IBE-UNESCO announces the new Director at the Geneva Press Briefing

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – On 9 April 2020, IBE-UNESCO participated in the Geneva Press Briefing organzied by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS). The newly appointed IBE Director Yao Ydo introduced himself to the media and other Geneva-based International Organizations for the first time. Alessandra Vellucci, Director of UNIS in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing.

Mr. Yao Ydo was appointed Director at UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE-UNESCO) in April 2021, by Director-General Audrey Azoulay. Prior to joining the IBE, Mr. Ydo had worked with UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Abuja where he had served as the Regional Director for West Africa.

With over 24 years of wide experience within the UN system, Mr. Ydo started his career at the Pairs Headquarters of UNESCO, in the Education Section in 1997 as an Associate Expert. His extensive hands-on experience in education included a variety of education posts at UNESCO Field Offices in Mali, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire.

At the press briefing, Mr. Ydo reminded that IBE was established in 1925, and had been led by the famous Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget for almost 40 years. “Currently, IBE focuses primarily on curriculum, which serves as a nexus of education systems as what constitution is to democracy”, said Mr. Ydo. He elaborated on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning, and stressed the challenge of how to build more resilient education systems, namely in developing countries, which can better respond to future pandemics and other unprecedented crises.
 

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcfzaZZjILQ

Read the full briefing: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/bi-weekly-briefing/2021/04/regular-press-briefing-united-nations-information-service-0