Since 2013, KNCU has carried out the Website Development Project to assist fellow National Commissions with creating their websites and increasing their capacities to manage the websites. Celebrating the International Year of Small Island Developing States, KNCU launched the 2014 Website Development Project in the Caribbean region, followed by last year’s Pacific region.

From 2 to 4 September, KNCU and the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO (JNCU) co-organized a Training Workshop in Kingston, Jamaica that emphasized the importance of National Commissions having their own websites; participants included Aruba, Curaçao, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Sint Maarten.

Starting from April, KNCU has dispatched step-by-step guidance materials to help participating National Commissions to organize their website structure and produce website content. Thanks to their active participation and contribution, each National Commission’s website was created in August.

Mr. Dong-seok Min, Secretary-General of KNCU, warmly welcomed the participants and expressed his enthusiasm for the cooperation with fellow National Commissions in developing countries. He introduced KNCU’s efforts to return and share what Korea received from the global society after the Korean War, explaining that this Project is part of such efforts. Mr. Everton Hannam, Secretary-General of JNCU, expressed his pleasure to co-organize the Training Workshop. He explained that the collaboration was based on the MoU signed between JNCU and KNCU in November 2013, stressing that the two National Commissions had consistently moved forward to make their cooperation possible. Ms. Christine Anne Norton, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Office in Kingston, appreciated the joint effort of JNCU and KNCU and the importance of this Project in that “the largest National Commission thinks about the smallest National Commissions and tries to build the partnership.” Ms. Lisa R. Hanna, Minister of Youth and Culture, Jamaica, who was represented by her Permanent Secretary, Ms. Sherill Óreggio Angus, underlined the importance of National Commissions’ websites in order to effectively promote UNESCO activities to the public, in particular, to the Youth.

During the workshop, the website managers of each National Commission, who are either a National Commission staff member or a webmaster from a government related to the National Commission, learned how to manage their own website and edit multimedia content to be uploaded to their websites. The workshop consisted of lectures and various practices that participants carried out on their own. Thanks to the active participation, the workshop was held successfully and the website managers became capable of managing their own website.

While the workshop has completed, the Website Development Project is not yet finished. KNCU will continue to collaborate with the participating National Commission by the end of this year, answering technical inquiries and assisting them with improving their websites.

KNCU and the six participating National Commissions hope that their websites can promote the knowledge and experience sharing among National Commissions. Please visit the following websites for such online communication.

Aruba:  www.unesco-aruba.org

Curaçao:  www.natcomcuracao.org

Jamaica:  www.jncunesco.gov.jm (on-line soon)

Sint Maarten:  www.unesco.sx

Saint Kitts and Nevis:  www.sknunesco.com

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:  www.svgncunesco.com

* This Project is funded by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea.