The UN and UNESCO must not let the world down

(Part 2 of a series on the 180th Session of the UNESCO EB)

UNESCO, Paris — The Executive Board spring and autumn sessions used to last one whole month. Since Director General Koichiro Matsuura took over the administration of the UNESCO headquarters, the sessions have been reduced to two weeks.

This fall, the erratic weather plunged to 12 degrees Centigrade but within two weeks it went up to 22 degrees Centigrade. I sat in this Executive Board fall session as the alternate delegate to the Philippine seat while DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus was kept busy at the budget hearing in Manila.

Between the April and October sessions, the headlines have been dominated by one global crisis after another: Surging food and energy prices; persistent poverty and growing inequality; and now a financial crisis of historic proportions. In the face of this situation, Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura opened the 180th session before 58 members of the UNESCO Executive Board.

He stated, “…Never before has the world been so acutely aware of its interdependence and in need of effective global institutions to address its common problems. When I visited New York two weeks ago to attend the United Nations General Assembly and Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I felt a heightened sense of personal and institutional responsibility. The United Nations, and within it UNESCO, must not let the world down…”

Where do we stand?

The Director General recalled that in September 2000, at the turn of the new century, the world committed to a set of eight goals of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) aimed at overcoming extreme poverty and improving the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable. Year 2008 is halfway towards the 2015 target date set for achieving the MDGs, as well as the six Education for All (EFA) goals, which were adopted in Dakar, Africa earlier in the same year.

The United Nations Summit reviewed the impact of these international commitments particularly in the field of education, where more children — especially more girls — are in school than ever before. Many of the world’s poorest countries are increasing primary enrolments at unprecedented rates. The number of children entering primary school in Africa has jumped by 40 percent since 1999. However, 75 million children still do not go to school, and millions leave early primary school adding yearly to adult illiterates.

As the lead agency for the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), UNESCO has led a relentless campaign for more action on adult literacy. This was highlighted at the symposium organized by the Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD), Ms. Laura Bush. The overwhelming impression from the meeting was one of increasing political commitment to literacy with the creation of a UNESCO UNLD Fund to Advance Global Literacy, backed by a pledge of $2 million more from the United States.

Education for sustainable development – for all

We must acknowledge this remarkable progress and the role UNESCO has played in driving it forward.

First, there is now widespread recognition that poverty eradication simply cannot happen without basic education. UNESCO has been expounding that education lies at the very heart of sustainable development. This conviction was particularly strong at the roundtable on education and health. There was consensus on the crucial importance of education to achieving health targets, from reducing child and maternal mortality, to combating HIV and AIDS.

Second, if the MDG agenda of eradicating poverty is to be achieved, then a comprehensive approach to education embodied in the six EFA goals must be adopted. These goals go beyond primary enrolment to address the critical issues of early childhood care and education, literacy, as well as quality and life skills for youth and adults.

The EFA partnership has become a collective endeavor with civil society and the private sector becoming more engaged in bringing fresh resources and vision. The Director General joined world leaders, including the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Australia, heads of the European Commission and the World Bank, Queen Rania of Jordan, Bono, and the president of FIFA (International Federation of Football Association), as well as education advocates to launch the “Class of 2015”, organized by the Global Campaign for Education, aimed at building political will to achieve EFA goals.

Developing countries must be in the driving seat

The third progress is on financing. DG Matsuura organized a debate on funding for education, which concluded that “developing countries must be in the driving seat.” Since Dakar, many developing countries have significantly boosted spending on basic education. However, it remains worrying that some of those countries furthest from achieving EFA have actually cut investment since 2000. He stated, “We agreed that financing education was a compact. Donors promised that no country seriously committed to EFA would be thwarted in its efforts for want of finance, but donors have not lived up to this commitment.”

The estimated annual need in terms of aid for low-income countries is $11 billion. Yet, aid to the poorest nations amounted to just $3.8 billion. The G-8 and the European Union have restated their determination to meet past promises. At the MDG Summit in New York, $4.5 billion were pledged for education, two-thirds for basic education.

DG consistently ‘brokers’ funds for education

The Director General has consistently “brokered” funds for education convening several side events in New York, including a debate on education financing with the five Dakar convening agencies to reinforce multilateral cooperation in EFA, in line with the Global Action Plan. This actually dates back to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which changed the way developing countries and donors are working together on the ground.

Against the backdrop of a decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA), UNESCO took measures to influence the G-8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan early this July, urging leaders to respect their previous pledges. Earlier in June, at the ECOSOC High Level Segment in New York, the Director General complained that aid to basic education was not rising nearly fast enough to achieve the EFA goals on target. In their final communiqué, G-8 leaders reiterated their commitment to EFA, particularly in Africa, and pledged to continue efforts to meet the estimated $1 billion shortfall in the EFA-Fast-Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) countries. However, it was disappointing that they did not set quantitative targets, thus, UNESCO will keep pushing for this through the HLG process.

Financing will also be featured prominently on the agenda of the EFA High Level Group meeting in Oslo, Norway in December 2008, along with three other themes: the importance of education to meeting global challenges and the MDGs, teachers, and governance for equity.

Global action plan

In New York, DG Matsuura raised with UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervi_, UNESCO’s particular concern that the EFA goals be effectively and coherently pursued at the country level. It was agreed upon that a joint communication to representatives in the field be prepared, providing them with guidance on how to reinforce joint action on EFA in order to build on Kemal Dervi’s letter to the resident coordinators.

It is very important for UNESCO that the World Bank, as one of the Dakar agencies and a key actor in EFA, is a full partner in this endeavor. The World Bank is included in the Global Action Plan for EFA, but not within the scheme of United Nations “Delivery as One”. DG Matsuura has argued from the start that United Nations country-level reform efforts should be broadened to include the World Bank, given their involvement in development.

As of press time, we received news that last October 24 DG Matsuura signed with UNDP Dervis a Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership Agreement between UNESCO and UNDP.

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