It is now three months since the first issue of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee Newsletter. This second  Newsletter will give you access to all the documents related to the seventh international NGO-UNESCO Forum  in partnership with the MiSK Foundation,  which took place in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 3rd to 4th May (ADG ERI Eric Falt’s Monthly Letter ; The UNESCO-NGO Forum Communiqué ; The report of the Forum by UNESCO ERI Desk ; The report of  the  NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee ; The reports of Breakout Sessions on Entrepreneurship & Volunteering, Cultural Heritage, Climate Change and Equal opportunities between young women and men in education ; The NGOs’ presentations at the Speakers’ Corners (RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, ZONTA International, CID, WFTU, ISOCARP) ; Interviews of NGOs’ young representatives).

This forum was the first of its kind, for different reasons: the choice of the Arab region but also the working partnership with the MiSK Foundation which hired a renowned communication agency thus   benefiting the forum with a whole range of new technologies of information to make of this event a unique and interactive experience most adapted to the digitally savvy youth. The exceptional presence of UNESCO Director General, Ms Irina Bokova for the closing speech will most likely have contributed to guarantee the success of this unique forum, if needs be, as a testimony to the importance of the soft power of UNESCO.

The Liaison Committee held a meeting on 5th May after the forum in Riyadh and several questions were tackled and decisions made:

1) Youth Network for Peace: A discussion regarding the creation of an International Youth Network for Peace as fruit of this and the previous forum organized by UNESCO and the Liaison Committee. A written proposal concerning this has been submitted to MISK foundation and is currently being studied. We anticipate response by summer of 2017.

2) Forum on Climate Change – though it was mentioned in the strategy document submitted to the Executive board, the Committee agreed to find out more information from the sector as well as take into account the number NGOs still interested in this topic before taking a final decision regarding the hosting in 2017.The committee also appointed Richard Francis Apeh, and Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré to be the focal point for the forum on climate change, and Vicky Lovelock and Patrick Gallaud as Vice-Presidents.

3)Forum on Migration – The choice of theme will be decided taking into account all other issues that UNESCO is involved in and will not be restricted to just education. Were appointed for the forum on Migration: Marie-Christine Griès de la Barbelais as the focal point, and Leonardo Martins.

4) Forum on Science – consultation is still ongoing and a draft project has been sent to the Liaison Committee whose members will look further into this proposal.

5) International Days: three proposals

1. Photography award for the celebration of International Day of Peace
2. International Day of Peace : Using Drone at the service of Peace
3. International Day of The Girl Child

A: The Photo award will be held on the 21^st September 2017 which is the International Day of Peace.

Final decision on the venue will be communicated by end of June 2017. The host organization anticipates larger participation this year at award ceremony and they welcome suggestions from Liaison Committee members on how to make it better than previous editions. They also hope to use the event to increase public awareness about UNESCO and the NGO-UNESCO in the host country.

B: The celebration of the international Day of Peace “Using Drones and Robots at the service of Peace” will be held on the 21^st of September 2018

C: International Day of the Girl Child will be held on the 17^th of October 2018.

6) General Conference of UNESCO & NGO Space – 30 October – 15 November 2017

A Tweeter account of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee (@NgoUnesco) was  initiated ahead of the forum in Riyadh to promote the event and communicate and we already have 755 followers ; we thank you for following us and tweeting during our next events. We would also like to improve our communication on social media and are calling for volunteers to make our events still more visible, take pictures and post them on Facebook and twitter; please let us know if you are interested.

