UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

Presentation by His Excellency:
Professor Michael OMOLEWA
President of the UNESCO General
Conference - and Permanent
Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO
At the Cross-Cultural Networks in
History of Modern Education of the
International Standing Conference for
the History of Education (ISCHE XXVI)
University of Geneva, Switzerland
16 July, 2004

Eminent Scholars

Distinguished Academics

And dear friends:

This study is an initial exploratory attempt to draw attention to the hitherto neglected, but important, subject of how the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has sought to use conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings to foster the spirit of cooperation, understanding and partnership among its various Member States. There is a vast array of rich materials that could be used to prepare a definitive study on this subject.

Currently, there are scant comprehensive and authoritative accounts of the history of UNESCO. However, none of these publications paid adequate attention to the status and role of the organisation as a network. Yet the organisation remains most unique as a promoter of dialogue among peoples, governments, professional bodies, associations, organisations and the civil society at large. UNESCO was founded in November 1945 at the end of the Second World War following a session of the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education entitled “Conference for the Establishment of the United Nations Educational and Cultural Education” held in London from 1 to 16 November 1945. The new organisation was an outcome of the Yalta conference of February 1945, which had been convened by the USA on behalf of UK, USSR and China. It was subsequently followed by the San Francisco conference where the United Nations Charter was adopted and signed on 26 June 1945.2 All these conferences had one theme in common: how to resolve conflict without recourse to war. Thus, political leaders from the very beginning of the United Nations were conscious of the need for an international, intergovernmental organisation capable of responding to post-War challenges in the fields of education, the sciences and culture.

UNESCO was expected from its foundation to take on the important responsibility of working towards the maintenance of peace, following the horrors experienced during the Second World War. The organisation was specifically charged with the responsibility of building the defences of peace in the minds of men through the influence of education, science and culture. Right from the onset, UNESCO’s chosen strategy was the promotion of understanding, tolerance, appreciation and respect for diversity of cultures, traditions and practices. The idea was to ensure that available pools of knowledge, dialogue among experts, specialists and key politicians would sustain a vision of a better world where conflicts are resolved through discussion and dialogue and not by recourse to violence and force.

UNESCO is particularly unique as a vehicle for dialogue and discourse because its founders were mindful of the need for an organisation devoted to the promotion of ideas. The founders observed that there was a vacuum, after the end of the Second World War, for peace, tolerance and harmony among the peoples of the world. It was argued in its constitution that “Ignorance of each other’s ways and lives throughout the history of mankind,” violence, suspicion and the mistrust between the peoples of the world have often led to war. The founders believed that peace must be grounded “if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.”

Unlike other agencies of the United Nations system, UNESCO was conceived as an intellectual forum that would help the world by generating ideas, through careful exploration and search for genuine solution to problems, the critical consciousness for objectivity, and a rigorous pursuit of discussion and negotiation. Thus in its constitution, as adopted in London Friday, 16 November 1945, the States party to it were requested to work towards “the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth,” “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge,” and “to increase the means of communication between their peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of mutual understanding and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives.”

UNESCO was given the mandate to initiate methods of international cooperation and has over the years confirmed itself as a house of information and knowledge. It provides a veritable instrument for dialogue among civilization and peoples of the world.

Of all the agencies and organisations of the United Nations system, UNESCO is reputed as having the greatest number of conferences, workshops and seminars.5 Every two years, ministers responsible for matters related to UNESCO’s mandate assemble in a general conference to deliberate on policy issues including the programme and budget of the organisation. There have now been 32 of these conferences, including four extraordinary sessions, since the first held at Avenue Kleber in Paris, from 20 November to 10 December 1946. Mr. Leon Blum, an eminent French statesman, presided.6 Subsequent conferences were held in Mexico City in 1947, in Beirut 1948, in Paris 1949, in Florence in 1950, in Paris for the biennium of 1952-1953, in Montevideo in 1954, and in New Delhi in 1956. The permanent headquarters of UNESCO at Place de Fontenoy, Paris, was the venue of the 10th General Conference (1957-1958). From then on, all General Conferences of the organisation have been held in Paris except the 19th, which was in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1976, the 21st, which was held in Belgrade in 1980 and the 23rd which was in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1985.

One of the main assignments of the General Conference is the election of members of the Executive Board of the organisation. The executive board carries out careful studies of issues related to the various mandate of UNESCO. It provides guidance to the secretariat between sessions of the General Conference. In the early years, the board met often, up to four times in a year, (it now meets twice yearly and thrice in an election year). Unlike the General Conference, all sessions of the Executive Board have always been held at the headquarters of the organisation in Paris. There have been 169 sessions of the board since the first session was held on 26 November 1946, with the Canadian Victor Doré as its first chairman.

