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| UNESCO and World Social Forum 2006 |
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In 2006, the World Social Forum (WSF) coordination decided to organize the gathering in the manner of Polycentric Forums. Three Polycentric Forums took place almost simultaneously in three regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America. UNESCO took part in some activities of the African Forum and was present as observer at the Latin America Forum. |
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The Polycentric Forum of Latin America and “II Social Forum of the Americas” took place in Caracas (Venezuela) from 24 to 30 January 2006. The Forum was organized around six themes: Communication, cultures and education; Changing diversities, identities and weltanschauung (cosmovisions); Imperialist strategies and people's resistance; Power, politics and struggles towards social emancipation; Natural resources and the right to live; Work, exploitation and social reproduction. These themes were focused on two transversal issues: Gender and Diversity. Some 2,000 activities were based on the above-mentioned themes. The Forum registered 77,000 participants in total (53,000 individual participants, 19,000 delegates, and almost 5,000 journalists). UNESCO participated in seminars and workshops on the following themes: Development and perspectives; The use of indicators to evaluate social development; Social and political alternatives of democracy from the Latin American region; Urban development and the right to the city; Civil society and street gangs.
The African Forum was held in Bamako (Mali), from 19 to 23 January 2006. According to the organizers' estimates, there were 15,000 participants in this Polycentric Forum; about a third from Mali and the majority of the others from elsewhere in Africa and particularly neighbouring West African countries. According to the official programme, over 400 Forum activities took place at 11 different venues spread all over Bamako, grouped by theme: War and peace, Globalized liberalism, Farmers and agrarian issues, Women's universe, Communication, Destruction of ecosystems, Cooperation, Debt and WTO, Social struggles, Alternatives, International Youth Camp. The largest thematic focus was "Social struggles" with around 110 planned activities.
Two workshops were organized with the participation of UNESCO within the framework of the Collective Consultation of Non-Governmental Organizations (CCNGO) of the Education for All (EFA) programme:- Gender Perspectives and MDGs: Practices on Literacy, HIV Preventive Education and Women's Empowerment - Programme / Workshop Report
- Education for All and the Global Monitoring Report: Civil Society perspectives - Workshop Report
See also: Education for All (EFA) at the World Social Forum (UNESCO Bamako, 02 February 2006).
From 24 to 29 March 2006 the Asian World Social Forum took place in Karachi (Pakistan). Nearly 360 workshops, panels and conferences were organized with an attendance of 30,000 people. Go to the official website …
The date for the 2007 WSF has already been set: 20 to 25 January in Nairobi, Kenya.
See also: International Social Science Journal No.182 (December 2004) “Explorations in Open Space : The World Social Forum and cultures of politics” |
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