UNESCO
UNESCO is a specialized agency of the
United Nations established in 1945. Its purpose is to contribute to
peace and
security by promoting international collaboration through
education,
science, and
culture in order to further universal respect for
justice, the rule of law, and the
human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the
UN Charter .
In total, 191 nations belong to UNESCO. The organization is based in
Paris, with over 50 field offices and several institutes and offices throughout the world.
Encyclopedia
UNESCO is a specialized agency of the
United Nations established in 1945. Its purpose is to contribute to
peace and
security by promoting international collaboration through
education,
science, and
culture in order to further universal respect for
justice, the rule of law, and the
human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the
UN Charter .
In total, 191 nations belong to UNESCO. The organization is based in
Paris, with over 50 field offices and several institutes and offices throughout the world. Most of the field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries; there are also regional offices. UNESCO pursues its action through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture and communication and information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include
literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international
science programs; the promotion of independent
media and
freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity; international coöperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage and to preserve
human rights; and attempts to bridge the world-wide digital divide.
Controversy and reform
UNESCO has been at the center of controversy, particularly in the
United States, the
United Kingdom, and
Singapore. During the 1970s and 1980s, UNESCO's support for a "New World Information Order" and its MacBride report calling for democratization of the media and a more egalitarian access to information was condemned in these countries as attempts to destroy the
freedom of the press. UNESCO was perceived by some as a platform for communist and Third World countries to attack the
West. In 1984, the United States withheld its contributions and withdrew from the organization in protest, followed by the United Kingdom in 1985 and Singapore in 1986. Following the change in government in 1997, the UK rejoined; the United States rejoined in 2003. During this period, considerable reforms had been implemented in the organization.
These included the following measures: the number of divisions in UNESCO was cut in half, allowing a corresponding halving of the number of Directors -- from 200 to under 100, out of a total staff of approximately 2,000 worldwide. At the same time, the number of field units was cut from a peak of 79 in 1999 to 52 today. Parallel management structures, including 35 Cabinet-level special advisor positions, were abolished. Two hundred nine negotiated staff departures and buy-outs took place from 1999–2003, causing the inherited $10 million staff cost deficit to disappear. The staff pyramid, which was the most top-heavy in the UN system, was cut back as the number of high-level posts was halved and the “inflation” of posts was reversed through the down-grading many positions. Open competitive recruitment, results-based appraisal of staff, training of all managers and field rotation were instituted, as well as SISTER and SAP systems for transparency in results-based programming and budgeting. In addition, the Internal Oversight Service was established in 2001 to improve organizational performance by including the lessons learned from program evaluations into the overall reform process. In reality though, IOS's main tasks involve auditing rather than programme oversight; it regularly carries out audits of UNESCO offices that essentially look into administrative and procedural compliance, but do not assess the relevance and usefulness of the activities and projects that are carried out.
Programming coherence and relevance remains a challenge at UNESCO. One of the main reasons for this is that activities and projects can be identified and supervised by various services within the organization with insufficient coordination between them.
UNESCO activities
- Designating projects and places of cultural and scientific significance, such as:
- Encouraging the "free flow of ideas by word and image" by:
- Promoting events, such as:
- International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World
- World Press Freedom Day, 3 May each year
- Founding and funding projects, such as:
- UNESCO-CEPES, the European Centre for Higher Education
- Free Software Directory
- OANA, the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
- International Council of Science
- UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors
UNESCO prizes, awards and medals
UNESCO awards several prizes in science, culture and peace, such as:
- Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science
- UNESCO Science Prize
- Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology
- Javed Husain Prize for Young Scientist
- Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation
- Great Man-Made River International Prize for Water Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas
- UNESCO/Institut Pasteur Medal
- L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize
- UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
- Sergei Eisenstein Medals for merit in cinematographic art.
- Jikji Memory of the World Prize for individuals or institutions that have made significant contributions to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage.
- UNESCO Mozart Medal for contribution to world peace through music and the arts.
Directors General of UNESCO
- Julian Huxley,
- Jaime Torres Bodet,
- John Wilkinson Taylor,
- Luther Evans,
- Vittorino Veronese,
- René Maheu,
- Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow,
- Federico Mayor Zaragoza,
- Koïchiro Matsuura,
External links
