The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre is organizing an international forum on the role of the UNEVOC Network in transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for a sustainable future. The forum also coincides with UNEVOC’s commemoration of its 10th year anniversary. <br/>The aim of the Forum is to strengthen the role of the UNEVOC Network in transforming TVET for a sustainable future and particularly to discuss the role of effective teaching and learning for advancing the greening TVET agenda, using the potential of the UNEVOC Network to achieve these connections. The Forum will provide an opportunity for UNEVOC Centres and the Global Network to share with each other recent developments, trends and prospects for green societies and the role of TVET teachers in the skilling process. It will also identify relevant approaches to empower TVET teachers to critically engage with the complexity of sustainability issues and mainstream these into their teaching processes so that learners can form their own opinions. The Forum will facilitate sharing of experiences, good practices and lessons learnt in integrating greening societies and economies into the TVET agenda.

Co-hosted by the Rwanda Editors’ Guild and the Eastern Africa Editors’ Forum, this Conference will take place from 8 to 9 November 2012 in Kigali, Rwanda and will contribute towards the defense and promotion of media freedom and independence in Africa. It aspires to provide sustainable, credible, professional and inspirational support for African editors to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and ethics in journalism.<br/>.

The Seminar, organized by UNESCO and the Permanent Delegation of Poland, will discuss the legacy of Janusz Korczak (Polish paediatrician, writer and a pioneer of children's rights). Experts will address challenges related to applying the Convention on the right of the child, early childhood quality education as well as the pedagogical innovation required for children to become full global citizens. <br /><br/>A pioneer of children’s rights, Janusz Korczak, was the first to put into words the necessity to respect children as fully-fledged human beings. The Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations in 1989 drew on Korczak’s work. Although widely ratified, the Convention is not always respected. Today, UNESCO and the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to UNESCO are joining forces to pay tribute to the “Old Doctor” (as he is called) and examine his double legacy as a visionary and a practitioner. The debate, led by Professor Adam Fraczek, Chairman of the UNESCO/Janusz Korczak Chair in Social Pedagogy, will address challenges related to applying the Convention, early childhood quality education as well as the pedagogical innovation required for children to become full global citizens.<br /><br />More than one century later, Janusz Korczak’s methods and commitment enrich the reflection and inform practices. At a time when the importance of education is unanimously agreed upon, its content and goals continue to generate doubts and concerns. Is the welfare of children always at the core of our preoccupations? Does education allow for children’s self-realization? In the spirit of dialogue and cooperation fostered by Korczak, this seminar gathers experts from diverse backgrounds to reflect upon these issues and make education the driving force behind the implementation of children’s rights.<br /><br />A Polish doctor, an educationalist and a writer, Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) has perhaps most notably been a pioneer in participative pedagogy. His work and vision paved the way for the articulation of children’s rights as expressed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. His deep and unwavering dedication to children was expressed until the moment of his death in 1942, when he chose to accompany the children of his orphanage, in the Warsaw Ghetto, to the Treblinka extermination camp where they all perished together.

The meeting is convened by International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) Secretariat. UNESCO, as a key partner in ISDR system, is hosting this meeting.<br/>At its 23rd session, HLCP requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction to convene a time-bound senior management group to prepare a UN system-wide Plan of Action on how to more strategically identify and act on core issues and gaps in disaster risk reduction. Among other items, the discussions of the meetings will focus on a road map paper on United Nations perspectives on disaster risk reduction for 2015-2025, aiming at identifying future role of United Nations in promoting disaster risk reduction. UNESCO as part of ISDR system, helps to build capacities for disaster mitigation and to encourage advocacy and policy support to disaster risk reduction.<br />The Director-General of UNESCO is expected to open this Retreat.

This groundbreaking initiative aims to contribute to the fight against doping, through the development of co-operation between the pharmaceutical industry and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The participants of the Conference are senior representatives of the public authorities, the pharmaceutical industry, the sports movement and the anti-doping authorities. The organization of this Conference is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Sports, Youth, Non Formal Education and Voluntary Organizations of France, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the WADA.<br /><br/>One of the most effective means of supporting anti-doping activities is timely access to the information available to athletes who misuse drugs for performance enhancement and their enablers. Always on the lookout for new substances or new methods to improve their performance, athletes who engage in doping practices do not think twice about the risks they take to gain access to and misuse substances under development.<br /><br />Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are obviously in the best position to assess the possible doping effects of pipeline substances and help anti-doping authorities take effective preventive action. Also among the relevant stakeholders are the responsible regulatory agencies, especially when they authorize the marketing of such new substances.<br /><br />It is very clear from the co-operation over the past few years between the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and WADA, and from the signature of recent bilateral co-operation agreements, that voluntary co-operation is possible. It remains for it to be developed on a wider international scale. <br /><br />This co-operation could be a basis for strengthening measures against doping, focusing especially on broadening the application of the existing framework of relations between the pharmaceutical industry, the anti-doping authorities and WADA in particular.<br /><br />The Symposium is to be opened by Ms Valérie Fourneyron, Minister of Sports, Youth, Non Formal Education and Voluntary Organizations, France; the Honorable John Fahey, President, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA); and Ms Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General, of the Council of Europe; and UNESCO.

The meeting aims at promoting landslide research and capacity building for the benefit of society and the environment. It is a joint meeting of the 11th Session of Board of Representatives of International Consortium on Landslide (ICL) and of the 7th Session of International Programme on Landslides (IPL) Global Promotion Committee.<br/>The meeting will report on recent and ongoing activities and examine new project proposals related to landslide research and landslide risk reduction. The Board of Representatives of ICL is composed of representatives of about 44 worldwide organizations and national entities involved in landslide research and risk reduction. It meets once every year at UNESCO Paris. The outcomes of this meeting will contribute towards promoting international cooperation in order to further evaluate landslide hazards and to design strategies for mitigating risks from landslides.