Knowledge Societies

The world is moving towards knowledge societies. Today, a nation’s wealth depends more on the production, exchange and transformation of knowledge than on natural wealth or industry.

* Towards Knowledge Societies (The First UNESCO World Report)

* "Communication: from information society to knowledge societies" (The UNESCO Courier, Oct. 2003)

* Knowledge Societies and Culture

* Infosheet (PDF Format)

Providing Access to Preventive Commodities at UNESCO Headquarters

While attending the 28th Meeting of the Committee of Cosponsoring Organisations (CCO) of UNAIDS in New York, UNESCO’s Director-General Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura announced his decision to accept a recommendation of UNESCO’s Workplace Committee on HIV and AIDS to install preventive commodity dispensers in the premises of UNESCO Headquarters.

The announcement comes as part of UNESCO’s commitment to strengthen knowledge on HIV and AIDS among all of its employees, ensure staff is familiar with the United Nation’s HIV and AIDS workplace policies, and implement a policy of zero tolerance for stigma and discrimination in the workplace.

The Director-General also reported at the CCO meeting on progress made to date on training staff in order to give them knowledge and skills for responding to HIV and AIDS in their professional and private lives. Since the launch of the campaign to sensitise UNESCO personnel on HIV and AIDS, eleven percent of HQ staff have attended the orientation sessions.

UNESCO has an explicit program against HIV/AIDS.

Comment: Like the search for peace, the battle against this epidemic must begin in the minds of men and women. It is important that members of UNESCO's focus sectors -- education, science, culture and communications -- be sensitized to the magnitude of the problem and their role in its solution. Thus it is important that UNESCO itself begin by sensitizing its own staff. JAD

The World Congress on Communication for Development

The World Congress on Communication for Development was held October 25-27, 2006 in Rome, Italy. It was co-sponsored by the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the Communications Initiative. UNESCO helped organize the conference through its service on the Congress steering committee.

Report by the Director-General on the Implementation of the Program and Budget (32 C/5) and on Results Achieved in the Biennium 2004-2005

"This Report on the implementation of the program and budget during the 2004-2005 biennium represents an important milestone in the ongoing reform of the Organization. Firstly, it is the first biennial report after my re-election as Director-General, and I see it as setting a baseline for reporting during my second term. Secondly, the report provides answers to several issues concerning reporting raised by the Executive Board in the last few years."

Results Achieved for the Individual Main Lines of Action (MLA) of the Communication and Information Sector

Results Achieved for the Individual Main Lines of Action (MLA) of the Social and Human Sciences Sector

Results Achieved for the Individual Main Lines of Action (MLA) of the Natural Sciences Sector

People, Biodiversity and Ecology

This website provides information on seven years worth of UNESCO publications on the preservation of biodiversity. Many can be downloaded free of charge from the website, and the others can be purchased in paper editions. For anyone interested in the conservation of biodiversity, this is a wonderful resource! Here are a couple of the publications:
Download Water from the Amazon.















Download The Importance of Sacred Natural Sites for Biodiversity Conservation.

* Part 1
* Part 2

People and Plants Handbook - Issue 9

Suresh Ghimire and amchis at Dolpa sorting medicinal plants (photo: Susanne Schmitt)

People and Plants is a program of capacity-building in ethnobotany applied to conservation and the sustainable use of plant resources. It was created as a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and UNESCO. The People and Plants Handbook was begun in January 1996 to provide a handy source of information on ethnobotany, conservation and development, and to enable ethnobotanists and others in developing.

Read issue number nine of the handbook.

Go to the archives for previous editions of the handbook.

Science Popularization

Go to the UNESCO website on the Popularization of Science.

The Popularization of Science is one among the oldest UNESCO programs. The program seeks to increase public understanding of science. During the last 60 years three tools have been used to popularize science:

1. UNESCO Prizes in science (Currently UNESCO awards eight different prizes in science.)

2. Science Centers and Museums (UNESCO supports Member States efforts to develop science centers and museums, including - in 2003-2004 - technical assistance on science centre development in East Jerusalem, Morocco and Yemen.)

3. Science exhibition (Several international science exhibitions related to building public awareness of science and technology were organized in 2004 and 2005.)

Check out THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ON ARABIC-ISLAMIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

WORLD SCIENCE DAY FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT

WORLD SCIENCE DAY FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT is celebrated on 10 November each year. The Day is an occasion to remind the UNESCO's mandate and commitment on science.

The City of Genoa, Italy, will host this year's celebration of the Day in the context of the Science Festival 2006. Several events will also take place at UNESCO Headquarters and in UNESCO's member States. If you're organizing an event you're welcome to report on your activities to Diana Malpede at unesco.org.

