The training of UNESCO secretary-generals in the era of terrorism

Madame Mary Louise Kearney of New Zealand, director of External Relations and Cooperation of the National Commission Program (ERC/NCP), was our "classroom teacher" for the first two weeks last December in the UNESCO headquarters at Place de Fontenoy in Paris. This inter-regional seminar, held annually, brings together some 25 to 30 newly appointed secretary-generals of National Commissions. The 2001 seminar took place in the midst of the reform process underway at UNESCO, after the September 11 tragedy which affected world peace and security.

UNESCO’s General Conference convened its 31st session right after this tragic New York event on October 20 and immediately adopted the resolution affirming that "acts of terrorism can never be justified whatever the motives." It recalled the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the UN General Assembly resolutions condemning terrorism and "urgently calls for international cooperation to prevent and eradicate acts of terrorism" and stresses that "those responsible for aiding, supporting or harboring perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of such acts will be held accountable."

As I was trying to meet the deadline of this column, Mary Lou Kearney, director of our training, e-mailed me the summary of our training seminar in Paris entitled, Report of the Inter-Regional Training Seminar for Newly-Appointed Secretary-Generals of National Commissions for UNESCO (Paris, 3-14 December 2001).

The attack against humanity as a whole

Evil, it is said, tends to be overlooked or even tolerated unless it is exaggerated. Practically, most countries in the world, poor or well-off have been blind to terrorism in their midst until US President Bush exposed the tentacles of Bin Laden gripping each continent "in the name of Allah." The world press responded by investigating other clues of terrorism in the troubled spots of Pakistan, India, Africa, Israel, Bosnia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Latin America.

Note for instance that Bin Laden financed so many Muslim schools for children in the ARMM region. For the past two decades, efforts to eradicate illiteracy of both adults and children have been frustrated since the Muslims concentrate only on learning the Koran. To do so they spend their time almost solely on learning the Arabic language. It was like preserving the original Bible in Jesus Christ’s Aramaic language and forcing the Christian world to study Aramaic. Fortunately, sensible minds facilitated its translation into English, accepted as the lingua franca of the world.

Decade for non-violence for the children of the world

To worsen the situation, this decade is identified by UNESCO as the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. The ARMM and CAR regions are considered among the 50 parts of the world with HOST REFUGEE population being ARMED CONFLICT zones. Here half of the children under 18 make up the displaced population. Their families are part of the 22 million refugees, asylum seekers, returnees and internally displaced persons of the world, according to the UN Human Refugee Commission (UNHRC). Like the 120,000 boys and girls, even as young as 8 to 12 years old, enrolled (not in school) in the armies of Africa, Muslim children have been observed by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) being recruited into the MILF or MNLF while Christian minors are being recruited by the NPAs in practically all provinces in the Philippines.

E-9 countries are the highly populated parts of the world with inferior quality of education prioritized by UNESCO to transform their system. Three of my classmate secretary-generals (SGs) are in the list: Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan. The other six are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Note that although our education is observed by EDCOM to be inferior, we are not in the list to be given special funding.

Working with SGs of Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, the Himalayas, Africa, and the Middle East, etc.

As one of the 32 "trainees", I introduced myself as having been part of UNESCO affairs since 1986, when I sat in the Executive Board, then became a UNACOM commissioner until this year. Director Kearney noted my extensive experiences. I realized that the rest of the group were not yet familiar with the main strategic thrust nor the objectives of UNESCO.

For instance, my "classmate"G. Eschig (Austria) replaced a gentleman who stayed 20 years in the Vienna office, and so felt that although Austria is prosperous, it has to tune in to the global thrust of UNESCO this new millennium. Her neighbors ‘Snow White’ Misajlovic (Yugoslavia), A. Dirmaite (Lithuania) and D. Neiburga (Latvia), included a very enthusiastic gentleman A. Mironov (Romania) who kept insisting that radio broadcasting is the most cost-effective to give prominence to UNESCO projects in every country. From the Carribean isles were E. Delancy (Bahamas), A. James (Dominica), R. Eckmeyer (Antilles), Z. Zareer (Maldives), Ms. John (Saint Lucia) and B. Jimenez (Dominican Republic), who felt that some kind of Mardi Gras dancing could lighten our heavy training.

