UNESCO - Activities

Activities

UNESCO implements its activities through the five programme areas of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information.

  • Education: UNESCO supports research in Comparative education; and provides expertise and fosters partnerships to strengthen national educational leadership and the capacity of countries to offer quality education for all. This includes the
    • Eight specialized Institutes in different topics of the sector
    • UNESCO Chairs, an international network of 644 UNESCO Chairs, involving over 770 institutions in 126 countries.
    • Environmental Conservation Organisation
    • Convention against Discrimination in Education adopted in 1960
    • Organization of the International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) in an interval of 12 years
    • Publication of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report
    • UNESCO ASPNet, an international network of 8,000 schools in 170 countries

UNESCO does not accredit institutions of higher learning.

  • UNESCO also issues public 'statements' to educate the public:
    • Seville Statement on Violence: A statement adopted by UNESCO in 1989 to refute the notion that humans are biologically predisposed to organised violence.
  • Designating projects and places of cultural and scientific significance, such as:
    • International Network of Geoparks
    • Biosphere reserves, through the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB), since 1971
    • City of Literature; in 2007, the first city to be given this title was Edinburgh, the site of Scotland's first circulating library. In 2008, Iowa City, Iowa became the City of Literature.
    • Endangered languages and linguistic diversity projects
    • Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
    • Memory of the World International Register, since 1997
    • Water resources management, through the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), since 1965
    • World Heritage Sites
  • Encouraging the "free flow of ideas by images and words" by:
    • Promoting freedom of expression, Freedom of the press and Freedom of information legislation, through the International Programme for the Development of Communication and the Communication and Information Programme
    • Promoting universal access to ICTs, through the Information for All Programme (IFAP)
    • Promoting Pluralism and cultural diversity in the media
  • Promoting events, such as:
    • International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World: 2001–2010, proclaimed by the UN in 1998
    • World Press Freedom Day, 3 May each year, to promote freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right and as crucial components of any healthy, democratic and free society.
    • Criança Esperança in Brazil, in partnership with Rede Globo, to raise funds for community-based projects that foster social integration and violence prevention.
    • International Literacy Day
    • International Year for the Culture of Peace
  • Founding and funding projects, such as:
    • Migration Museums Initiative: Promoting the establishment of museums for cultural dialogue with migrant populations.
    • UNESCO-CEPES, the European Centre for Higher Education: established in 1972 in Bucharest, Romania, as a de-centralized office to promote international co-operation in higher education in Europe as well as Canada, USA and Israel. Higher Education in Europe is its official journal.
    • Free Software Directory: since 1998 UNESCO and the Free Software Foundation have jointly funded this project cataloguing free software.
    • FRESH Focussing Resources on Effective School Health.
    • OANA, the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
    • International Council of Science
    • UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors
    • ASOMPS, Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices, a series of scientific conferences held in Asia
    • Botany 2000, a programme supporting taxonomy, and biological and cultural diversity of medicinal and ornamental plants, and their protection against environmental pollution
    • The UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, translating works of world literature both to and from multiple languages, from 1948 to 2005

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