COOPERATION WITH AFRICAN ORGANIZATIONS

• INTRODUCTION
• ECOSOC
• LATEST AGGREEMENTS WITH OAU, ECOWAS, AND SADC ET LE CPLP
• COOPERATION WITH OAU

In order to heighten the impact of UNESCO’s activities in Africa while at the same time promoting subregional and regional integration, regarded by Audience Africa as a priority field, the Department has strengthened its working relations with a number of African regional associations and organizations, both intergovernmental and governmental, such as the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and, in particular, the Organization of African Unity.

La Déclaration of the Directeur General in ECOSOG: 16 July 2001

Latest Agreements with :

• OAU
• ECOWAS
• CPLP















Cooperation with OAU

 

The adoption in November 1995 of a common OAU/UNESCO strategy to implement the recommendations of Audience Africa, and the signing of the Aide-Mémoire in January 1996, made it possible for the Department to give new impetus to cooperation between OAU and UNESCO, particularly in the context of the follow-up to the recommendations of Audience Africa and the implementation of the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community. This was done by introducing regular consultations and joint commissions between the two organizations, the most recent of which was held on 1 June 1999. These meetings helped to identify joint activities in particular as regards:

- South-South cooperation and regional integration;
- the culture of peace and conflict prevention, education in tolerance, human rights and democratic principles and practices;
- the development of human resources;
- the new information and communication technologies;
- the participation of women in the development process and their contribution to the culture of peace.

For example, in the last two years the Department has contributed to setting up an early warning system for conflict prevention and resolution in Africa through the establishment of infrastructures, education programmes and rehabilitation programmes. Expert advice was supplied to the OAU Secretariat over a year to promote and implement UNESCO activities relating to a culture of peace, and specialists in this field and those of education, science and technology were made available to OAU. The OAU information services were strengthened through personnel training and the supply of equipment in the framework of the restructuring and relaunching of the Pan-African Information Agency (PANA).

Since the proclamation by OAU in 1996 of the Decade for African Education, for which UNESCO is represented on the Steering Committee, the main thrust of joint cooperation is to be found in UNESCO participation in the activities foreseen under the Decade’s programme of action adopted at the OAU Conference of African Ministers of Education (COMEDAF I) held in Harare from 17 to 19 March 1999 with financial assistance from UNESCO. It was agreed to establish a coordinating mechanism for the Decade, COMEDAF I and MINEDAF VII, which was adopted at the Summit of Heads of State and Government meeting in Algiers from 12 to 14 July 1999. As regards execution of the programme, UNESCO will provide expert advice in the conduct of the activities envisaged to OAU and the regional economic communities concerned: SADC (Southern Africa Development Community), ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), AMU (Arab Maghreb Union), ESCA (Economic Community of the States of Central Africa).

Other joint activities - in the field of culture, for example - will be carried out, such as the restructuring of the African Cultural Fund, the organization of the fifth Conference of African Ministers of Culture, implementation of the Dakar Plan of Action on Cultural Industries, including problems linked to development of the book industry in Africa, the mobilization of Member States for the commemoration of the “Day of 23 August, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition”, and the establishment of a structure for cultural cooperation since the disappearance of the African Cultural Institute (ACI). Establishment of an Afro-Arab Cultural Institute is under consideration. UNESCO has also contributed to several commercial events organized jointly by OAU, the League of Arab States and the host countries.

The 35th session of the OAU Summit of Heads of State and Government (Algiers, 12-14 July 1999) adopted a resolution requesting UNESCO to revise, with a view to strengthening, the Cooperation Agreement between OAU and UNESCO signed in 1968, with special emphasis on the pooling of their expert skills in the service of Member States, to continue to develop consultation machinery with a view to implementing common projects and to continue initiatives to promote an environment of peace and stability for development in Africa.

In connection with meetings of the joint UNESCO/OAU Commission, the Priority African Department stressed the importance of developing science and technology in Africa. For example, the OAU Summit of Heads of State and Government at its 35th session adopted a resolution recommending that the developing countries gradually increase the proportion of their annual GNP spent on scientific and technological research to at least 0.4% and that 3% of the resources from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) be set aside for developing science and technology.

At that Summit, OAU also adopted a resolution in support of the Zanzibar Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the Pan-African Women’s Conference on a Culture of Peace (Zanzibar, 17-20 May 1999).