The second major event to take place in May was the 8th global meeting of the Collective Consultation of Non-Governmental Organisations on Education For All (CCNGO/EFA), « The Implementation of SDG4 », now referred to as the Collective Consultation of NGOs for Education 2030 (CCNGO/ED 2030) ; the meeting  (8-9 May) held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, was organised by UNESCO and hosted by NEP (NGO Education Partnership). It gathered national, regional and international non-governmental and civil society organisations and members of the Collective Consultation of NGOs for Education 2030, from all over the world. On behalf of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, as representative to the CCNGO, member of the coordination group and drafting committee, I participated in this other major event which was collectively prepared by NGOs and civil society organisations and CCNGO members with the support of UNESCO. A declaration was  drafted, submitted to and adopted by the whole assembly, at the end of the meeting as fruit of an open dialogue ; in the context of the holistic and ambitious Agenda 2030 for sustainable development and the implementation of SDG4 as key to the achievement of  the other 16 interlinked SDGs, the CCNGO/ED 2030 representatives recommended to « Foster exchange and learning, share knowledge, and engage in wider debates and cross-sectoral engagement, including through increased dialogue with the UNESCO-NGO Liaison Committee and Education and Academia Stakeholder Group ». The CCNGO working procedures were revised and a new coordination group was elected for 2017-2019.

In light of recommendation 35 of the CCNGO/Education 2030, 2017 Global Meeting Declaration and strengthening of the NGO UNESCO Liaison Committee’s role in the CCNGO coordination group, we need to reflect on our future collaboration to actively engage in an intersectoral dialogue with the CCNGO/ED 2030 and impact the implementation of SDG 4.

On behalf of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee,

Philippe Beaussant, President

Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré, Chair of Communication and Relations with CCNGO

1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15.

Tél: +33 1 45 68 36 68

www.ong-unesco.org

Facebook: Ngo-UNESCO Liaison Committee

Twitter: @NgoUnesco

E-mail: comite.liaison.ong@unesco.org

Please find the declaration of the 8th global meeting of the Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education For All (CCNGO/EFA), which took place on 8th-9th May 2017, in Siem Reap, Cambodia on the implementation of SDG4 –Education 2030, as well as the working procedures and the list of the members of the new coordination group for 2017-2019. All the documents of the meeting will be available on the CCNGO/Ed 2030 website in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

The CCNGO Secretariat invites us to share the declaration and use it in our advocacy. In the 35th paragraph, the participants of the meeting recommend to the CCNGO to «Foster exchange and learning, share knowledge, and engage in wider debates and cross-sectoral engagement, including through increased dialogue with the UNESCO-NGO Liaison Committee and Education and Academia Stakeholder Group ».

On behalf of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, I thank the CCNGO Secretariat as well as the members of the coordination group for the excellent preparation of the meeting and the rich and open debates among all the members of civil society, which have made a success of the meeting.

We, NGOs in partnership with UNESCO, are grateful for the opportunity which is thus given to us to further contribute to the implementation of SDG 4.

Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré, NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee representative to CCNGO

1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15.

Tél: +33 1 45 68 36 68

www.ong-unesco.org 

Facebook: NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee

E-mail: comite.liaison.ong@unesco.org

Seventh UNESCO NGO Forum

Organized in partnership with the MiSK Foundation

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 3-4 May 2017

We, the participating NGOs of the Seventh UNESCO NGO Forum, the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and UNESCO, in partnership with the MiSK Foundation, held under the theme of Youth and their Social Impact, welcome the large international nature of the event. For the past two days, we have come together with over 400 NGOs, from over 70 countries and over 2,000 registered delegates, 70 per cent of whom were under the age of 35 years. READ MORE HERE

NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee’s Newsletter (Issue number 1)

This newsletter was born of a common will to give more visibility to NGOs’ collective work as official partners of UNESCO, and whose key role has been underlined by our Director General, Mrs Irina Bokova in her message of congratulations addressed to the president and the members of the new Liaison Committee.

The Liaison Committee’s new strategy of communication answers NGOs’ expectations (see ICNGO conclusions) about the latest news of the Liaison Committee and UNESCO, with a space devoted to NGOs for sharing their best practices and events at UNESCO or elsewhere (Word documents, English and French versions to be provided) and for the follow-ups of the fora. We also kindly remind you that a form for NGOs’ posting of events is available (on request) on UNESCO website.

