Taking place during the International Week of Science and Peace, which takes place this year from 6 to 10 November 2012, the 6th Latin American Conference on Social Sciences is a major item in the scientific calendar. <br /><br />It is an important event for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as for the whole of the international community committed to the idea that the social sciences have a major contribution to make to the development and implementation of development policies that are sustainable and that respect the needs of peoples and basic human rights. <br /><br/>The regional conference, which is organized by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) with the support of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programme, aims to provoke reflection and debate on current issues confronting the social sciences by fostering critical thinking in Latin America and the Caribbean. <br /><br />Opened by the UNESCO’s Assistant Director general for the Social and Human Sciences, Mrs Pilar Alvarez-Laso, and the Executive Secretary of CLACSO, Mr. Emir Sader, the conference will comprise 12 thematic sessions ranging from climate change to poverty eradication, and including questions related to education policy, access to knowledge, civil participation of young people, migration, feminism, national economies in the context of the capitalist crisis, and the idea of the state in Latin America.<br /><br />A special session on the ideas that will shape the 2013World Social Science Report, which focuses on global environmental change, will also be organized by UNESCO and the International Social Science Council (ISSC), whilst the Executive Director of the Mexican Council of Social Sciences (COMECSO) – which translated the Spanish edition of the 2010 World Social Science Report on knowledge divides – will participate in a round table on social change, science and technology. <br /><br />Overall, the conference will include 90 round table events and debates, 10 keynote lectures and 2 international symposia involving over 200 world-renowned experts. It will take place over four days at many sites in the historical centre of Mexico, bringing together thousands of participants, including 400 representatives from universities and research centres from more than 25 countries of Latin America, North America, the Caribbean and Europe.<br /><br />Besides the UNESCO Assistant Director general for Social and Human Sciences, several other UNESCO representatives will participate in the debates as speakers, moderators or panelists, including the Executive Secretary of the UNESCO MOST programme and the Director of the UNESCO field office in Mexico.<br /><br />MOST is unique within the UN system. It is the only intergovernmental programme that aims to apply social science research to development issues, encouraging policy-oriented-research to face current global challenges, and bridging the gaps between researchers, civil society and policy-makers in order to allow them to work together, whilst respecting the individual role and place of each actor.<br /><br />In Latin America and the Caribbean, MOST works inter alia by organizing regional fora of Ministers of Social Development and gathering young social scientists in the annual MOST summer schools.<br /><br />At the international level, MOST has two current strategic priorities: social inclusion and the social dimensions of global environmental change.

Previous editions (Paris 2001; Ljubljana 2006; Budva 2008; Tirana 2010) have proven to be a crucial added value of what UNESCO can bring to the Region in this field. UNESCO aims to act as a broker and policy platform, bringing together the main key figures in policy-making in S&T at international, European and sub-regional level. The outcomes (final communiqués, publications, policy analysis, declarations, recommendations, etc.) constitute comprehensive revisions showing priorities and roadmaps to be followed in SEE countries and at regional levels.<br /><br/>Prior to the official Ministerial Round Table, a day expert meeting dealing with issues of strengthening of STI system capacity in SEE, in particular with regard to the quality of the new innovative approaches of science and research will be convened. International experts, representatives of the EU, scientific community from SEE countries will be invited.<br />

Since its establishment in 2001, UNESCO’s World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated worldwide each year on 10 November. This Day is an occasion to recall UNESCO's and its Member States’ commitment to science. UNESCO has made significant progress in also promoting gender equality (a global priority for the Organization) and is strongly oriented towards empowering girls and women in the creation of scientific knowledge. <br /><br /><br/>Within Albania’s centennial celebrations, the UNESCO World Science Day will place the spotlight on the important contributions Albanian women make to science. UNESCO is organizing a Conference “Albanian Women in Science and non-traditional settings” in the framework of the Albania-United Nations Programme of Cooperation 2012-2016. Important Albanian women scientists and international guests will share their professional and educational experiences and answer questions from the public.

The Tenth International SUMAMAD Workshop will bring together all project partners to review the implementation of the SUMAMAD Project and its national field project activities since the last workshop (December 2011) and to discuss future project activities.<br/>Funded by the Flemish Government of Belgium and implemented by UNESCO-MAB in collaboration with the dryland ecosystems programme of the United Nations University-Institute for Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH), the SUMAMAD Project studies sustainable management and conservation of marginal drylands in Africa, Arab States, Asia and Latin America. The project started in 2002, and uses harmonized methodologies for 9 research sites allowing results comparing and knowledge sharing. In its second phase (since 2009), scientists from Belgium, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Egypt, India, I.R. of Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and Tunisia collaborate on dryland research to combat desertification.<br /><br />UNESCO and the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés are organizing the Tenth International SUMAMAD Workshop that will be held in La Paz (Bolivia), from 12 – 14 November 2012. <br />The workshop brings together all designated national project coordinators from the project partner research institutions and the members of the project core management group.<br /> <br />The objectives of the workshop are:<br />• To review the implementation of the SUMAMAD Project and its national field project activities since the 9th international SUMAMAD workshop held in December 2011;<br />• To discuss technical issues for the implementation of the SUMAMAD Project in 2012 and future project activities.<br />• Define the structure of the final publication of the SUMAMAD Phase 2 project as well as the policy brief for decision-makers as a result of SUMAMAD-2 activities.<br />

The meeting is the second event of the series launched in cooperation with OSCE and Council of Europe with the aim of promoting the Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims, and of raising awareness on the role of education to counter intolerance and discrimination against Muslims through education. <br /><br />Registration required.<br/>In 2011, OSCE/ODIHR, the Council of Europe and UNESCO published the "Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance against Muslims: Addressing Islamophobia through Education" as part of the efforts in promoting the intercultural and interfaith dialogue and combating discrimination on the ground of religion. This meeting seeks to provide a forum for educational authorities to discuss how the Guidelines can be used to promote appreciation of diversity and social cohesion in the era of globalization. <br /><br />Registration required.

UNESCO Brasilia Office, in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Cultural and Social Foundations of Itaú, AfroReggae and CUFA, is conducting a research to study forms of sociabilitiy that remain invisible and underground within mainstream society.<br /><br/>The Seminar will launch, present and disseminate a research conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), in partnership with UNESCO, universities, local communities, the Globo TV Network and the charitable foundations of Itaú Bank, to identify patterns of sociability and social regeneration in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (slums). <br /><br />It explores how communities exposed to poverty, crime and violence, are able to resist exclusion and produce positive outcomes. The research focused on the work developed by local cultural NGOs – Afro Reggae and CUFA – that use the arts, sport, cultural identity and civic engagement to rewrite favela environments and establish lines of communication and exchange between marginalized communities and mainstream society.<br /><br />Each stage of the project was discussed by all partners, involving a participatory methodology that consulted stakeholders throughout the process.