UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa celebrates UNESCO's 70th anniversary

The UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) in Harare (Zimbabwe), celebrated UNESCO's 70th anniversary through three events under the theme "70 years of experience for 17 Goals" linking up with the Sustainable Development Goals, from 26 to 28 October 2015:

70^th Anniversary event celebrating 70 years of UNESCO and pledge of support to the newly adopted SDGs under Agenda 2030

Under the theme “70 Years of Experience for 17 Goals” the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa organised an event, highlighting UNESCO’s contribution to peace and sustainable development over the last 70 years. The meeting, attended by UNESCO staff and national commissions from the region, government officials, ambassadors, Heads of UN agencies and partners, reconfirmed UNESCO’s strong commitment to the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will succeed the MDG agenda after 2015. The event helped to create stronger awareness about the SDGs, and about the importance of partnerships and collaboration between a wide range of partners and stakeholders, which will be essential for their successful implementation.

Regional Meeting of National Commissions and UNESCO

On 28 October 2015, the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa hosted a strategic planning meeting between UNESCO field offices and national commissions in the region. The meeting discussed about ways to strengthen the cooperation between UNESCO field offices and National Commissions at national and regional levels. The meeting recognised the importance of stronger collaboration, which is expected to contribute to improved effectiveness, impact and visibility of UNESCO’s support to member states and the region as a whole. Besides, the meeting aimed at strengthening partnerships and cooperation between national commissions of member states in the region.

Regional Education strategic planning meeting

The UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa organised a Regional Support Strategy Workshop on Education, held in Harare on 26 and 27 October 2015. With the theme “Developing an Education Support Strategy for Southern Africa”, the workshop was a platform for governments, National Commissions and UNESCO Education Program Specialists to draft an Education Support Strategy and Regional plan of action for Southern Africa.

This follows a series of regional conferences, national consultative meetings and country desk studies in education, focusing on teachers (August, Mozambique), education for sustainable development (September, Zimbabwe), literacy (October, Namibia),  and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (October, Zimbabwe). The various initiatives along with the recommendations of the international framework for action for education for post-2015 discussed at the World Education Forum paved way towards the drafting of various national and regional recommendations to support the sector of education in Southern Africa in line with the post-2015 agenda.