Check out the World Academy of Young Scientists website devoted to World Science Day.

Remembering Jack Fobes

John Edwin Fobes died at his home at the age of 86 on Jan. 20, 2005. A distinguished diplomat, he served as Deputy Director-General of UNESCO from 1971 to 1977 -- the organization's chief operating officer. He served as Chair of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO on his return from Paris. When the United States withdrew from UNESCO, Jack Fobes immediately founded Americans for the Universality of UNESCO (which subsequently became Americans for UNESCO). From 1985-2002, he headed AUU; through the organization's network and its Newsletter, he virtually single-handedly kept the idea of UNESCO alive in the American mind. In 2002, he assumed the Chair of the Advisory Council of Americans for UNESCO.

We have posted the following the following on the Internet in his honor:

* Remembering Jack Fobes

* Tributes to John Fobes by Koïchiro Matsuura and Paul Schafer

* Jack Fobes: Lien-Link Memorial Articles

UNESCO Program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

The main role of UNESCO in S,T,I Policy is that of:

* an initiator of new thinking on policy development,
* a instigator of reforms and innovations, and
* a promoter of international co-operation.

UNESCO therefore seeks:

* to stimulate innovative co-operative regional and international programs,
* to develop analytical work in co-operation with other institutions namely OECD and the UNU, and
* to support regional S&T Policy networks.

UNESCO also seeks to serve as a clearing-house, thus facilitating exchange of experiences.

Action focuses on assisting Member States in the implementation of the actions and recommendations contained in:

* the DECLARATION ON SCIENCE
AND THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, and

* the SCIENCE AGENDA-FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION

of the World Conference on Science that deal with science policy.

Science Policy Formulation

UNESCO helps Member States to formulate their own S&T policies, strategies and plans. It also helps them in the reform of their S&T systems. It publishes guidelines and methodologies, and provides technical advice and guidance on formulation, implementation, and monitoring.

UNISPAR

The UNESCO University-Industry-Science Partnership (UNISPAR) program was launched in 1993. It is aimed at raising the quality of technical universities in developing countries and encouraging them to be more involved in the process of industrialization of their countries. Since 2002, the UNISPAR Programme focuses on capacity building and technical assistance in governance of science and technology parks.

Science Legislation

In January 2003, UNESCO organized an international roundtable on "Science Technology and Innovation Policy: The Parliamentary Perspective", in tandem with the Parliament of Finland and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). The Forum adopted a declaration. Among other things it recommended the establishment of regional science policy fora to facilitate an exchange of experiences. A number of regional science fora have been held. UNESCO has also established the World Science Forum, which meets every two years in Budapest on the occasion of World Science Day for Peace and Development on 10 November.

UNESCO Science Policy Studies and Documents

This webpage lists many science policy studies published by UNESCO since 1965, and many of the more recent ones can be downloaded via the Internet.

Challenging Multiculturalism and the Prospects of Environmental Education and Technology Integration

CARDET - UNESCO Chair, Intercollege
January 13, 2007
Nicosia – Cyprus

The aim of this conference is to provide a venue for discussing issues relating to sustainable development, environmental education, technology integration, and peace education. Internationally speakers and local experts will present their ideas and engage in discussion with the audience. The conference will be held in English.

The conference is organized by the Center for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (CARDET) and the UNESCO Chair on Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue for a Culture of Peace at Intercollege.

Keynote Speakers

* Dr. Zvi Bekerman, Truman Institute and Melton Center, Hebrew University
Some things on integration and its pedagogies: Research findings in the Palestinian Jewish bilingual integrated schools in Israel

* Dr. Gabriel Salomon, Center for Research on Peace Education, University of Haifa
The challenge facing environmental and peace education: Sustaining the change

Comment: This event, organized by a UNESCO chair, illustrates how UNESCO can catalyze action to promote peace with very little expense drawn from its own budget.

Cyprus is a good location for discussing peace in the Middle East, since Israelis and Arabs can meet there in a neutral environment. JAD

UNESCO: Peace in the Minds of Men

The Governments of the States Parties to this Constitution on behalf of their peoples declare:

That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed;

That ignorance of each other's ways and lives has been a common cause, throughout the history of mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust between the peoples of the world through which their differences have all too often broken into war;

UNESCO Constitution

UNESCO mainstreams the Culture of Peace as a theme that runs through everything it does.

Check out UNESCO activities in the field of the culture of peace.

The International Congress on Peace in the Minds of Men was held on the initiative of UNESCO in Yamoussoukro in the heart of Africa. Its final declaration included this statement:

* Peace is reverence for life.

* Peace is the most precious possession of humanity.

