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Issue 54 4 to 8 December 2017

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Message of the Director

Dear Colleagues and Partners,

UNESCO organized a successful conference on Education for Sustainable

Development (ESD): Local sustainable solutions for cities and communities in

Nairobi, Kenya from 7 to 8 December 2017. The conference brought together

eight different UN agencies, as well as Ministry of Education technical experts to

discuss of ways of developing greater synergies between schools and communities

in order to realign education with local contexts. UNESCO promoted its Global

Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, aiming to generate sustainable solutions at

local level, and taking into account priorities in addressing sustainability issues,

and the urban specificities in the region. I also had the opportunity to meet with

the Governor of Nairobi and discussed the importance of sustainable cities.

This week we commemorated International Day of Persons with Disabilities,

on 3 December, stressing the paramount need to defend the human rights and

dignity of every woman and man and empower them to become everything they

wish, regardless of disabilities. This day is at the core of the 2030 Agenda of

Leaving No One Behind. UNESCO is contributing to the implementation of the

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by exploring the

facilitating role of technology so that people living with disabilities can be fully

part of society.

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The Regional Office for Eastern Africa organized a Workshop and Training on

the use of ICTs for the sustainability of Community Radios. Twenty

participants from Bulala FM, Baliti FM, Kwale Ranet FM and Koch FM gathered

in Nairobi to learn about the use of social media to amplify their community radio

voices and allow greater interaction, comments and discussions with the

listeners. The importance of technology in community broadcasting has been

highlighted in a series of Facebook post on the Facebook page of the office and I

Invite you to discover their powerful statements on the importance of technology

to empower local radios.

In parallel, at Machakos University, a training of trainers in peace building

gathered 50 trainers all across Kenya to cascade a new teaching method called

“Transformative Pedagogy”, which fosters creativity and curiosity of learners,

instead of imparting information and knowledge, jointly organized by the

UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, the Kenya

National Commission for UNESCO, and financed by the Government of Japan.

The aim is for Youth in East Africa to have the skills and knowledge to become

peace-loving and productive citizens.

In Uganda, we ran a training on ICT infrastructure for Sustainable

Development, and brought together members of 23 the teacher training centres in

Uganda to evaluate the progress in implementing the UNESCO-China Funds-in-

Trust Project entitled: “Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education

Quality Gap in Uganda”. Focal persons are excited at the progress obtained so far

and are looking forward to benefiting more and more from the online learning

management system put in place in the framework of the project.

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Finally, the Regional Office for Eastern Africa was also present at a mini-retreat

on 5 December 2017 in Djibouti and another retreat in Moroni, Comoros,

reinforcing our important role in contributing towards the UN engagement in

Member States in the region.

This week was a busy time in capitalizing on the important role of leaving no one

behind.

I wish you a wonderful week ahead!

Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta

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In the photo, participants of the ESD Conference on 7 December 2017 in

Nairobi, Kenya

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Announcements

Read the article on our UNESCO

Annual Retreat on UNESTeams,

link here

‘Sega tambour of Rodrigues

Island’ (Mauritius) just inscribed

on the Representative List of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage of

Humanity. Sega Tambour of

Rodrigues Island is a vibrant

performance of music, song and

dance performed all over Rodrigues Island.

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UN Tanzania launched its

Dodoma office on 7 December

2017. Follow the social media

accounts on:

Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages.

Missions

Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta

Official launching of the Better Education for Africa (BEAR) II project

Seoul, Korea

11 to 13 December 2017

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What happened this week in UNESCO

in the Region

UNESCO Community Radio Training on ICTs and Sustainability

UNESCO facilitated a

two-days training, from 4

to 6 December 2017, at

the UN Gigiri premises in

Nairobi, Kenya, on the

use of ICTs for

sustainability, for 4 local

community radio stations,

Baliti FM, Kwale Ranet

FM, Bulala FM and Koch

FM. 20 community radio practicioners and radio managers learned about

fundraising tools to boost social change in their communities, as well as how to

use social media to engage more listeners, discuss and drive the change. Check our

@UNESCOEast Twitter handle with their testimonies.

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UN Retreat Comoros

UN

Country

Team in

Comoros

organized

a Retreat,

from 4 to 6 December 2017, in close cooperation with the Government of

Comoros, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and High Commissioner for Plan,

reaffirming their determination to work alongside with ONE-UN Comoros

Comoros development, UNESCO in East Africa was represented by Education

specialist Saba Bokhari.

Preparatory sessions in Ngorongoro district, Arusha Region of Tanzania to

raise awareness of negative impacts of FGM

Anti

Female Genital

Mutilation (FGM)

campaigners in

Ngorongoro

district in the

Arusha Region

of Tanzania, with

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district officials as well as UNESCO staff met for a two-days preparatory session,

on 5 & 6 December 2017, ahead of the one month campaign to intensify efforts

against FGM in the district. The session brought together spiritual leaders,

traditional leaders (Laigwanan), local and ward leaders, retired mutilators,

community media practitioners, nurses, religious leaders and community welfare

officers in the district. The campaign comes ahead of the high season in FGM

practice in the district where parents utilize the December holidays to mutilate

girls. The session was conducted by UNESCO in collaboration with the

Ngorongoro District Council and the Council of Masaai traditional leaders.

UNESCO Director of Regional Office for Eastern Africa meets the Governor

of Nairobi

On 6 December 2017, the

Director of the UNESCO

Regional Office for

Eastern Africa, Ann

Therese Ndong- Jatta, met

the Governor of Nairobi,

Mike Sonko, as well as

the Deputy Governor of

Nairobi, Polycarp Igathe.

They discussed about the UNESCO Sub-Saharan Africa Conference on Education

for Sustainable Development (ESD): Local sustainable solutions for cities and

communities, to which the Governor of Nairobi will be participating (7 & 8

December 2017), the Cleaning River Nairobi project, the paramount role of cities

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and communities for a better planet and prosperity of the local context, as well as

economic growth and opportunities for youth through entrepreneurship initiatives.

What the Press says about us

Tarikh Tana (Our History) Radio Series About The South Sudan National

Archives, Source: Bringing South Sudanese Together

Preserving Africa's rich liberation history, Source: Brand South Africa

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Web News of the week

Shaping the Kenya National Policy

on Culture with a wide range of

viewpoints

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Publications

ICT Transforming

Education in

Africa, UNESCO KFIT

Project

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Introducing the Our Rights,

Our Lives, Our Future (O3)

Programme

UNESCO days & Public Holidays

UN Human Rights Day

10 December 2017

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Follow & Engage with us!

Click on the images and find us on:

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Inspiration of the Week