Introduction

By G. Kaliwo, Arab Desk, Communication Division,
L. Salman-El Madini, Regional CII Adviser.

In its extrabudgetary communication programme, UNESCO provides technical assistance and advisory services designed to support efforts by Arab countries to respond to the following communication challenges: o inadequate pluralism in the production and dissemination of information through the media of mass communication; o insufficient production of culturally relevant audiovisual programmes; o the lack of appropriate and modern tools for the collection, processing and transmission of news and information; o the absence of suitable community media to meet the communication needs of rural and often nomadic populations as well as peri-urban communities; o the inadequate participation of women in the their national communication processes as well as in their media landscapes; o the need to renovate university communication curricula and to acquire the necessary equipment. UNESCO's projects in the region, therefore, have assisted with the computerization of national news agency to ensure that news processing and transmission activities are automated. National radio and television institutions have been assisted to modernize their equipment with the principal goal of enabling them to produce more culturally relevant programmes. Universities have been supported to renovate their computer, Radio and television studios and text books have also been purchased. UNESCO has also taken the lead, with the substantial support of the Italian Government, to strengthen and modernize the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) in order to consolidate its independence in an increasingly pluralistic media environment. The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has been and will be assisted with various training programmes and equipment with the objective of improving its programmes and coverage. Mediterranean women communication practitioners are being offered opportunities to attend training courses on new communication technologies well as refresher journalism training courses. It is felt that with this project women journalists will be equipped with the necessary skills to aspire to positions of higher responsibility and most importantly that they will actively participate in their national communication landscapes. Guided by the Declaration of the of the United Nations UNESCO Seminar on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Arab Media (Sana'a January 1996) which defined the communication priorities of the Region, UNESCO will continue to accord its priority to countries that still need international support in strengthening their communication infrastructures and capacities. Some of there are Yemen, Mauritania, Jordan, Sudan, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, as well as the Palestinian Authority. In the ARAB STATES extra-budgetary informatics and information activities aim at developing training on informatics and the access to computerised information in Arabic. A field of special interest is the development of access to computerised information by handicapped persons, in particular Arabic speaking visually handicapped users, for the purposes of their integration in educational, cultural and economic activities. Assistance is provided to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.