EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge

 

UNESCO has teamed up with Nokia and the Pearson Foundation to launch an Education for All (EFA) Crowdsourcing Challenge!

 

This contest asks participants to submit their best ides about how mobile communication can help achieve EFA goals.

 

The challenge goes until May of next year - but if you're interested or know anyone else who might be, offer your great idea. Your idea could earn you a cool new phone, if not the opportunity to improve educational access for those who need it.

 

For more details go here!

2012 UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists, Djerassi, CA

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program in partnership with UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists is offering a One-Month Bursary/Residency for one Visual Artist during the 2012 season. Artists between the ages of 25 and 35 from developing countries are invited to apply.


The Residency 
This will include a private work studio, living space, all meals, local transportation; and UNESCO–Bursary Programe will provide and manage the travel arrangements, a round-trip airfare at best rates in economy class to the San Francisco International Airport.

The selected artist is responsible for working materials and personal necessities. No other financial support is granted. Educational components such as artist workshops and/or classes are NOT offered as a part of this bursary.

Deadline:
Applications must be postmarked by October 31, 2011 for a bursary/residency in 2012.

Notification: 
Applicants will be notified of selection by email in February 2012.

Bursary/Residency Session Dates:
September 11, 2012 – October 11, 2012
(all laureates arrive on the first day and depart on the last day)

Eligibility:
The bursaries are designed only for non-US citizens in developing countries.
The Aschberg Bursaries Programme is only intended for professional artists wishing to enrich their careers and by acquiring experience abroad. Students are not eligible.
The bursary is for the selected laureate only. The Djerassi Program does not offer accommodations to spouses, family members, children, or pets.

UNESCO and Procter & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women

©UNESCO - Student girls in Pangani High School (Nairobi, Kenya)

UNESCO and the multinational consumer product company Procter & Gamble’s Always brand have launched a partnership to promote literacy for young girls and young women. The announcement coincides with International Literacy Day, 8 September.

Overcoming the gender gap is one of UNESCO’s major priorities. In a world that still numbers 793 million illiterate adults, women account for two thirds of those who cannot read and write. And girls account for 53 % of the 67 million primary-age school children around the world who are not receiving the education to which they have a right.               

The first project launched under the partnership concerns girls’ literacy in Senegal, where, in 2006, fewer than 45% of women could read or write. Educational kits and digital resources will be made available to train and support more than 1,200 teachers who will devote 600 hours of literacy and life skills teaching to girls in Senegal.

Read more.....

World Bank and UNESCO: Expanding Opportunities for Collaboration on Culture and Sustainable Development

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and
Ms Inger Anderson, World Bank Vice President, Sustainable Development,

UNESCO and the World Bank have cooperated informally over the past decades, in particular on conservation efforts in the World Heritage sites. Today the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing that on-going collaboration and expanding it to encompass a larger strategic scope.

Thanks to this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by Inger Andersen, World Bank Vice President, Sustainable Development and Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, concrete joint initiatives have been identified in an effort to pursue common objectives of the two organizations in the areas of culture and sustainable development. Read more,,,,,

The UNESCO-HP Brain Gain Initiative

The migration of highly-skilled people is having a significant impact on higher education and research in developing nations, as universities and research centers have to retain highly-skilled and increasingly mobile professionals in increasingly competitive labour markets.

UNESCO and HP joined forces in 2003 to develop several projects, using innovative technology to create a “brain gain” for regions that are particularly impacted by the exodus of academics and scientists.

In 2009 UNESCO and HP agreed to scale up the initiative to help create a sustainable university e-infrastructure for science, bringing together higher education institutions and research centres in Africa and the Arab States region and allowing them to pursue innovative education projects.

By the end of 2011, this infrastructure could span some 100 higher education institutions in 20 countries provided like-minded corporations and organizations join UNESCO and HP in this initiative.

Click here to learn more!

Irina Bokova and Rod Beckstromm Head of ICANN Sign Accord

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, talks to Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO of ICANN. The video was made in Paris on 10 December 2009, when their two organizations signed an accord to cooperate to protect endangered languages on the Internet

Google and UNESCO announce alliance to provide virtual visits of several World Heritage sites

Sites of outstanding universal value inscribed on the World Heritage List – the Palace of Versailles in France, the historic centre of Prague in the Czech Republic and the old town of Cáceres in Spain, for example – can now be explored online by internet users around the world, thanks to an alliance signed by UNESCO and the international corporation Google.

The agreement makes it possible for internet users to visit 19* of the 890 World Heritage properties via Google’s Street View interface. All the other sites on the List will be shown on the Google Earth and Google Maps interfaces.