At Member States level, an arrangement unique to the United Nations system is the existence of National Commissions for UNESCO. There are 190 National Commissions. These serve as co-operating bodies with the purpose of associating governmental and non-governmental agencies to the work of the organisation. This in itself is the best networking mechanism for such an intergovernmental and international organisation. National Commissions often advise Member States’ representatives to UNESCO’s Executive Board and General Conference in matters relating to the organisation. The fundamental information on Member States' National Commissions for UNESCO can be found in Article VII of UNESCO's Constitution and in the Charter of National Commissions for UNESCO.

UNESCO’s Secretariat, led by its Director-General, also organizes regular meetings, consultations, workshops, and seminars in connection with the implementation of programmes as decided by the Executive Board and approved by the General Conference. The UNESCO headquarters, its cluster offices, national offices, the UNESCO institutes and various affiliated NGOs and partner organisations and institutions are also known for the regularity and frequency of meetings.



It can be observed that the seminars and conferences have been rotated among all the six geographical regions of the world. The themes have been predictably educational with focus on teacher education, material preparation, vocational education, literacy, lifelong education, adult education and continuing education. Conferences, seminars, symposia, workshops and meetings have been used by UNESCO to encourage “shared legacy and common responsibility.” The organisation, therefore, deliberately uses networking as a vehicle for raising awareness, challenging minds and thoughts, reflection, consideration of innovative strategies, sharing success stories, ideas, values and beliefs. However, the organisation is aware of its limitations due to budgetary, physical and other constraints to reach all its Member States and have a direct impact on the lives of the generality of the people. It, therefore, uses its unique relationship with Member States, the National Commissions to foster greater networking and partnerships with professional bodies, governmental institutions and the civil society in order to promote its vision and mission.

UNESCO has been able to work towards what has been described as a “Permanent Dialogue” through its Executive Board meetings, its General Conferences, and various other seminars, conferences and workshops. It has also encouraged regional and international dialogue within, between and among nations and civilizations. Through the generation of studies, its programmes and activities, UNESCO has, in the process, been able to influence values, attitudes, behaviours, views, and even definitions and concepts. Three examples merit mention at this stage:

First, the study by historians in what is called the General History series of UNESCO has now covered most of the regional groups. Through this programme, it has encouraged debate among professional historians and archaeologists on the interpretation and analysis of the past. In the development of what Wole Soyinka, a foremost African artist and poet, has described as “The exhumation of the past”, there is now a pool of knowledge about several episodes including social and political development of states and peoples of the various geographical regions of the world.

A second initiative embarked upon by UNESCO has been the promotion of “Dialogue among Civilizations”. The Dialogue among Civilizations programme was initiated by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 4 November 1998 as a collective effort to strengthen friendly relationship amongst nations. It emphasises the need to remove threats to peace and highlights the necessity to foster international co-operation in resolving international issues of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature as well as promoting and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. In response to the UN General Assembly’s resolution, UNESCO was tasked with the responsibility of planning and implementing appropriate educational, scientific, cultural and social programmes for the promotion and further development of the concept of a Dialogue among Civilizations. To implement this directive UNESCO organises conferences and seminars, and disseminates information and scholarly materials on the subject.

UNESCO also joined in the commemoration of 2001 as the United Nations year of Dialogue among Civilizations. International, regional and sub-regional conferences were held, taking on board issues of culture, new forms of cultural exchange, dialogue, globalization, encouraging contacts and interactions among individuals, peoples, communities, nations, cultures and civilizations in order to build understanding, solidarity and peace at all levels and to reduce isolation and exclusion. The 32nd General Conference further broadened the scope and coverage of the Dialogue Among Civilizations as was directed in its resolution 47, which placed an emphasis on the need for greater intra- and inter-regional efforts towards the promotion of the Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations.

Thirdly, we can refer specifically to the contribution that UNESCO has made in the promotion of consensus of opinion and understanding of concepts and ideas through exchanges between professionals and specialists in the field of Education, Science, Technology and Culture. The Organisation has held world conferences on Higher Education, Education for All, Adult Education, Information and Informatics, among other subjects. Through its inaugural world conference on Adult Education in Ellsinore, Denmark in 1949, UNESCO began to stimulate interest in the important, yet little studied, field of Adult Education. At Elsinore, UNESCO demonstrated its role as a consensus builder. It found ways to accommodate several viewpoints and definitions of adult education, and reflected the variety of the adult education policies and practices in several countries represented at the conference. In the end, the conference declared that “adult education has the task of satisfying the needs and aspirations of adults in all their diversity.”10 The conference then adopted an inclusive definition of the aims of adult education: to foster a common culture which would narrow the gap between the “masses” and the “classes”; give to youth, in the face of world disorganisation, “hope and confidence in life”; promote the feeling of “belonging” among people isolated in an age of specialisation and cultivate a sense of membership in the world community.

In 1960, the world conference on Adult Education held in Montreal, Canada, raised the profile of the subject and gave it further visibility. Another conference in 1972 in Tokyo, Japan, broadened and enlightened the uses and usefulness of the subject and the concept of Adult Education. Subsequent meetings in Paris, (1985) and Hamburg (1997) expanded discussion on the subject by addressing topical and contemporary issues such as lifelong learning, poverty, good governance, democracy, access to education and related subjects that now constitute the core of what is described as the Millennium Development Goals.

We shall consider a few other examples of the work of UNESCO beginning with the promotion of culture. On 16 November 1972, the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a Convention for the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. The aim, as later summarised by the current Director-General of UNESCO, is the collective responsibility for the protection and conservation of world heritage values. As he put it: to value our heritage in all its dimensions is to care for it as a measure bequeathed to us by our ancestors, to recognise that it is our duty to transmit it intact to our children is a sign of wisdom. Indeed, if a nation is aware of the factors that have influenced its history and shaped its identity, it is better placed to engage with and build peaceful relations with other peoples and to forge its future. But heritage is not only replete with symbolism rich in meaning and significance. It is also an important dimension of development.

In recognition of the importance of the world cultural and natural heritage, UNESCO has organised seminars, workshops, symposia and conferences for the purpose of providing opportunities for the discussion and dialogue on how best to protect our common heritage. Such fora have also focused attention on cultural promotion. Recently the World Heritage Committee during its 28th Session in Suzhou, China, agreed on new sites, reviewed the heritage list and guidelines for future inscription of sites. Government experts have also participated actively in the determination of the scope and content of conventions and declarations to safeguard, promote and protect cultural heritage.

It should be emphasised that UNESCO does not have a monopoly for promoting dialogue and conducting meetings and workshops. Indeed, there are other organisations and institutions that have been holding meetings and conferences for decades. For example we know that the British colonial government had convened meetings and conferences, one of which had led to the report titled “Mass Education in African Society” in 1943 before UNESCO was even founded.

One of the problems of conferences is their tendency to become ‘talkshops’ where major decisions are made in a hurry. As a Nigerian cleric, Reverend Father J. Jordan, then the Education Secretary of the Catholic Mission at Onitsha in Nigeria, once said, conferences can be highly limited in achieving set goals. He was critical of the haste with which conferences are often run, and had specifically drawn attention to the manner by which the Federal Ministry of Education of Nigeria had conducted a conference to review the Education system in Nigeria. He lamented that:
"The rush tactics of this conference, and the compression of many great issues into an all too brief time span made it impossible for all of us to discuss and debate as we would have liked. If I might plagiarize, Never in the field of human education has so much been rushed by so few for so many."

This view would probably question the assumption by UNESCO that conferences and seminars stand at the forefront of its world cross-cultural influence. It is of course true that by its constitution and disposition, UNESCO continues to exert considerable influence through the instrumentality, network and partnership building and cross-fertilization of ideas between and among nations of the world. In the process, the organisation has become a veritable tool for the promotion of dialogue for the maintenance of durable peace, understanding, and solidarity in the world. It has achieved this through effective networking and partnership at conferences and various gatherings of member states, their representatives and other stakeholders.

Notwithstanding its constraints, UNESCO has demonstrated its effectiveness as a network and is committed to using that strategy for all its programmes. As two American historians of the organisation have put it: UNESCO “has been an instrument and a symbol of international collaboration, adjustment, and understanding.”

NOTES AND REFERENCES:

Materials abound in the archives of National Commissions for UNESCO, Permanent Delegations of member states of UNESCO, private collections of former staff and at the secretariat of the organisation on its history. There are also some authoritative and useful published accounts, a few of which are biographical, personal accounts and exploratory narratives. The best known of these are : ASCHER, Charles S., “The Development of UNESCO's Programme.” International Organisation vol. 14 no 1 February 1950;

Chronology of UNESCO, 1945-1987, Paris, UNESCO, 1987; COMMISSION DE LA REPUBLIQUE POUR L'EDUCATION? LA SCIENCE ET LA CULTURE. Vingtième anniversaire de l'UNESCO, Paris 1966.

COWELL, F. R., “Planning the Organisation of UNESCO, 1942-1946”, A personal Record, Journal of World History, vol.10, 1966, pp.210-256.

HOGGART, Richard, “An idea and its Servants, UNESCO from within.” London, Chatto & Windus, 1978.

KRILL DE CAPELLO, H. H., “The Creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.” International Organisation vol.24, 1970.

LAVES, Walter H.C., Thomson, Charles A. UNESCO: Purpose, Progress, Prospects. Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1957.

MAHEU, René, La civilisation de l'universel, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1966; UNESCO in Perspective, Paris, UNESCO, 1974.

M'BOW, Amadou-Mahtar, Building the Future UNESCO and the Solidarity of Nations, UNESCO; 1981, Where the future Begins, Paris, UNESCO, 1982.

MYLONAS, Denis, “The Creation of UNESCO - Conference of Allied Ministers of Education,” 1942-1945, 1977.

ROSELLÓ, P, Forerunners of the International Bureau of Education: A Hitherto Unrecorded Aspect of the History of Education and International Institutions. London, Evans Brothers, 1944. (A bridged and translated from Spanish by Marie Butts, University of London Institute of Education.) SHUSTER, George N., UNESCO

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