Throughout its activities and projects, UNESCO performs and assumes a range of functions corresponding to its role as the international lead agency for education, the sciences, culture and communication.
Aimed, first of all, at the most vulnerable and disadvantaged: the least-developed countries, notably in Africa, women and youth, five functions have been defined by the Medium-Term Strategy for the period 2002-2007.
The origins and consequences of the profound mutations taking place today must be fully understood along with the place occupied by education, science, culture and communication.
UNESCO plays a key role in anticipating and defining, in the light of the ethical principles, as a kind of “laboratory of ideas”, the most important emerging problems in its spheres of competence and in identifying appropriate strategies and policies to deal with them. Only then can these changes be channelled and UNESCO’s action becomes effective.
UNESCO has a role in gathering, transferring, disseminating and sharing available information, knowledge and best practices in its fields of competence, identifying innovative solutions and testing them through pilot projects. It is one of the most crucial functions of the Organization. It is here that UNESCO initiates and co-ordinates regional or worldwide networks, which have a triple vocation: research, exchange of research results, and training.
At international conferences, world experts also elaborate new and common approaches to the major issues confronting UNESCO and Member States mobilize their talents and resources to attain common objectives.
When, beyond their cultural differences and traditions, States agree to common rules, they can draw up an international instrument: an agreement or convention, which are legally binding, a recommendation or a declaration.
UNESCO participates in this effort through its standard-setting action, serving as a central forum for articulating the ethical, normative and intellectual issues of our time, fostering multi-disciplinary exchange and mutual understanding, working – where possible and desirable – towards universal agreements on these issues, benchmarking targets and mobilizing international opinion.
UNESCO also helps to draw up the instruments, works towards its adoption or revision, sees that it is respected and, occasionally, assists Member States in putting it into practice.
UNESCO organizes international cooperation for servicing its stakeholders, especially its Member States in building human and institutional capacities in all its fields of competence, in the form of “technical co-operation”.
When Mauritius seeks to renovate its education system, when Kazakhstan decides to elaborate legislation on press freedom, or El Salvador to provide civic instruction to its police force, these countries request technical assistance from UNESCO. This function of advisor generally concerns the development of policies, national strategies, projects, feasibility studies, raising funds for their execution, and finally evaluation.
UNESCO, as a technical multidisciplinary agency, assumes a catalytic role for development cooperation in its fields of competence, for the convergence of work which otherwise would be dispersed, thus less effective, and risk being ignored by those who need it most. To that end it seeks to ensure that the objectives, principles and priorities it promotes are followed suit by other multi - and bilateral programmes and that projects are implemented, in particular at regional and national levels, through innovation, effective interventions and wise practices.
Beyond the stimulation of personal contacts among specialists, or through the reinforcement of education systems, UNESCO contributes to the dissemination of knowledge by serving as a center for the collection and worldwide distribution of specialized information in its various fields of action, using written materials, and to an increasing extent, electronic means.
UNESCO publishes about 50 bulletins and some 20 periodicals, publishes or co-publishes each year about 100 titles and produces biennial World Reports on the state of education, science, culture and communication. The Statistical Yearbook is an essential reference tool for information on the situation in these same fields in all countries and regions of the world.
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When, beyond their cultural differences and traditions, States agree to common rules, they can draw up an international instrument: an agreement or convention, which are legally binding, a recommendation or a declaration.
UNESCO participates in this effort through its standard-setting action, serving as a central forum for articulating the ethical, normative and intellectual issues of our time, fostering multi-disciplinary exchange and mutual understanding, working – where possible and desirable – towards universal agreements on these issues, benchmarking targets and mobilizing international opinion.
A general introduction to the UNESCO standard-setting instruments is presented on the home page of the Web site unesco.org.
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Millennium Development Goals of United Nations
The United Nations Millennium Declaration of September 2000, which serves as an overarching guide for UNESCO’s Strategy, consolidated the broad consensus reached and agreed on specific time-bound targets.
A set of international development goals (IDGs) defines select major components of a global agenda for the twenty-first century.
By 2015 all 189 United Nations Member States have pledged to:
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The preamble of the Constitution of UNESCO declares that ‘since wars begin in the minds of men, it is the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed’.