______

*Spain: Santiago de Compostela (Old Town); Old Town of Cáceres; Historic Walled Town of Cuenca; Old City of Salamanca; Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches; Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct; Historic City of Toledo France: Palace and Park of Versailles; Paris, Banks of the Seine Italy: Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata; Historic Centre of Siena; Historic Centre of Urbino; Historic Centre of San Gimignano Netherlands: Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout Czech Republic: Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc; Historic Centre of Český Krumlov; Historic Centre of Prague United Kingdom: Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Microsoft Commits $50 Million in Higher Education Resources, Training and Certifications

Gates & Matsuura at 2004 signing

In an effort to help higher education institutions support economic stimulus efforts and work-force development strategies, Microsoft Corp. has committed up to $50 million through the Microsoft Education Alliance Program agreement. As part of the agreement, the company will provide resources and tools for short-term work-force training and higher education enhancements.

The announcement was made at the Education Leaders Forum, a one-day forum jointly organized by UNESCO and Microsoft, where more than 150 ministers of education, senior education officials and policy advisors discussed how governments and universities can take full advantage of e-technology's potential to address the current knowledge and skills challenges facing higher education.

Earlier this week, Microsoft and UNESCO announced a joint task force to help higher education institutions worldwide meet the growing challenge of supporting economic stimulus efforts and work-force development strategies. The UNESCO-Microsoft Task Force on Higher Education and ICT will develop a strategic plan of action to identify how ICT can be used by governments as a catalyst for change. Microsoft's $50 million commitment is supporting the mission of the new task force and enabling the implementation of critical UNESCO and Microsoft educational resources.

Read more!

Landmark UNESCO-Professional Team Partnership

FCBarcelona is one of Europe's great professional soccer teams. Now its associated Foundation, the FCBarcelona Foundation, has signed a landmark agreement with UNESCO by which they will partner in four areas:

• The fight against racism and violence in sport
• The fight against doping
• Education and literacy teaching for defenseless children
• The creation of a UNESCO Chair FCBarcelona on "Sports and Civic Responsibility"

Read more!

UNESCO-World Sky Race Join Together

The World Heritage Center and the World Air League, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization, have established a partnership aiming to promote environmental protection and the use of lighter-than-air skyships as a means to reduce pollution and pressures caused by transportation.

The World Air League is currently promoting the World Sky Race, an historic tour and competition of lighter-than-air skyships racing 30,000+ miles. It also will be setting up on its website a means to make charitable contributions to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Don R. Hartsell, World Air League (WAL) Commissioner and Managing Director is also Chairman of Solex Environmental Systems, Inc.

UNESCO and HP Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement

UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard (HP) signed a strategic partnership agreement on 19 December to strengthen their collaboration around existing education projects.

“UNESCO’s education priorities are very much in line with the goals of HP’s education strategy. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, HP has supported more than 200 education projects in over 20 countries, reaching over 50,000 young people in 2007. On a worldwide level, HP contributed grants to more than 850 schools in 36 countries, worth €30 million between 2004 and 2007,” said Gabriele Zedlmayer,vice president, Global Citizenship HP Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Read more!

UNESCO and Non-Governmental Organizations

Since its foundation, UNESCO has given great importance to partnership with civil society organizations, in particular NGOs. The role of civil society representatives is increasingly important in every sector of daily life, and partnership with civil society organizations is becoming indispensable for governmental organizations in pursuing their strategic objectives.

Every six years, UNESCO's secretariat makes a report to the General Conference on the contributions that NGO's have made to UNESCO's operations. A new report has recently been published in preparation for this year's meeting of the General Conference.

Download the report (PDF, 46 pages.)

UNESCO provides this list of NGO's maintaining official relations with UNESCO that are headquartered in the United States:

	FORMAL CONSULTATIVE RELATIONS
	INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT (IAEA)
	WORLD CONFERENCE OF RELIGIONS FOR PEACE (WCRP)
	WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS (WJC)
	FORMAL CONSULTATIVE RELATIONS AS A NETWORK
	INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION (IAPA)
	INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION (IRA)
	SIL INTERNATIONAL (SIL)
	SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER (SWC)
	WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE (WPFC)
	OPERATIONAL RELATIONS
	B'NAI B'RITH
	INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING ASSOCIATION (IAA)
	INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CONTINUING ENGINEERING EDUCATION (IACEE)
	INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR COUNSELLING (IAC)
	INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LIONS CLUBS
	INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HEALTH, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, RECREATION, SPORT AND DANCE (ICHPER)
	INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR TEACHING (ICET)
	INTERNATIONAL LITERACY INSTITUTE (ILI)
	INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATION (ISPA)
	INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR EDUCATION THROUGH ART (INSEA)
	JUNIOR CHAMBER INTERNATIONAL (JCI)
	ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
	ZONTA INTERNATIONAL (ZONTA)
	OFFICIAL RELATIONS THROUGH UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION
	INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE (IUPsyS)
	WORLD FEDERATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH (WFMH)
	FOUNDATION AND SIMILAR INSTITUTION
	POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU, INC
	WORLD EDUCATION
	WORLD MONUMENTS FUND (WMF)

Public-private partnerships for education: what makes them work?

Partnerships for Education (PfE), led by UNESCO and the World Economic Forum, brought together supporters of public-private partnerships for education at a workshop on 25 and 26 June in Geneva, Switzerland.

"It is truly an honour to be part of such a groundbreaking educational model
where private, public and non-profit organizations come together
to drive the marriage of education and technology for the greater good."

John Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco Systems

The workshop focussed on the success and sustainability of education partnerships.

Participants from UN agencies, the private sector, civil society, academic institutions, governments, and teachers from all regions of the world described examples of multi-stakeholder partnerships in education (MSPEs), identified common factors for success and review capacity for delivering such partnerships worldwide. They will also study how best to co-ordinate existing MSPE initiatives.

Partnerships for Education (PfE) is an unprecedented collaboration between governments, the private sector, international organizations and donors to help deliver effective private sector contributions to meet the goal of providing Education for All (EFA) by 2015. The partnership was signed between UNESCO and the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2007.

Read more about UNESCO catalyzed partnerships for education.

World Heritage Partners

Anasazi cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Center

UNESCO and its World Heritage Center are working for the conservation and promotion of the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. These diverse places represent the outstanding universal value of humanity's heritage, a compelling testimony to the biodiversity of our planet and to centuries of major cultural accomplishments.

This heritage is everyone's legacy. All are invited to help in its conservation. State members, international and national organizations as well the civil society commit daily to this

World Heritage's partners are a keystone for the preservation of numerous sites. These partnerships are as varied as the sites themselves in their endeavors: mobilizing resources, sharing know-how, reinforcing administrative and technical experience and expertise.

Among the partners of UNESCO's World Heritage Center from the United States are:

* Hewlett-Packard A first partnership agreement was reached in 2003 with the company to strengthen and implement the World Heritage Centre's Information Management System through the "World Heritage Image and Documentation Management" project. At the end of 2005 a new partnership was concluded between the World Heritage Centre, Hewlett-Packard and National Geographic Society to design, produce and distribute a new version of the World Heritage Map using a new digital printing technology.

* The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation A partnership was set up between the Foundation and the World Heritage Centre to support the marine programme in the Carribbean.

* The National Geographic Society In 2005, a partnership was concluded between the World Heritage Centre, Hewlett-Packard and National Geographic Society to design, produce and distribute a new version of the World Heritage Map to increase its diffusion to the public. In November 2006, a new agreement was signed between the World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Society to set up a free downloadable program, "National Geographic World Explorer", including high-resolution images, cartography and interactive thematic information. Location of World Heritage sites as well as information about them will be included in this program.

* Philanthropy Squared In 2006, the World Heritage Centre signed an agreement with Philanthropy Squared to set up promotional and fundraising activities in the United States for World Heritage.

* The Nature Conservancy In 2004, the World Heritage Centre concluded an agreement with this organization to develop various projects for sites, especially for capacity-building and improvement of management, with emphasis on local communities. This partnership is based on a shared vision to protect and manage natural and mixed cultural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, in the fields of biodiversity and sustainable development on terrestrial, marine and coastal sites.

* The United Nations Foundation (UNF) Since 1998, UNF has had a cooperation agreement with the United Nations to achieve the objectives of the Charter of United Nations through innovative, forward-looking and proactive projects that make contributions to the well-being of the world. To improve this collaboration, the United Nations created a United Nations Fund of International Partnerships (UNFIP) destined to receive grants from UNF for projects. UNF and UNFIP have carried out, in partnership with the World Heritage Centre, projects on the world's biological diversity and the promotion of the importance of natural heritage for the future of humankind. In 2003, a partnership agreement was created between UNF and the World Heritage Centre to raise awareness about World Heritage, particularly in the United States, and to mobilize support for both cultural and natural World Heritage sites, notably through the creation of web pages.

UNESCO and infoDev conclude Memorandum of Understanding for future cooperation

Read about the new partnership and its particular emphasis on providing education planners, policy-makers and practitioners with resources for the use of ICTs in education.

UNESCO and infoDev have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that lays the ground for future cooperation, particularly in in the areas of education and communication.

The Memorandum foresees that UNESCO and infoDev will share ideas, resources, and expertise to launch joint projects and improve the impact of their action.

In terms of the agreement, particular emphasis will be placed on providing education planners, policy-makers and practitioners with resources for the use of information and communication technologies in education.

infoDev is a partnership of international development agencies, coordinated and served by an Secretariat housed at the World Bank. Thus its offices are in Washington D.C. While there have been close informal relationships between the U.S. government and infoDev and U.S. citizens in the Secretariat, and while the U.S. is a member nation of the World Bank, the U.S. government has not been a donor to infoDev.

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.