Sweden champion donor to UNESCO in 2018

Sweden is supporting UNESCO to step up Education for Sustainable Developing in Southern Africa. On 26 October 2018, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini, and the Permanent Delegate of Sweden to UNESCO, Ambassador, Anna Brandt, signed a new Funding Agreement to the value of 21.5 million Swedish Kronor (approximately US$2.5 million) in this regard. In total, during the year 2018, Sweden has pledged more than US$100 million in new voluntary contributions to UNESCO for the coming years.

“We are deeply grateful for Sweden’s new support, that will support the advancement of ESD training and capacity building of early childhood, primary and secondary teachers as well as TVET educators in the following ten countries Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Swaziland, Zambia Zimbabwe,” said Stefania Giannini.

“Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has long been a priority for Sweden,” said Ambassador Brandt, adding that “UNESCO has a decisive role in supporting and catalyzing national efforts”.

The Swedish-funded project will make an important contribution to accelerating the implementation of Target 4.7 of SDG 4, and to integrating ESD into all areas of education. The funds will help to integrate sustainability principles into education and training environments, with emphasis on curriculum change in teacher education institutions and TVET colleges. Professional ESD networks in the region will also be strengthened.

This project is part of the overall Swedish engagement in UNESCO. Since 2013, Sweden has increased its financial cooperation with UNESCO gradually. This increase has been made possible thanks to several key reforms that UNESCO has implemented over the last four years, primarily the improved results-framework in the current four-year programme (39 C/5). From a traditional project oriented funding in 2013, Sweden has thus been able to move to more multi-year flexible funding fully aligned with UNESCO’s programme and budget.

This new project is therefore a confirmation of the trust that Sweden and UNESCO have developed together over the years and represents a further step in this fruitful partnership.