You will find the February Monthly Letter by Assistant Director General, Mr Eric Falt as well as the minutes of the 23rd February’s meeting with all necessary information on the first forum of the new Liaison Committee (7th international forum of NGOs in partnership with UNESCO, 3-4 May, Ryadh) and on the next planned events like the International Day of Peace. You will also find the report on CCNGO meeting.

As we wish to strengthen our cooperation with UNESCO, we would like to create a pool of competences within NGOs’ members and ask you to help us in our mission and register as volunteers in translations, compilations of NGOs’ oral 3mns’statements during the fora or conferences as observers to be posted, reports on conferences and events at UNESCO headquarters or elsewhere and relevant to UNESCO’s priorities.

We are very much looking forward to your suggestions and feedback to improve our communication on NGOs’ collective work.

THANK YOU!

March 16, 2017

Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré,

Chair of Communication and Relations with CCNGO

1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15. Tél: +33 1 45 68 36 68

www.ong-unesco.org  Facebook: Ngo-UNESCO Liaison Committee

E-mail: comite.liaison.ong@unesco.org

The 2016 International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will be held from 12 to 14 December 2016 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

The 2016 Conference will focus on the theme “The challenge of the digital revolution for NGOs” and will be organized around four subthemes: “The digital revolution and its impact on the diversity of cultural expressions”; “The challenge of access to digital information”; “Does e-learning address challenges of education systems worldwide?”; and, “Science and the digital revolution: which ethical implications?”.

Click here for more information.

The last meeting of the Committee on Non-Governmental Partners (NGP) of the UNESCO Executive Board, took place on Thursday 6 October 2016 at UNESCO Headquarters (Paris, France).

The Committee considered various issues under item 23 of the Agenda of the Executive Board entitled “Relations with non-governmental partners”: the admissions to relations with NGOs and foundations; the follow-up to the decisions of the Executive Board and the resolutions of the General Conference concerning cooperation with NGOs; and the NGOs’ collective work coordinated by the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee.

 Text of the address to the committee by Martine LEVY

The NGO Day took place in the UNESCO Pavillion on the 8 December, after a presentation by the World Water Assessment Programme 10 NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO presented their work on Climate Change.

In addition a round table event was held to share the results of the 6 October Declaration Against Climate Change.

Here are some photos from the event.

The Declaration of NGO Action Day Against Climate Change is a result of a year-long work by a working group set up by the NGO-UNESCO Liaison committee as a result of the proposal made during the Conference of NGOS in 2014. The Working Group defined the topics to be addressed by this Declaration and then created an online consultation process to have a first round of feedback for the content of the Declaration. Following this an international event on the 6 October including 26 countries and 70 representatives came together to share their actions on Climate Change and also to co-construct the Declaration using a non formal education technique, ‘World Café’ which allowed the whole group to give their inputs for the declaration.

The result of this participative process is a common declaration which aims to reflect the diversity of the NGOs present and the common concerns related to Climate Change

 Text of the declaration in English

 Text of the declaration (Chinese version)

 Text of the declaration (Arab version)

You too can sign your NGO up to this declaration by using this link: http://goo.gl/forms/UoQNrYJK9P

We encourage you to share the Declaration with your networks – your members may also sign up.

Organisations who do not hold official partnership with UNESCO and who are not members of networks in official partnership with UNESCO may sign as a supporting organisation: http://goo.gl/forms/0OmOknq74U

The NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and the COP21 Working Group will be participating in different events at Le Bourget in the Climate Generations area (Civil Society) of COP21 in order to present the Declaration and to share the work of NGOs active on Climate Change:

5 December – Climate Generations Area at 11:15-12:45 in room 8

• Round Table presenting the Common NGO Declaration 6 October 2015 against Climate Change

December 8 – NGO Day in the UNESCO Pavilion at Le Bourget in the Climate Generations area (Civil Society) of COP21 from 11:30-18:00

• NGO (in official partnership with UNESCO) presentations throughout the day
• Round Table presenting the Common NGO Declaration 6 October 2015 against Climate Change at 14:00

You can check out here the provisional Agenda