UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
Did you know that...• Some 900 million adults are illiterate, and some 120 million school-age children do not go to school. On the other hand, 2.7 billion adults can read and write today, as compared to 1 billion in 1960.
• 30,000 graduates from countries in the South practice in the North. Today, there are 200 UNESCO University Chairs and some 40 university networks aimed at facilitating the transfer of knowledge and reducing this brain drain.
• UNESCO's World Heritage List includes 500 sites, both cultural and natural, which have an internationally protected status.
• There are 9,000 newspapers published daily in the world, more than half in developing countries, but only 200 in the whole of Africa.
• In 1980, only 15 per cent of all televisions in the world were in developing countries. Fifteen years later, this number has increased to 45 per cent.The dying lake
Prahn is a fisherman on Lake Tonle, in Cambodia.
Prahn worries. His family listens to him quietly. This morning, as all mornings in the last few months, he has brought back only a pound or so of fish, not even enough to feed them. "If it goes on, we'll have to leave!" They all know what that means. Leaving their house and wander aimlessly on the roads. "There is some hope. Yesterday, a man came to see me. He said that the lake is affected by some disease that kills the fish. This disease exists in other lakes, it is linked to the rate of flow of the waters. He promised that his team would do everything possible to save our lake. He says that the fish should come back after a while. In the meantime"...
Jacques, the hydrologist that came to see Prahn, works for UNESCO. He is part of a team working to arrive at a better understanding of the hydrological regime of Lake Tonle. Owing to their work, the lake will soon become a "biosphere reserve" and have internationally protected status. Through the network of existing reserves, it could benefit from solutions developed in similar environments.
Read or go hungry
Mahmud Rahid is a mechanic working in a small garage just outside Bandung, on the island of Java in Indonesia.
"I started working in this garage when I was ten. I am now 22, and the boss just told me that he needs a mechanic that can read and use the repair manuals. I am the oldest of nine children. I never had the time to learn how to read and write. Now, I might loose my job. To think that I was supposed to get married next month..."
Pedro is eleven or twelve, nobody knows. He has always lived on the street and has no family to speak of.
"To survive, I do odd jobs here and there. Sometimes, I beg. And if I am really hungry, I steal. Each time I want to start in a better job, I am asked whether I can read. Now I'm sorry, but they don't have sidewalk schools! So I don't know how I will ever pull through."
At the other end of the world, Professor William Watson of UNESCO is working hard on a problem which he has at heart: how to assist Pedro, Mahmud and all the others who want to learn how to read. With his UNESCO colleagues working on the concept of "lifelong education," he will help design community education programmes that will meet the specific needs of illiterate people such as Mahmud or Pedro.
From Albuquerque to Abu Simbel
Judith Bronstein runs a children's clothing store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "I have not taken a break in 10 years. So, this year, I decided to take it easy. I asked my sister to take over for two weeks, and I just left! I am finally realizing an old dream: to visit Egypt. Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by this country and its striking history. I think I must have read all the books ever written on the subject! No, I am not disappointed at all. On the contrary. I have already used 15 rolls of film in less than a week. I was mostly impressed by the temple in Abu Simbel. It is so magnificent. The site is just magical with the lake right below it. The place remains so mysterious that sometimes I felt as if I could see a pharaoh and his entourage."
Judith may have forgotten that the temple of Abu Simbel used to be located somewhere else. When the Aswan Dam was built, it might have been lost under the waters had it not been for UNESCO. Stone by stone, UNESCO experts moved the temple from the bottom to the top of the valley. It is 1 of 500 sites protected by UNESCO under its World Heritage programme.
UNESCO in brief
UNESCO came into being in 1946. Its main functions are to:
• Serve as a think tank to facilitate understanding of major developments in today's world and draw intellectual and ethical guidelines;
• Prod authorities to set objectives, and adopt the corresponding policies, in the fields of education, science, culture and communications, and advance international law by developing normative instruments in these fields;
• Serve as an international centre for the exchange of information on trends in the areas of education, sciences, culture and communications;
• Facilitate the progress, transfer and sharing of knowledge by encouraging research, training and education;
• Provide technical expertise to assist countries in formulating their policies and development projects.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
7 Place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07 SP
France
Tel.: (33-1) 4568 1000
Website: http://www.unesco.org
E-mail: info@unesco.org
