UNESCO

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

1. Facts and figures

Type of organisation: UN specialised agency

Established in: 1946

Headquarters: Paris

Number of country offices: 48

Head of organisation: Director-General Irina Bokova (Bulgaria)

Dates of Board meetings in 2013: 10–26 April and 25 September – 11 October

Norway’s representation on Executive Board: No

Number of Norwegian staff: 4

Competent ministry: Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research in cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Website: www.unesco.org

Mandate and areas of activity

Norway’s efforts in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are aimed at promoting human rights principles, the principle of sustainable development, democratisation processes, culture for development, gender equality, conflict prevention and the eradication of poverty. The work carried out by UNESCO is largely predicated on the UN Millennium Development Goals, with particular focus on poverty reduction, more equitable distribution of resources and a more democratic world order. A strategy has been prepared for Norway’s UNESCO work for the period 2009–2013 that defines the general principles and goals of Norway’s policy towards UNESCO. This strategy will be
revised in 2013.

UNESCO’s four-year programme of work (transition from a two-year programme) and long-term (eight-year) strategic plan are to be approved by the General Conference in November 2013.

Results achieved in 2012

Results in the education sector

In 2012, UNESCO’s work has been focused on two main axes: intensified efforts to make as much progress as possible towards achieving the goals of Education for All by 2015, and efforts to develop a post-2015 agenda. UNESCO contributed conceptually to the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) and serves as secretariat for the initiative.

UNESCO and Pakistan organised the high-level event “Stand up for Malala – Girls’ Education is a Right”. Attendees included 20 prominent persons from all over the world, and the event focused attention on girls’ right to education and, not least, on freedom of expression. The event resulted in an agreement with the Pakistani Government, which promised USD 10 million to UNESCO’s Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education.

UNESCO and the Malaysian education authorities have conducted a joint review of the country’s education policy, resulting in a holistic education plan for Malaysia up to 2025. UNESCO and the OECD are now collaborating on a similar review of the education sector in Thailand.

The 2012 Global Monitoring Report, which was published in October, focuses on the topic of skills development. The report has become a global reference document and shows that just under 60 million children still do not enter school. UNESCO has reviewed the policies of six countries on teacher recruitment and further training, with a special follow-up in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. UNESCO has provided direct support for skills development to 20 countries, carrying out more comprehensive reviews in four countries (El Salvador, Cambodia, Laos and Zanzibar/Tanzania).

Results in the natural-sciences sector
In the field of ocean research, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) worked on the preparation of A Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability, which was one of the main contributions to the discussion of ocean issues at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). In November 2012, IOC asked the regional tsunami centres in Australia, India and Indonesia to assume full operational responsibility for the Indian Ocean as from 31 March 2013, thereby introducing a new era of cooperation on tsunami warning systems in this region. In 2012, Tsunami Wave Exercises and systems communication tests were successfully carried out in all four tsunami warning regions.

In 2012, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) organised over 40 official meetings and regional events at the 6th World Water Forum, Rio+20 and Stockholm World Water Week. IHP’s World Water Assessment Programme published the fourth World Water Development Report, Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk, in 2012. In 2012, IHP also published two briefing notes on legal aspects of aquifer management in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and the World Bank, and an updated UNESCO/IGRAC Transboundary Aquifers of the World map. Two new groundwater basins in Ethiopia and Kenya were identified and drilling for water supplies has commenced. In 2012, 1,250 African water experts graduated from the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and Water-Related Category II Centres, and the UNESCO-IHE’s Master of Science programme was accredited.

In 2012, in an initiative to promote peace and scientific cooperation in the Middle East, Iran, Israel, Jordan and Turkey signed an agreement to make a voluntary contribution of USD 5 million each for the construction of the SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) research centre in Jordan, which is modelled on CERN.