During lunch, instead of dining in the cafeteria, I invited the Pakistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh secretary-generals, namely Messrs. Syed, C. Sherpa and M. Rahman, who were interested in the Montessori Pagsasarili Pre-School and Mothercraft literacy twin projects, to dine with me in the seventh floor gourmet restaurant of the UNESCO building. Ms. Motlotle of Botswana, Africa was also looking for Early Childhood teacher training programs. Her colleagues from Lesotho, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia – Mrs. Tsekoa, Mr. Vodoti, Mrs. Katagum and Mr.Mwale – were, like her, very articulate, tending to request help in providing office facilities. The quiet gentlemen, who occassionaly intervened, were from Iraq and Sudan – R. Shalah and M. Karadam.

Obstacles to the fulfillment of National Commissions’ mandate

The member states have the counterpart duty to have a budget to run the National Commission office with a full staff and appropriate modern equipment. The UNACOM is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The head of DFA is usually the over all chairman of the UNACOM. To approve the annual budget of approximately P12 million, part of which funds the salary of its 14 personnel and the rest for the national training seminars and publication materials of each of the five committees, as Secretary-General, I have to sit with the DFA officers during the budget hearing of both the Congress and the Senate.

Dr. John Stopford, a consultant in public service management, was hired by Mr. Sayyad the Assistant Director-General/ERC to analyze the capacity-building ability of National Commissions. Their "needs analyses" however, varied in cultural and economic situations.

Reviewing a sample medium-term plan achievement

One area given importance by the training course was the Medium-Term Strategy of five years, 2002 to 2007. However, when we were asked halfway through the course and at its conclusion whether things were clear, the general reaction was that practical case studies could enable the participants to comprehend the numerous projects. This was compounded by unfamiliar UNESCO jargons and acronyms. Director Kearney’s report confirmed this complaint.

I came across a booklet called "Five-Year Review of UNESCO’s Achievement on Population and Development" which is actually an evaluation of UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy C/21 made 10 years ago. This was held in Cairo, Egypt.

These seven critical issues included: first, strengthening respect for human rights; second, developing capacity-building through the eradication of illiteracy; third, advancing gender equity and the empowerment of women; fourth and sixth, increasing public awareness concerning population and environment relating to development; fifth, protecting people’s rights to physical and mental health including reproductive health of the youth as well as the pandemic AIDS/HIV problem of Africa and global drug addiction problems; and seventh, proper management of social transformation, migration and urbanization.

As of the latest Medium-Term Strategy 2002-2007, the above remain the same except for migration. Water resourcing and hazard management have been added. The Dakar literacy follow through to 2015 has been intensified with multi-cultural dialogue to disperse the destructive effects of world terrorism.

Exploring the capacity-building ability of National Commissions

The team of high level staff of UNESCO systematically gave approximately 16 lessons covering the decentralization program, working with "partners," the assistance of various UNESCO agencies like the Paris IIEP for education planning, the Geneva IBE for curriculum research and the new Montreal Institute for Statistics. Director Hans D’Orville of the Bureau of Strategic Planning presented the Medium-Term Strategy (31 C/4) and the Approved Programme and Budget for 2002-2003 (31 C/5), while Ms. Haruko Hirose, director of the Bureau of Field Coordination, gave an update on the latest activities related to decentralization.

Current projects for each of the five UNESCO sectoral fields were described. I specifically asked for a brief workshop on how to write a proposal for a Participation Program in a credible style but only forms were given due to lack of time. Later, they sent more data to me through the diplomatic pouch.

Training of 50 new secretary-generals and her commission staff are done within the biennium. These annual courses are financed by the Regular Programme. This is complemented by two sub-regional training seminars per region funded from the Participation Programme like our follow-up training in Bangkok by June. The problem is the lack of the control over the length of their appointment in their national administrations. For this reason, it is difficult to assess the investment made in their training, which gives certain concern to UNESCO in terms of the expected outcomes of results-based management.

A global and inclusive vision of development to counteract terrorism

UNESCO’s anti-terrorism resolution notes "that intolerance, discrimination, inequality, ignorance, poverty and exclusion, among others, provide fertile ground for terrorism, affirms that while acts of terrorism can never be justified whatever the motives, the world community requires a global and inclusive vision of development based on the observance of human rights, mutual respect, intercultural dialogue and the alleviation of poverty, founded on justice, equity and solidarity, to meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations and segments of society."

(Next week: Part 2, Other Questions Commonly Asked of UNESCO)

(For more information, please e-mail at obmci@mozcom.com)