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Encyclopedia > United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO logo
UNESCO logo

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. [citation needed]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. [1] Image File history File links Flag_of_UNESCO.svg This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_UNESCO.svg This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Widely-recognized peace symbol Peace is commonly understood to mean the Other definitions include freedom from disputes, harmonious relations and the absence of mental stress or anxiety, as the meaning of the word changes with context. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... link titleThe word international can mean: Between nations or encompassing several nations. ... Collaboration (co+labor+ation) refers abstractly to all processes wherein people work together —applying both to the work of individuals as well as larger collectives and societies. ... For mathematical sciences, see mathematics. ... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Respect is an attitude of acknowledging the feelings and interests of another party in a relationship, and of treating as consequential for the self the helping or harming of the other. ... Lady Justice - allegory of Justice as woman with sword and with book - statue at court building. ... Law (from the late Old English lagu of probable North Germanic origin) in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, forbid or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... Political freedom is the right, or the capacity, of self-determination as an expression of the individual will. ... United Nations Charter Opened for signature June 26, 1945 at San Francisco Entered into force October 24, 1945 Conditions for entry into force Ratification by the Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of...


In total 191 nations belong to UNESCO. The organization is headquartered 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 programmes: 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 programmes; regional and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage and to preserve human rights; and attempts to bridge the world-wide digital divide. The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation). ... World literacy rates by country The traditional definition of Literacy is the ability to use language ie to read, write, listen and speak. ... For mathematical sciences, see mathematics. ... For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ... Cultural diversity is the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. ... Heritage can refer to: Cultural heritage Cultural traditions Heritage tourism Inheritance Kinship and descent Natural heritage A novel in the BBC Books series See also English Heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. ...

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Controversy and reform

UNESCO has been at the centre 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 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. The UK later rejoined in 1997 and the United States in 2003, after considerable reforms were implemented in the organization. NWICO is an acronym for The New World Information and Communication Order, a term coined in a debate over media representations of the developing world in UNESCO in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ... Many Voices One World, known as the MacBride report was a 1980 UNESCO publication written by a commission presided by Irish nobel laureate Seán MacBride. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Freedom of speech. ... The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...


The organization's reforms 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 high of 79 in 1999 to 52 today. Parallel management structures, including 35 Cabinet-level special advisor positions, were abolished. 209 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 (IOS) 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' 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 organisation (divisions and sections based at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, UNESCO regional and cluster field offices and international insitutes) with insufficient coordination between them.


UNESCO activities

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An endangered language is a language with so few surviving speakers that it is in danger of falling out of use. ... Map showing the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage by country designation as of 2005: red (countries with 4 designations), orange (3), yellow (2) and green (1). ... The Memory of the World International Register is a list of documentary heritage identified by an International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO since 1997. ... Site #86: Memphis and its Necropolis, including the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... Freedom of the press (or press freedom) is the guarantee by a government of free public speech often through a state constitution for its citizens, and associations of individuals extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. ... The initialism ICT has several meanings: abbreviation for Information and Communication Technology abbreviation for Indochina Time UTC+7 hours Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C., a football team playing in Scottish Premier League International Computers and Tabulators, former name of a British computer industry company Information and Communications Technology intra-company... Pluralism is, in the general sense, the affirmation and acceptance of diversity. ... Cultural diversity is the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. ... World Press Freedom Day honours sacrifices around the world made for freedom of the press and reminds governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression that is enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Freedom of speech. ... UNESCO-CEPES was established 1972 at Bucharest, Romania as a de-centralized office for the European Centre for Higher Education. ... Bucharest (Romanian: BucureÅŸti ) is the capital city and industrial and commercial centre of Romania. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... The Free Software Foundation logo The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit organization founded in October 1985 by Richard Stallman to support the free software movement (free as in freedom), and in particular the GNU project. ... This article is about Free Software as defined by the sociopolitical Free Software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... OANA (organization of arhitecture national angelical) from romania,vrancea,focasani. ... The International Council for Science (ICSU), formerly called the International Council of Scientific Unions, was founded in 1931 as an international non-governmental organization devoted to international co-operation in the advancement of science. ... UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors are celebrity advocates of UNESCO and utilize their talent or fame to spread the UNESCO ideals. ...

Directors General of UNESCO

  1. Julian Huxley, United Kingdom (19461948)
  2. Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexico (19481952)
  3. John Wilkinson Taylor, United States (acting 19521953)
  4. Luther Evans, United States (19531958)
  5. Vittorino Veronese, Italy (19581961)
  6. René Maheu, France (19611974; acting 1962)
  7. Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, Senegal (19741987)
  8. Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Spain (19871999)
  9. Koïchiro Matsuura, Japan (1999–present)

Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, FRS (June 22, 1887 – February 14, 1975) was a British biologist, author, Humanist and internationalist, known for his popularisations of science in books and lectures. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Jaime Torres Bodet (b. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... John Wilkinson Taylor (born 1906) was a U.S. educator. ... In law, when someone is said to be acting in a position it can mean one of three things. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vittorino Veronese (born 1910) was an Italian banker. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... In law, when someone is said to be acting in a position it can mean one of three things. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... ‹The stub template below has been proposed for deletion or renaming. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Federico Mayor Zaragoza (b. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... [[Image:Koïchiro_ ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Others

  • Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize

The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize was established in 1990 by UNESCO, to honour living individuals and active public or private bodies or institutions that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the...

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