Results in the culture sector
In the programme area on culture, UNESCO focused particular attention in 2012 on capacity-building in connection with several of the culture-related conventions. As a result of the 2003 convention’s capacity-building strategy, Africa is the region with the most nominations to the various lists (27 per cent of total nominations). A total of 41 countries are currently revising their national legislation to better safeguard their intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO has implemented several initiatives in conflict-affected areas; in Mali a project has been commenced to preserve the manuscripts in Timbuktu and to provide training for the population in order to prevent illegal trade in cultural objects.

Results in the communication and information sector
In the programme area for communication and information, UNESCO has addressed issues relating to the Internet and freedom of the press and speech, and published the Global Survey on Internet Privacy and Freedom of Expression.

At the request of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) in 2010, a process was launched with regard to the safety of journalists, which resulted in the endorsement in 2012 of a UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. UNESCO supports the efforts of Member States to increase their population’s access to science and information, and several countries have now included Open Educational Resources (OER) in their education policies.

2. Assessments: Results, effectiveness and monitoring

The organisation’s results-related work

The period 2011–2013 has been affected by an almost 30 per cent reduction in revenues on account of the USA freezing its budget contribution. As a result, many of the programme activities have been curtailed, with cuts of 60–80 per cent in activities within the various programmes. A special road map for savings has been prepared, which sets out specific, meas-urable goals.

UNESCO has a complicated results structure, making it difficult to gain a general picture of the organisation’s overall results. Biannual reports are presented on the work programme in relation to the targets set. The reports contain a description of challenges and an assessment of lessons learned. The work programme covers the organisation’s regular budget (core funding), but also gives an account of extrabudgetary funds pledged by donors. An overview of activities financed through extrabudgetary funding is presented in a separate document (Additional Programme). UNESCO has a general Evaluation Plan corresponding to the Strategic Plan for 2008–2013, which provides for an evaluation of all the general programme objectives in the course of the period.

Planning and budgeting systems

UNESCO is undergoing a process aimed at making greater use of results-based management and results-based budgeting. Training has been provided for the organisation’s employees, and the programme has been improved in terms of goal formulation and indicators. UNESCO’s mandate is concretised in the Strategic Plan for 2008–2013. This plan is currently being revised and will be finally approved at the General Conference in the autumn of 2013, in the form of an eight-year strategic plan. UNESCO has a two-year work programme and budget based on the Strategic Plan, but to provide a somewhat longer planning horizon and align it with to the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR), a decision has been made to prepare four-year work programmes with two-year budgets. The proposed work programme for 2014–2017 is linked to the Strategic Plan and consists of five programme areas with associated budgets. Each programme area is divided into main areas with budget items and a number of targets with indicators and benchmarks.

Oversight and anti-corruption

UNESCO has two-year evaluation plans. Evaluation reports are addressed to the Director-General and submitted to the Executive Board. Internal audits are undertaken by the Internal Oversight Service (IOS), which reports directly to the Director-General, and are submitted to the Board. The quality of the audit reports is considered to be very good. UNESCO has adopted the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). An external auditor is chosen by the UNESCO General Conference from among the supreme audit institutions of the Member States. Until 2017, this function will be performed by France.

UNESCO focuses actively on risk assessment, and has established a specialist committee in this area, the Risk Management Committee. IOS has worked closely with external evaluators and the external auditor to uncover many important matters which have led to operational changes in the last four years. In 2010, UNESCO appointed a dedicated monitoring committee (the Oversight Advisory Committee), which reports directly to the Board. Anti-corruption is a priority concern in the organisation. A special whistle-blowing channel has been established, and a dedicated unit within IOS has been given responsibility for following up on reported cases. In 2009, UNESCO established an Ethics Office, which has implemented measures such as information and training programmes. The Ethics Office reports directly to the Board, and the head of the Ethics Office may not hold the post for more than four years.

Institution-building and national ownership

Capacity-building and institutional development have been identified as stated objectives in all programme areas. UNESCO has adopted a decentralised approach, working through some 50 regional and national offices. These offices work closely with national authorities, and priorities are determined on the basis of national needs. Separate country strategies have been prepared for a number of developing countries.

