Within the framework of its global initiative “Culture: A Bridge to Development”, UNESCO is supporting, in co-operation with the Balkanika Foundation, a new regional encounter on the iconic bridge of Lovech, Bulgaria. It will feature artistic events and round tables between writers, artists and policy makers on the new arts scene in South-East Europe, as well as on the role of cities in shaping a new agenda for creativity and cultural innovation. This event is the second of a series planned for the region, with a view to provide spaces for sub-regional and regional exchange among various cultural and political actors.

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The third meeting to renew the “Ex-Yugoslav” Pavilion in Auschwitz-Birkenau will be convened in Skopje and will serve to agree on chronologies and timelines, define a data reference document on deportees to Auschwitz, determine a mapping of existing documentation, archives and materials, agree on supporting collections, texts and materials that could be used for the common exhibit space which will be divided in 4 themes: Time and Space; Victims; Perpetrators and Collaborators; and, Resistants.

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Created in the belief that Nations and their History should not be a matter of division, and developed as a historic opportunity to place national histories in a global context, compare disputed narratives, and revive shared memories. National history museums from South-East Europe are coming together to put in perspective and compare their collections and their national histories. The exhibit,  structured around 8 thematic areas, presents shared key processes and experiences, common features and historical interactions, including with the rest of Europe.

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The current development agenda is centered on the MDGs, which have an overall target date of 2015. The MDGs encapsulate 8 globally agreed concrete goals, with time-bound targets and indicators for measuring progress. At the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly to review progress towards the MDGs, governments called not only for accelerating progress towards achieving the MDGs, but also for thinking on ways to advance the UN Development Agenda beyond 2015.

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Eleven countries will be represented at this second edition of the Forum. In the course of the debates and sessions, participating schools and students will present World heritage related projects that have been developed according to the standards and guidelines of the World Heritage in Young Hands Kit. An educational simulation of the work of the World Heritage Committee will also be represented during the Forum. Finally a Youth declaration will be adopted at the end of the Forum and presented to UNESCO.

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The exhibition "Visualizing Venice, new technologies for urban history" will be on show at Palazzo Zorzi (Castello 4930) in Venice, Italy, from 8-26 April 2013. It presents a cross-section of the studies by Visualizing Venice, an international, multidisciplinary research team focused on exploring new ways of “making” history using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and on testing the effectiveness of highly innovative communication systems in narrating urban change over time.  It reconstructs the last 3 years of Visualizing Venice’s research through a series of construction sites (“cantieri”).

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IncREO - Increasing Resilience through Earth Observation is a collaborative project under the call FP7-SPACE-2012-1 in support of emergency response management and risk-preparedness. Its overall objective is to provide actors responsible for disaster management, risk prevention, civil protection and also spatial planning with EO-based solutions contributing particularly to an improved preparedness and mitigation planning for areas highly vulnerable to natural disasters and already noticeable climate change trends.

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The UNESCO Venice Office is renewing its cooperation with the 17th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival. The “Balkan Screenings” will present the latest films from South-East Europe for festival selectors, sales agents, distributors and international press. The programe includes a Balkan Competition (international competition of latest films from the region) and closed screenings of completed films and works in progress from the region seen for festival directors, distributors and sales agents.

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“Fifty years ago Italia Nostra invited heritage NGOs from other European countries to create Europa Nostra with the aim of joining forces in the effort to save Venice and other jewels of Europe’s heritage. Today, Europa Nostra and Italia Nostra come together in Venice to discuss with leading representatives of Italian private and public bodies ways in which we can give a new impetus to Europe-wide mobilisation for the safeguard of our cultural and natural heritage”, stated the Executive President of Europa Nostra.

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Support was given to the reconstruction of the country’s most valuable cultural heritage, including the mysterious Mithras Temple of Jajce in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Mithras Temple dated 4th century AD was officially open in Jajce on 4 December, 2012. The rehabilitation of the site was done within the MDG-F Joint Programme on “Improving Cultural Understanding in Bosnia and Herzegovina”  and extensive works were financed by the Government of Spain, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Jajce Municipality and the Federal Institute for Protection of Cultural Heritage.

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A three-fold purpose for the official visit of the UNESCO Venice Office to the Republic of Moldova: the official inauguration of the new headquarters of the national Agency for Inspection and Restoration of Monuments, established with the support of UNESCO and of the Italian Government; consultations with high officials and ministerial representatives in the country on future cooperation with UNESCO; and, the participation in a workshop on e-Infrastructures within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Platform.

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Since the historic high water of 1966 and the UNESCO report of 1969, 40 years of efforts have been devoted to the protection of this World Heritage site. The international conference scheduled on 21-22 February 2013, in Venice, will especially aim to take stock of the achievements and lessons learned since the inscription of Venice and its Lagoon on the World Heritage List, while at the same time allowing for a broader discussion on the future challenges for the management of the site, as well as for its sustainable development.

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UNESCO, in cooperation with the major media stakeholders, has developed a set of indicators to assess gender equality and women’s empowerment in media. These Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) seek to address the intersection of women’s empowerment and media development. Its main focus is on the equality and gender dimensions of social diversity in the media. A two-day training with journalists will be held in Tirana to enhance their fair and balanced reporting of issues directly or indirectly related to WOMEN and not only.

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The international steering committee, in charge of coordinating the establishment of a joint exhibit space within the ex-Yugoslav pavilion (nr. 17) in the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, will meet to discuss measures for the physical renovation of the pavilion, on the basis of the structural/static analysis commissioned by the Austrian National Fund for the Victims of National Socialism, and conveyed to the Auschwitz Museum. The objectives of this meeting resonate with UNESCO’s mission to promote Holocaust education, as well as the role of museums as tools for intercultural understanding, research and dialogue.

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