|
|
|
|
|
|
Social Development: Successful round tables at UNESCO |
|
On July 16 and 17, a round table meeting of Ministers of Social Development from 19 countries took place in Paris during the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO programme on Management of Social Transformations (MOST). |
|
During two days, Ministers from Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Malaysia, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St Lucia, Syria, Uganda and Venezuela took the floor to share their experiences of how linkages can be created between social science research and policy development in order to strengthen the capacity of governments to act effectively for the welfare of their citizens and social development in their countries.
As a result of the debates, a common observation emerged: it is necessary and urgent to strengthen the dialogue between social science research and policy development, and to associate civil society representatives, in order to face the challenges generated by globalization.
At the opening session, on Monday July 16, UNESCO Director General, Koichiro Matsuura, underlined that "the MOST programme has made a specific effort to support multi-partite networks at sub-regional and regional level with a view to producing policy-relevant knowledge under its priority themes."
Zola S. Skweyiya, South African Minister of Social Development and President of the MOST Intergovernmental Council, stressed the intended outcome of the programme: the realization of values such as justice, freedom, human dignity and the enhancement of sustainable development.
During the debates, Pierre Sané, Assistant Director General of UNESCO for Social and Human Sciences, emphasized that “for too long, social policies have been unilaterally imposed to developing countries by external organizations such as the World Bank. These politics were the same every where and for every country”.
Nazli Choucri, Egyptian researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States), and President of the MOST Scientific Council noted that “researchers are often quite impatient; they expect straight and fast answers. On the other hand, politicians would rather give diplomatic answers. This does not facilitate the dialogue between them.”.
As a result of this meeting, the 35 members of the MOST Intergovernmental Council, in the framework of which the ministerial roundtable was held, agreed on several recommendations to be forwarded to the UNESCO General Conference, which will take place in October 2007.
Among other recommendations, IGC members stressed that the Millennium for Development Goals will not be reached without strengthening dialogue between researchers and social policies, and urged all member states to accelerate the implementation of the MOST National Liaison Committees.
The Intergovernmental Council members also adopted unanimously a resolution on the necessity to allocate an appropriate budget to the MOST programme for its implementation.
More information:Other events in August 2007:- 27 July – 8 August: UNESCO participates in the 21st World Scout Organization Jamboree. Hylands Park, United Kingdom.
- 11-12 August: Joint UNESCO-CAPPE Ethics Workshop. Canberra, Australia.
- 11-12 August: Criança Esperança Annual Show and Fundraising Campaign. São Paulo, Brazil.
- 12 August: Celebration of International Youth Day : ‘Be seen, Be heard : Youth participation in development’. Worldwide.
- 14-15 August: UNESCO Bioethics Workshop in cooperation with the Vietnamese National Commission for UNESCO. Hanoi, Vietnam.
For more detailed information on SHS events:www.unesco.org/shs/agenda
Photo: © UNESCO / C.Bruno-Capvert, 2007 |
|
Author(s) |
UNESCO - Sector for Social and Human Sciences |
Publication Date |
01-08-2007 |
Source |
SHS e-News 17 / August 2007 |
|
|
File/document |
Press release 2.pdf |
|
|
|
|
Email this page Printable version
|
|
|
|