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| Mrs Chantal Biya, the first lady of Cameroon, is designated Goodwill Ambassador by the Director-General |
09-05-2009 12:50 am The Director- General of UNESCO, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, designated Mrs Chantal Biya, First Lady of Cameroon, as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education and Social Inclusion, in a ceremony that took place in UNESCO Headquarters on 14 November 2008. The ceremony was attended by many notable personalities such as Mrs Haman Adama, Cameroonian Minister for Basic Education; Ms Rama Yade, the French Foreign and European Affairs Minister’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights; H.Exc. Mr.Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary ,Permanent Delegate to UNESCO of Cameroon. In his address Mr Koichiro thanked Mrs Biya for her long-standing engagement in the struggle against social exclusion, more specifically through her support for AIDS
education and prevention, her leadership and work with African First Ladies through
Synergies Africaines, her association with the Families First Africa project and the
centre in Yaoundé bearing her name. As the Director-General pointed out, through this
designation UNESCO wishes “to underline the fact that [inclusive education] is primarily
directed at vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, and that its main objective is to end
all types of discrimination and favour social cohesion.”
Mrs Biya is renowned for her activities in favour of women, children and other vulnerable
groups, but also for the research, treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS
mainly through her Foundation “African Synergies against AIDS and Suffering”. The
Chantal Biya Centre is closely linked to UNESCO’s “Families First Africa” project,
which supports activities that address HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, the Ivory Coast and
Burkina Faso. The project is directed by Professor Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize for
Medicine Laureate, and very generously financed by the Italian Government.
As Goodwill Ambassador for social inclusion
and education, Mrs Biya will promote UNESCO’s programmes through the cooperation
with the Organisation’s sectors. She will contribute to UNESCO’s efforts for
the strengthening and the expanding of the work of the Chantal Biya Centre, which
serves as a training and capacity-building hub in the region to increase services for
those who are marginalised, excluded and vulnerable. Mrs Biya will also continue her
advocacy for social inclusion and education by serving as a champion for the dissemination
and application by decision-makers and international partners of guidelines scheduled
to be launched at this year’s International Conference on Education, for the integration
of inclusive Education in national planning and politics; the mobilisation of the First
Ladies and the civil society of Africa and the promotion of Education for All (EFA) and
the critical role of education in tackling poverty, especially for women and girls, orphans,
minorities and other vulnerable groups.
Photo (© UNESCO/Ravassard) : The Director-General of UNESCO and Mrs Chantal Biya
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