Participation Programme

UNESCO's Participation Programme is designed to provide direct assistance to initiatives undertaken by Member States in the Organization's fields of competence, in line with priorities determined by the countries themselves, with proposals submitted via UNESCO National Commissions. The funds are modest (up to a maximum of US$26,000 granted for national project requests, with about six projects per country in each biennium, and up to US$46,000 for regional submissions). But UNESCO is not a funding agency. And support at these sorts of level may often be easier to assimilate than higher orders of financial contribution. As an ensemble, Participation Programme projects touch on many of the technical fields and areas of concern addressed in the Mauritius Strategy, with several projects related to natural and environmental disasters and natural hazards (including emergency assistance following natural disasters) approved or being carried out from January 2005 onwards. Bahamas. Emergency assistance after Hurricane Francis: Reconstruction of educational infrastructure and equipment. Dominica. Youth mobilization in disaster management and water security. Dominican Republic. Emergency assistance: Requipment of schools on the Dominican-Haitian border. Emergency assistance after Hurricane Jeanne: Reconstruction of schools and educational equipment. Grenada. Emergency assistance following Hurricane Ivan. Haiti. Emergency assistance after floods which destroyed educational infrastructure and equipment. Jamaica. Emergency assistance after Hurricane Francis to reconstruct educational infrastructure and equipment. Niue. Enhancing disaster preparedness. Emergency assistance for technical evaluation to recover and restore files and records destroyed by cyclone. Papua New Guinea. Emergency assistance for technical evaluation of educational damage and reconstruction requirements following eruption of Manam Island and Mt Tavurvur volcanoes. Seychelles. Emergency assistance for the reconstruction of Mahe atoll. St Lucia. Emergency assistance in favour of Grenadian students after devastation by Hurricane Ivan. Tonga. Natural disaster preparedness and prevention for primary school children. Trinidad & Tobago. Emergency assistance after Hurricane Ivan which destroyed educational infrastructure and equipment. * Information culled from a list of approved 2004-2005 Participation Programme projects in a document prepared for the 171st session of the UNESCO Executive Board in September 2005 (171 EX/34).