UNESCO has also made it the constitutional obligation of each Member State to establish a National Commission charged with acting in an advisory capacity to their Governments in matters relating to UNESCO.

UNESCO has a dedicated institute, the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP), which has a special responsibility for planning and capacity development in the education sector in developing countries.

Willingness to learn and change

UNESCO is currently implementing a comprehensive reform process, partly as a follow-up of the independent external evaluation presented in 2010 and partly due to the fact that the budget has been cut by around 30 per cent in the current programme period.

The reforms are aimed at rationalising procedures and streamlining the organisation’s administration. The ratio between administrative costs and programme costs is to be redistributed, and the ratio between UNESCO headquarters staff and field staff is to be adjusted in favour of the latter.

3. Norway’s policy towards UNESCO

The main priorities, adjusted in accordance with the latest developments, are as follows:

■ Education for All (EFA) is Norway’s main priority in the UNESCO context. Norway will work to ensure that UNESCO adopts a coherent approach to EFA, also draw-ing on knowledge from UNESCO’s other sectors and the knowledge of other EFA actors in the global system.

■ Norway will work to ensure that the goal of an information society for all, in which everyone can create, have access to, use and share information and knowledge, is given a higher place on the UNESCO agenda, and that freedom of expression and ethical aspects are given a prominent role in these efforts with particular focus on the safety of journalists.

■ Norway will work to ensure that UNESCO’s natural-science programme concentrates on policy development and capacity development in developing countries, and on issues relating to open access to scientific materials and learning resources and the management of natural resources. Norway has attached particular importance to ocean observation through the Intergovernmental Oceanograph-ic Committee, and to ensuring that the social-science area focuses on the societal impacts of climate change.

■ Norway will work to ensure that culture for development, including the protection and promotion of cultural heritage, are given priority. UNESCO should concentrate on helping countries, particularly developing countries, to develop cultural policy frameworks.

■ Norway will work to ensure that gender-equality issues and women’s empowerment are moved up the agenda.

■ Norway will promote Africa as a general priority in the implementation of programme activities.

■ Norway will work to ensure that UNESCO concentrates on functions in relation to which it has comparative advantages. These primarily lie in UNESCO’s role as a driving force in respect of normative and ethical issues, as a capacity developer and as a catalyst for global cooperation.

■ Norway will work to ensure that UNESCO carries out global monitoring and analysis, supports developing countries in the establishment of national institutions and the formulation of national policy, and functions as a knowledge base from which national governments can draw knowledge and experience.

■ Norway will work to ensure that the organisation’s budget cut resulting from the lack of the US contribution has the least possible impact on priority programme activities.

The Ministry of Education and Research is responsible for coordinating the UNESCO work of the various ministries, and in addition functions as the specialist department for UNESCO’s work in the fields of education and science. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has overall responsibility for Norway’s policy towards UNESCO. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for general cultural matters, sport and communication. The Ministry of the Environment is responsible for work related to global heritage and environmental issues. One of UNESCO’s special characteristics is that all Member States have UNESCO commissions. The Norwegian UNESCO commission is an independent advisory body with a secretariat in the Ministry of Education and Research.

CapEFA

The Capacity Development for Education For All (CapEFA) programme is a joint donor programme started in 2003 by Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. CapEFA is integrated into UNESCO’s efforts to achieve Education For All goals through the following priority areas:

■ sector-wide planning,

■ increased literacy,

■ teachers,

■ technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

The programme has provided support for capacity-building interventions in around 30 countries.

The programme was the subject of an external evaluation in 2012/13. The evaluation found that CapEFA is an effective way of allocating funding, and that the programme produces results, shows a willingness to change and has the necessary capacity. CapEFA works closely with education ministries in some countries, and has created trust, a will to cooperate and a strong sense of ownership among national stakeholders.