* Peace is more than the end of armed conflict.

* Peace is a mode of behaviour.

* Peace is a deep-rooted commitment to the principles of liberty, justice, equality and solidarity among all human beings.

* Peace is also a harmonious partnership of humankind with the environment.

* Today, on the eve of the twenty-first century, peace is within our reach.

The first book ever published on the organization, UNESCO: Peace in the Minds of Men by Theodore Besterman, is now available on line. It provides a great look at the early history of the organization, and emphasizes the importance of the search for peace in the minds of men.

A World of Science (October - December 2006)

Everyday life in Mali. Image by Inez Forbes, © UNESCO

The new edition of UNESCO's science magazine, A World of Science, is online.

Walter Erelen, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, introduces this issue highlighting "Greening the deserts", writing:

(B)elief that we can control our climate has given way to concerns about the human impact on the environment, in particular global warming. Current climate scenarios predict that the driest regions of the world will become even drier.

Only last May, a study published in Science indicated that the tropical climate zone was expanding towards both poles. According to the study, which is based on satellite data from 1979 to 2005, the northern and southern hemispheres’ jet streams – fast-flowing winds about 10 km above the Earth’s surface which mark the limits of the tropics – have each moved about 1° of latitude (about 113 km) nearer the poles. ‘If the jet streams move another 2–3° degrees poleward this century, very dry areas like the Sahara Desert could nudge farther towards the poles, perhaps by a few hundred miles,’ predicts co-author John Wallace of the University of Washington (USA).......

As we shall see in this issue, the past 50 years have shown us that the ecological and socio-economic situation in drylands is not a simple equation governed by factors such as climate, soil, water and vegetation. Market speculation and enormous price fluctuations on commodities like cotton can affect the income of a rural farmer in a remote village in Mali, in the same way that droughts or floods will affect his or her harvest.......

One thing we have learnt over the past 50 years is that, if drylands do not cover the globe, they are nevertheless a global problem. To cite the authors of The Future of Drylands Revisited, ‘dust from central Asia causes health concerns not only in China and Japan but also in North America [and] dust from Africa may be contributing to the decline of coral reefs in the Caribbean.’

"Work on UNESCO’s ICT Competency Standards for Teachers enters final phase"

Read the full UNESCO news story.

"A groundbreaking international standard for integrating ICTs in teaching, will soon be available as the extensive work on the “ICT Competency Standards for Teachers” that UNESCO is preparing together with several partners from academia and the private sector including Microsoft, Intel and Cisco, enters its final phase.

"'The new standard is designed to contribute to the professional development of teachers, mainly on primary and secondary levels, and we expect that it will considerably improve teachers’ practice' says UNESCO’s project manager Tarek G. Shawki. 'The standard combines methods for improving ICT skills with emergent views in pedagogy, curriculum and school organization', he says."

UNESCO's science mandate

UNESCO's overall review of its science programs and David Dickson's editorials on the subject have triggered a couple of long postings on this blog:

* UNESCO Overall Review of its Science Programs

* Does UNESCO needs a more strategic approach to science?

This is a crucial time in the rethinking of UNESCO's approach to the natural sciences and to the social and human sciences. We are therefore posting this thoughtful piece on the topic, with the permission of Sid Passman, a member of the Board of Directors of Americans for UNESCO. Sid was Director of the Division of Scientific Research and Higher Education of UNESCO from 1973 to 1081.

Dickson seems alone in commenting on UNESCO's science mandate.

I would hope that we can encourage more discussion--e.g. there should be some who would like to point to the success of disciplinary programs and institutes in the fields of physics, mathematics, chemistry, informatics, life sciences, etc. Science teaching, ethics, public understanding of science and capacity building and training programs are all worth preserving.

Strategies and policies are all well and good (if they reflect relative experiences and are consistent with national constraints--but support of training and institutional capacity building are not to be dismissed.

In any case more resources for a decentralized UNESCO are vital.

Sid Passman

In response to Sid's call for comment, let me suggest that it is very important that UNESCO continue to focus its efforts in science on development and poverty reduction. Fortunately, with each member country having a vote in UNESCO's policy setting General Conference, there is little likelihood that that priority would be challenged. Still, I would emphasize that UNESCO with its tiny budget could contribute little to the scientific collaboration among rich countries, and there are many other multinational mechanisms promoting such collaboration. On the other hand, UNESCO can play a vital role in developing nations, and can help keep their eyes on the target of poverty reduction.