So that a unanimous, lasting and genuine peace may be secured, the Preamble declares that the States Signatory to the Constitution believed ‘in full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge".
The purpose of the Organization was defined as: "to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations’.
UNESCO is working to improve education worldwide through technical advice, standard-setting, innovative projects and networking. The six Education for All goals, adopted by 164 countries at the World Education Forum in 2000, have become the Organization’s overriding priority in education.
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UNESCO regards cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue as the most effective way of achieving development and peace in the face of the challenges of globalization. The Organization is dedicated to protecting and promoting the world’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage so that such wealth may be received by future generations in a context of sustainable development.
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The International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is UNESCO's principal mechanism to contribute to the priority issue of water resources. The IHP strives to minimize the risks to water resources systems, fully taking into account social challenges and interactions and developing appropriate approaches for sound water management.
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UNESCO considers that the scientific and technological progresses must be placed in a context of ethical reflection rooted in the cultural, legal, philosophical and religious heritage of the various human communities. In the field of the ethics of life , UNESCO establishes standards, creates legal instruments, advises governments and coordinates intergovernmental organizations.
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UNESCO encourages the equitable access to information and knowledge and defends the freedom of expression and the development of the communication field.
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As early as 1942, in wartime, the governments of the European countries, which were confronting Nazi Germany and its allies met in the United Kingdom for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME). The Second World War was far from over, yet those countries were looking for ways and means to reconstruct their systems of education once peace was restored. Very quickly, the project gained momentum and soon took on a universal note. New governments, including that of the United States, decided to join in.
Upon the proposal of CAME, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London from 1 to 16 November 1945. Scarcely had the war ended when the conference opened. It gathered together the representatives of forty-four countries. Spurred on by France and the United Kingdom, two countries that had known great hardship during the conflict, the delegates decided to create an organization that would embody a genuine culture of peace.
In their eyes, the new organization must establish the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” and, in so doing, prevent the outbreak of another world war.
At the end of the conference, thirty-seven countries made the birth of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Constitution of UNESCO, signed on 16 November 1945, came into force on 4 November 1946 after ratification by twenty countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States.
The first session of the General Conference of UNESCO took place in Paris from 19 November to 10 December 1946 with the participation of representatives from 30 governments entitled to vote.
A new Director-General is elected every four years by the General Conference. Under his authority, the Secretariat is expected to translate into reality the programmes approved by the General Conference. The present Director-General of UNESCO, who was elected in 1999, is the Japanese Koïchiro Matsuura.
1999 -
Koïchiro Matsuura, Japan
1987 - 1999
Federico Mayor, Spain
1974 - 1987
Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, Senegal
1961 - 1974 (acting 1962)
René Maheu, France
1958 - 1961
Vittotino Veronese, Italy
1953 - 1958
Luther Evans, United States
1952 - 1953 (acting DG)
John W. Taylor, United States
1948 - 1952
Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexico
1946 - 1948
Julian Huxley, United Kingdom
Located in the Place de Fontenoy, in Paris, the main building which houses the Headquarters of UNESCO was inaugurated on 3 November 1958. The Y-shaped design was invented by three architects of different nationalities under the direction of an international committee.
Nicknamed the ‘three-pointed star’, the entire edifice stands on seventy-two columns of concrete piling. It is world famous, not only because it is the home of a well-known organization but also because of its outstanding architectural qualities. There, you can find the UNESCO Publishing bookshops, which propose all sales publications in stock, plus a large philatelic and numismatic collection, not sold online for the time being, as well as a growing UNESCO-related gifts section.
Three more buildings complete the headquarters site. The second building, known affectionately as the « accordion », holds the egg-shaped hall with a pleated copper ceiling where the plenary sessions of the General Conference are held. The third building is in the form of a cube. Lastly, a fourth construction consists of two office floors hollowed out below street level, around six small sunken courtyards. The buildings, which contain many remarkable works of art, are open to the public.
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The Medium-Term Strategy for 2002-2007 represents together with the Programme and Budget for 2002-2003 the programmatic pillar of UNESCO’s reforms as approved by UNESCO’s General Conference in its resolution III/1, adopted at its 31st session held in October-November 2001. The Strategy aims at projecting a new vision and a new profile for the Organization by clarifying inter alia its main functions.
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