Speaking at her investiture ceremony on October 23 she described UNESCO as the ‘uncontested leader’ in the promotion of quality Education for All, and stressed her determination to retain that leadership in the face of the financial crisis.

‘I will unremittingly advocate increased funding for education, together with Member States whose responsibility it is to support education.

‘With equal resolve, and at the highest levels of government and global governance, I will advocate for an increase of the share of Official Development Assistance going to Education.

‘This for me is a sine qua non in order to ensure the predictable and timely flow of adequate resources to education in accordance with the United Nations General Assembly Resolutions and the promises made in the context of the G8 and G20.’

She emphasized the two key missions of UNESCO as Gender Equality and Africa, both of which were inextricably linked to the development of education and both of which had suffered setbacks.

‘The compounded effects of the multiple crises are jeopardizing decades of hard-won development gains in Africa and in terms of gender equality. Our commitment to these two priorities must therefore urgently translate into qualitative gains,’ she said.

Speaking on Africa she said: ‘We must strengthen our initiatives in this region, notably those supporting teachers, quality education and universal access to HIV and AIDS Education.

‘In all regions, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Education and lifelong learning are essential to equip learners with the necessary skills to overcome poverty, to build knowledge societies and to foster sustainable development and lifestyles.

‘Today, especially in the wake of the crisis, we need a stronger emphasis on knowledge-based investments in Africa, but also in the other regions, linking education even more to the world of work, in particular through teacher training and professional development, TVET and higher education as well as science education, research, technology, innovation and science policies.’

There was also much work to be done in the field of Gender Equality and education in order to achieve development goals.

‘UNESCO could launch an international campaign for increased budget allocations to programming for, secondary education for girls in all regions, and in sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia and Oceania a campaign for tertiary education,’ she said.

She strongly condemned illiteracy rates for women.

‘It seems unthinkable to me that in our day and age, two thirds of the 774 million illiterates are women. What have we done wrong? Why are we not seeing the same levels of progress in literacy and adult education that we are now seeing in primary education? UNESCO’s Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) will have to more squarely look into this.’

She said UNESCO had worked hard to support Member States in their efforts to achieve the Education for All goals by 2015 even though not all countries were on track to reach them.   

Now that core initiatives such as the Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA), the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), the new strategy for technical, vocational education and training (TVET) and the Decade for Sustainable Development (DESD) were in place, more was needed.

‘UNESCO must now develop and forcefully advocate a more coherent and holistic vision of education; a vision that integrates the many dimensions of quality education, in both formal and non-formal settings, from primary to higher levels, throughout life, including technical vocational education and training as well  as the other initiatives it has developed.

'UNESCO must in tandem accompany Member States in their efforts to achieve the EFA Goals and targets, building on South-South and North-South-South cooperation and the fruitful exchange of good practices among countries. This includes monitoring progress towards the achievement of the EFA Goals and building national capacities to do so.’

Finally she outlined the importance of all sectors in achieving UNESCO’s priorities.

‘I will be particularly persistent in advocating the critical role not only of education, but also of the sciences, culture and communication and information in the pursuit of sustainable development in aiding countries to invest out of the current crises, and in creating knowledge societies and above all in building and fortifying peace in all its dimensions.’

Ms Bokova asserted that: ‘UNESCO’s sphere of influence and powers of persuasion have to expand’ notably through innovative alliances and partnerships with public and private sectors, the media and international and intergovernmental institutions.

Related Links

Video of the investiture of Ms Irina Bokova as Director-General of UNESCO (speech starts minute 12.25)