UNESCO IN THE WORLD — UNESCO IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

1949 International Conference on Adult Education, Elsinore, Denmark Advisory Committee on Braille, UNESCO, Paris 1950 First Conference of NGOs approved for consultative status with UNESCO, Florence, Italy 1951 Creation of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), Hamburg, Germany 1956 Programme of aid to Hungarian refugees 1962 World Congress on the Fight against Illiteracy, Rome International Conference on Youth, Grenoble, France 1963 Creation of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris 1967 First Regional Conference of Ministers of Education, MINEDEUROPE I (Vienna); the following Conferences took place in Bucharest (1973), Sofia (1980) and Paris (1988)	THE PESTALOZZI CHILDREN’S VILLAGES for war orphans In Switzerland, support for the village comes mainly from voluntary contributions and help. Over 15 months the village has received about 70,000 visitors. It has the support of UNESCO. The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Section has forwarded voluntary donations to the village. In addition, in June, UNESCO will convene a conference of Directors of children’s villages in Switzerland. The Conference will study the best methods of readapting children to normal life. From The UNESCO Courier, May 1948.	GREEK REFUGEE CHILDREN MUST HAVE AID BEFORE WINTER Only a tiny minority of Greek refugee children can be cared for in 52 'paidopolis'. From THE UNESCO Courier October 1949.
	THE CHILDREN OF EUROPE The smoke which has long since lifted from the last war still discloses a shattered continent. Where it is not shattered physically, it is hurt within its mind and its courage for life. The child groping its way out of the ruins must make his way to life now in this Europe. From The UNESCO Courier, February 1949.	In the United States of America... THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS AT UNESCO NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN CLEVELAND Speaking on the subject, ‘Making Human Rights come Alive’, Mrs Roosevelt described the U.N. Declaration as ‘an educational document’ and called on peoples and nations to make it a ‘living document’. From The UNESCO Courier, April 1949.

UNESCO, A BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO EUROPES Between 1950 and 1980 sub-regional co-operation began to be organized in the East as in the West. Conferences of ministers of education were held with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), (10) and the Council of Europe. In 1960, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), successor of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), grouping together the industrialized nations of the West, took an interest in education and launched large-scale projects in order to lay the foundations of educational policy based on appropriate educational planning. (11) OECD also set up a Centre for Educational Research and Information (CERI), operational since 1970. During the cold war years, UNESCO’s action to promote continent-wide co-operation in the field of education expressed itself mainly through decentralized mechanisms, such as the Associated Schools System, the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE) in Hamburg, meetings of secretaries of National Commissions, and through the many Europe-based NGOs working in the sphere of education. International and regional seminars organized on specific themes, such as programmed instruction, educational television, information technology and technical education, offered specialists from both sides of Europe an opportunity to share their experiences.
‘Child war victims tell their own story’ A moving message recorded by UNESCO’s ‘Radio Caravan’ is broadcast to the world by British, French and Italian Radios. A BBC journalist interviews a boy in Milan. From The UNESCO Courier, January 1951.	Jaime Torres Bodet (Mexico) Director-General of UNESCO from 1948 to 1952 No true culture is the enemy of other cultures. That is why UNESCO fights for the welfare of all cultures simultaneously, encouraging them to get to know one another, to make contacts, and to compete freely with one another. We are convinced that thereby every one of them will be enriched and fructified. Inaugural Meeting of the UNESCO National Commission of the FRG, March 1952 Theodor Heuss President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1959 If it is true that, historically speaking, the word is mightier than the sword, then the purposes and mission of UNESCO can only be to restore the things of the spirit to their rightful role and effectiveness. Inauguration of the work of the UNESCO National Commission of the FRG, March 1952 Lionel Elvin (United Kingdom) Director of the Department of Education, UNESCO, from 1950 to 1956 It is no use seeing what is necessary unless we make a real adaptation in our behaviour. And it is because this is essentially a matter of education that UNESCO was founded. The UNESCO Courier, May 1953 René Maheu (France) Director-General of UNESCO from 1962 to 1974 The practice of holding regional conferences of Ministers of Education has become established in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab States. In Europe, while the aim may be appreciably different, such meetings are not unnecessary. Far from it... Opening Address to MINEDEUROPE I, Vienna, November 1967
The Director-General of UNESCO in Croatia, 1951 Children greet Mr Torres Bodet, UNESCO's Director-General, during his visit to an orphanage in Zagreb. FromThe UNESCO Courier, November 1951.

                               

FOOTNOTES:

(10) More usually known as COMECON.

(11) Mainly the Regional Mediterranean Project (1961-1975) for six Southern European countries, the Investment and planning programme for education which for about twenty years systematically examined Member States’ national education policies.