solving in Arab society. Four priority areas for R&D have been identified: water, food, energy and agriculture.

More on the Election of the Director General

Source: "Sexo e intriga en UNESCO (I)," Jorge Asís, Internacionales, March 8, 2009.

A new UNESCO Director General is to be elected in October, and Jorge Asis has provided an analysis of the state of the election in a Spanish language OP/Ed piece. He notes that in the spirit of geographical rotation of the post, given that the last three DGs were African, European and Asian, it is likely to be the turn of the Islamic peoples. Farouk Hosny, an artist an long time Minister of Culture of Egypt, is a leading contender. Morocco and Oman have apparently chosen to withdraw their nominees.

Asis suggests that two candidates from former Communist countries, Bulgaria and Lithuania, are in consideration but are less likely to be elected. He also notes the possibility of Marcio Barbosa, a Brazilian who is currently Deputy DG, but predicts that Barbosa may not obtain the full support of the Brazilian government that would be needed for his election.

Hosny is controversial in part for past anti-Israeli statements, especially unfortunate in the context of UNESCO's emphasis of dialog among cultures. Asis also suggests that while Hosny has strong support for the wife of Egyptian President Moubarak, his personal style may detract from the support he obtains from other Islamic nations.

National Commission Meeting Postponed

The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO was scheduled to meet in May, but I have been told that that meeting will be postponed. The new U.S. Permanent Representative to UNESCO and the new Executive Director of the National Commission have not yet been appointed and there remain other vacancies on the State Department staff dealing with UNESCO. The meeting might take place in September when the new staff are in place to meet with the National Commission.

Meeting of the National Committee for the IOC

On Friday I had the opportunity to observe the open meeting of the U.S. National Committee for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Formally, it is a subcommittee of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, as the IOC is a body within the Natural Science Program of UNESCO.

It was an auspicious day to attend my first meeting of the National Committee. Jane Lubchenco's nomination to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been unanimously approved by the Senate on Thursday and it was expected that she would be sworn in during the day of the meeting; there was great pleasure among the oceanographers that a well known and respected scientist would be leading NOAA.



The IOC will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding during in 20010-11. The participants in the meeting debated how they could schedule events in the United States as part of the observance, and how those events could help educate the scientific community and the public about the IOC and its activities. There was a general agreement that such education is very much needed. (I suggested that an editorial in Science magazine might help.)

Roger Revelle, who was born in 1909, was very much involved in the founding of UNESCO, as he was one of the oceanographers who was deeply involved in the large collaborative studies of the oceans at the time. It was that experience which led him and others to recognize the need for an intergovernmental organization to sponsor such efforts and to enlist the national governments in support of the needed research. Last year there were a set of Revelle Memorial Lectures held in conjunction with the meeting of the Commission. (I was fortunate enough to know Roger, who was a real scientific statesman.)

There are currently 136 member states of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; the United States has been a member since 1961.

One of the more important matters before the IOC is the appointment of a new Executive Secretary of the Commission, and the National Committee heard a report on the process. From 85 candidates, a dozen have been short listed, and the member nations are to make recommendations on the three to four that each preferrs. It is not surprising that the majority of the short list are U.S. citizens, were educated in the United States, or are now employed in the United States. After all, the United States is a world leader in oceanography. The consensus of the National Committee was that there are several outstanding candidates on the short list!

The IOC plays a significant role in lending its authority to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) which is an important part of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Not only is understanding of the oceans and the changes that they are undergoing fundamental to understanding climate change and its causes, but that understanding has great scientific and economic importance. IOC also lends its authority to the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE). It is important to understand the economic importance of this science, and I was glad to note that there is a NOAA project on Coastal and Ocean Resource Economics.

I was also able to see a presentation on the IOC Tsunami Project. Recall the outpouring of concern after the tsunami in December 2004 led the IOC to undertake to promote the development of a global system for tsunami alerts. Five years later, that system is well under way providing protection in South East Asia. The small staff in UNESCO that was working to promote and coordinate this program is about to be disbanded as the nations funding that staff through extrabudgetary contributions are ending that support. Yet we heard that there will be other tsunamis in the future, and that they have the potential again to kill hundreds of thousands of people unless the warning system can be made effective and sustained.

Incidentally, there is an editorial piece last week in the Boston Globe calling for the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.

The United States has 12,500 miles of coastline and 360 major commercial ports. Among the world's largest importers and exporters of goods and services, it has more to gain by ratifying the convention than by avoiding it, especially against the backdrop of global recession.

In the absence of such a legal framework, history is replete with examples of rogue nations unduly restricting maritime access and encroaching upon others' interests, potentially compromising military operations, disrupting commerce, and flouting accountability for environmental degradation.

So far, 156 countries and the European Community have ratified the treaty.

The Reagan administration withdrew the Convention from Congressional consideration leading to a long renegotiation of portions of the treaty. The Bush administration resubmitted the treaty to the Senate, where it still awaits a vote. The authors of the Boston Globe article call for the Obama administration and the current Congress to ratify the Convention. The IOC has responsibilities assisting member nations to implement portions of the Convention.

World Water Day 2009

World Water Day 2009, which will be celebrated on Sunday 22 March, will highlight Transboundary Waters. People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the challenge of sharing water and opportunities.

World Water Day official website!

UNESCO World Water Day website!

The United States and UNESCO

View of the Capitol and its
reflection in Washington DC at night
©Olga Bogatyrenko

In 2007 voluntary contributions from the United States to UNESCO amounted to USD 3.3 million

Voluntary contributions have increased since the United States re-joined UNESCO in 2003. During its 19-year absence, the United States nevertheless continued to make voluntary contributions to a number of UNESCO’s activities.

UNESCO provides a website describing U.S. cooperation with the Organization.

The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education carries out research, education and capacity building activities in the fields of water, environment and infrastructure. UNESCO-IHE continues work that began in 1957 when IHE first offered a postgraduate diploma course in hydraulic engineering to practicing professionals from developing countries.

The Institute is based in Delft, the Netherlands, and is owned by all UNESCO member states. It is the largest water education facility in the world, and the only institution in the UN system authorised to confer accredited MSc degrees.

UNESCO-IHE - Facilities&Services



UNESCO-IHE - Living in Delft



Click here to go to the UNESCO-IHE video site for more information on the Center and its programs.