I would also note that UNESCO's science program appears fragmented in part because UNESCO shares governance of major portions of that program because it hosts serveral international programs and includes several international centers. The division of the program into these parts has some very positive aspects. Thus, countries have in the past and may in the future resign their membership in UNESCO; the United States, however, maintained active presence in some of the international programs when it did so for 18 years. The International Commissions running specific programs are well established, and can draw on specific expertise in the fields of concern. They may also be able to draw more voluntary contributions than might UNESCO as a whole.

International Forum on the Social Science – Policy Nexus

Click here to go to the IFSP website.

UNESCO's International Forum on the Social Science – Policy Nexus has broken new ground in connecting social science research to policy. The Forum was organized in conjunction with the Governments of Argentina and Uruguay, the municipalities and universities of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Montevideo and Rosario, and with the support of a wide range of academic, policy, and NGO partners. The Forum was held on 20-24 February 2006.

The Forum included:

* 25 workshops on “Global Issues and Dynamics” in Buenos Aires

* 35 workshops on “Social Policies” in Buenos Aires

* 15 workshops on “Population and Migration” in Cordoba (Argentina)

* 7 workshops on “Regional Integration” in Montevideo

* 14 workshops on “Urban Policies and Decentralization” in Rosario (Argentina)

Comment: The importance of evidence based policy making can not be overstated. Countries have unprecedented oportunities for growth and development, but face increasingly complex challenges and increasingly rapid economic and social change. There has been a gratifying growth in social science research since the creation of UNESCO, but there is a huge gap between the scientists and policy makers. This initiative by UNESCO's Social and Human Sciences program is a much needed step toward bridging that gap. JAD

Read the final report of the Forum.

Read the final Declaration made by the participants in the Forum.

Indigenous People and ICT

Go to the Indigenous People and ICT website.

ICT4ID

Through its project "ICT for Intercultural Dialogue: Developing communication capacities of indigenous peoples" (ICT4ID) UNESCO aims to foster the creation and dissemination of local content reflecting the values of indigenous peoples’ communities and cultures.

In 2004-2005, ICT4ID launched five pilot projects involving eleven indigenous communities: the Bakoyas, the San and the Himbas in Africa, and the Quechua, Lecos, Tsimanes, Esse Ejjas, Mosetenes, Tacanas, Baures and Aymaras in Latin America. The main goal of these projects is to encourage the production of indigenous cultural content for the audiovisual and new media by providing training to community members on the use of ICT.

Indigenous People and Information Society

UNESCO welcomes activities which create and reinforce the indigenous media. In particular, UNESCO supports the following initiatives by indigenous societies and NGOs:

* organisation of regional training programs and an annual international seminar;

* projects to develop media resources and to encourage dialogue, financed by the IPDC, the Participation Program or funds-in-trust;

* providing educational and learning resources via the Internet for the benefit of journalists and media practitioners (i.e. the creation of a web site dedicated to communication and journalism, in cooperation with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and indigenous organisations).

Click here to read the booklet: "UNESCO and Indigenous Peoples: Partnership to Promote Cultural Diversity".

Upcoming Activities of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge

The UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge provides an open platform for intellectual exchange. Its activities serve to highlight research and to bring out challenges facing institutions and countries. The Forum seeks to build on existing and ongoing research, and to facilitate networking. It is administered under the Higher Education programs of UNESCO.

* The Contribution of Higher Education to National Education Systems: Current Challenges for Africa
- The Regional Scientific Committee for Africa will hold its second Regional Research Seminar in Accra, Ghana, from 22 to 24 March 2007.

2006 UNITWIN Directory Now Online

The 2006 UNIVERSITY TWINNING and networking scheme “UNITWIN” directory is now available online. It is an important networking tool for one of UNESCO’s major education networks.

Over the last fourteen years the UNITWIN Program has developed into a truly worldwide, inter-university co-operation scheme based on interdisciplinarity, intersectoriality and networking. It has since become one of the major intersectorial Programs and an integral part of activities developed by UNESCO various Sectors, services and Field Offices.

Today 584 UNESCO Chairs and 66 UNITWIN Networks have been in the Program involving over 700 institutions in 124 countries. It contains full information on each of reporting Chairs and Networks covering 70 disciplines and identifies the contact persons, partners, events and publications for each one.

Download
UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Program, Ten Years of Action: Case studies (2005)

Procedures for the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Program

Guidelines for Submission of Project Proposals

New Executive Director of the NatCom

Susanna Connaughton has been appointer Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. She started on Monday, October 16, 2006.

The State Department announcement state that Ms. Connaughton has an MBA from Northwestern (Kellogg) in public and non-profit management and marketing and an undergraduate degree in government. She most recently served at the National Association of Homebuilders and has had various private and public sector experiences, including serving as a Commissioner on the DC Commission on National and Community Service.

I believe she is married to James Connaughton, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality.