The International Center for Capacity in Africa

Part 1 - Dr. Temechegn Engida, UNESCO-IICA... by MSEthiopiaNGODay2011

Dr. Temechegn Engida, UNESCO-IICA describes some of the programs of the IICA.

Competition “10 ideas for tomorrow's Africa” (deadline: 30 April 2010)

Within the framework of the 50th anniversary of African independence, the Social and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO (SHS) is launching a “Call for Ideas” for prospective proposals in favour of Africa’s development within the next decade.

Among the proposals, which should be submitted before Friday 30 April 2010 at midnight (Paris time), 10 ideas will be selected by an international jury and presented by their author(s) during 10 small-scale conferences to be held at UNESCO Headquarters, in mid-June 2010.

These 10 contributions to the thinking on Africa’s future will also be published in a special issue of SHSviews magazine.

Each proposal is expected to develop one idea which would amplify the positive effects and reduce, or contain, the negative impacts of the major trends observed in Africa on one of the 10 following topics:

Topic 1: Economy and Development (Environment, Food Security, New Information and Communication Technologies…)

Topic 2: Governance, Policy, Institutions, Leadership

Topic 3: Regional Integration, Population, Migration, Urbanization

Topic 4: Cultural Identities (Languages, Religions…)

Topic 5: Youth

Topic 6: Human Rights, Gender and Justice

Topic 7: Diaspora

Topic 8: Peace, Security and Conflict

Topic 9: Health, Education and Social Development

Topic 10: International Relations

READ MORE!

UNESCO's work in promoting sustainable development in Africa

Naoline Raondry-Rakotoarisoa talks about UNESCO's work in promoting sustainable development in Africa. The presentation was made as part of the discussion at the Nairobi Manifesto Roundtable.

Commissioning of the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding

DG Matsuura meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
(UNESCO archival photo)

UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura has traveled to Nigeria for the commissioning of the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding (IACIU) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as well as the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, Osun State.

The Institute is a "Category II" Center, supported by the Government of Nigeria. According to the UNESCO documentation proposing the approval of the center:

The Institute aims to study, evaluate, inventorize, exhibit and disseminate all relevant material related to Africa's cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible – and its diasporas. In addition, it will encourage academic and scientific research on black culture and its cultural expressions, creating a global network of specialists on this topic with workshops and seminars aimed at raising awareness not only among Nigerian stakeholders but also among national and local decision-makers. The Nigerian Government wishes to link this Institute to other national bodies devoted to the safeguarding of heritage and black culture from Africa and other parts of the world.

The first such body is the Center for Black Culture and International Understanding. That Center is built around a collection of Nigerian materials, largely drawn from the Yoruba culture, donated by Ulli and Georgina Beier.

Read the Guardian article about the DG's visit.

UNESCO and Afrika! Afrika!

Afrika! Afrika! is a new alternative to Cirque du Soleil -- circus-style theater with an African theme by Africans. More than 100 artists, eccentrics, dancers, singers and musicians coming from all over Africa, and from the African Diaspora, give a performance of more than two hours. Afrika! Afrika! is now touring Europe to rave reviews. The troupe has also traveled through Africa for two years from Mali and Morocco, from Egypt to South Africa.

One euro of each ticket sold for performances of Afrika! Afrika! – the so-called “Africa euro“ – is donated to the ”Art in Africa” Foundation of the German Commission for UNESCO to support African cultures. This foundation is the first of its kind worldwide. It was set up jointly by the German Commission for UNESCO and the Afrikanische Zirkus GmbH & Co. KG on the occasion of the world premiere of AFRIKA! AFRIKA! in Frankfurt am Main on 14 December 2005.

In August last year, UNESCO in Paris declared that the Afrika! Afrika! project would take place under its auspices, honoring an undertaking which will ensure that part of the proceeds return to Africa. The "Africa euro“ is donated for the purpose of promoting culture in Africa. When selecting the projects deemed eligible for support, the UNESCO Foundation is cooperating with the Goethe Institute. Due to their expertise and the presence of their institutions in Africa, UNESCO and the Goethe Institute are guarantors of an informed selection and promotion of the projects to be funded, projects that will exclusively serve African interests and not aim at implementing European ideas with regard to Africa.

What does the U.S. owe to developing nations?

The San Francisco Chronicle published comments from a number of people who were responding to an article from a couple of Peace Corps Volunteers in Kenya. The PCVs said, as most of us concluded in the Peace Corps, that poor people have to change if they want to escape poverty. They said:

we were there to share our skills. Kenya - Africa - needs modern skills far more than it needs Western cash.

The Volunteers also wrote:

Education is the key, and the Kenyans know it. In 2002, the government agreed to provide free primary schooling for all. Secondary schools, however, charge a fee, often beyond the reach of many students, even when the family pulls together to send them. This is indeed one area where Western donations can do the most good, because it gives young people hope.

The folk who responded to the Chronicle gave a full spectrum of replies:

Tina Martin, San Francisco
Considering that the United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world population but uses more than 25 percent of the world's resources, I think it owes developing nations the chance to benefit from what they have before we liberate them from it.

Marcy Orosco, Guerneville
Nothing. Let's start with the United States first.

Bill Krumbein, Santa Rosa
We owe them fairness. We owe them a level playing field. Expecting them to play in the same league as our economic standards is impossible. We need to stop taking advantage of them.

Mike Haworth, Vallejo
It's not a matter of owing, it's more a matter of redemption. We need to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world. Thanks to the current administration, the term "Ugly American" has been revived and multiplied a hundred times over. Repairing the damage will take decades, and every opportunity to do so should be acted upon immediately -- and we will, just as soon as all our resources stop funding this unwinnable war.

The website also generated a number of online comments.

UNESCO is deeply involved in the efforts to help Kenya and all of Africa to help itself. It is the lead agency in the global effort to provide Education for All. It is also the key agency in the United Nations system seeking to promote culturally sensitive approaches to the changes that poor people and poor nations must make to climb out of the poverty trap.

Read the full article by Daniel Kohanski and Jean Dahlstrom Marcucci.

Read the responses from the public.

Visit the UNESCO Nairobi Office website.

Leave us a comment below. What do you think America owes to developing nations? Do you think UNESCO is a good way to pay some of that debt?

UNESCO launches culture diversity network

To counter the adverse affects of economic globalisation on world cultures and also foster cultural bond among Africans, the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD), recently announced the launch of INCD Africa. The institution is a network of artist organisations, culture producers, academics, heritage institutions and others from around Africa working together.

The launch of INCD Africa coincided with the entry into force of the new UNESCO’s Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. The Convention was warmly welcomed by INCD, for it has been in the forefront of the campaign to build support for its development, ratification and effective implementation since its first meeting in 2000.

According to Ibrahima Seck, INCD Africa Coordinator based in Dakar, “Forming INCD Africa will give us a strong platform from which to do our work here in Africa, as well as ensuring that African perspectives and needs are integrated in the global movement.”

The INCD Africa urged governments to work with one another as well as with civil society, intergovernmental institutions and their own artists and cultural producers to achieve the real promise of the Convention.

Founded in 1998, INCD brings together more than 400 non-governmental cultural organizations in 74 countries. It has members in 23 African countries.

Source:

The Sun News Online

INCD Logo (image above)

UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard launch project to counter brain drain in Africa

Read the full UNESCO Press Release.

UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard have launched a joint project to help reduce brain drain in Africa by providing grid computing technology to universities in Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

The “Piloting Solutions for Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa” project aims to establish links between researchers who have stayed in their countries and those that have left, connecting scientists to international colleagues, research networks and potential funding organizations. Faculties and students at beneficiary universities will also be able to work on major collaborative research projects with other institutions around the world.