Cablegate: Usunesco: 33rd General Conference Education

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

310855Z Oct 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007401

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SCUL UNESCO
SUBJECT: USUNESCO: 33RD GENERAL CONFERENCE EDUCATION
COMMISSION-US ACHIEVES ITS GOALS

1. SUMMARY: The work of Commission II (education) during the
33rd General Conference was the culmination of the US
Delegation's work since the US reentry into UNESCO in
October 2003. It produced results by injecting momentum into
the moribund UN Literacy Decade; by completing - with US
agreement -- a convention to discourage illegal performance
enhancers in sports (septel); by launching a totally revised
Education for Sustainable program and by derailing efforts
to turn a positive initiative on cross-border higher
education quality into a normative instrument with
restrictions on trade in educational services. End Summary

2. This was the firSt General Conference since the U.S.
returned to UNESCO in 2003, and signs of the U.S. impact on
the organization are already clear. Managerial concepts
that the U.S. has been advocating for the past two years,
such as accountability, measurable results, fiscal
responsibility, the need for greater focus on core
priorities, cross-sector coordination and consolidation of
key initiatives, have now become a regular part of the
organization's vocabulary.

3. This was particularly evident as the Commission dealt
with numerous draft resolutions (DR) with financial
implications. Unlike past General Conferences where Member
States usually accepted any DR regardless of its financial
implications, this time, with the help of the Director
General's call for more focus, these initiatives were
rebuffed.

4. This is a sign of a culture change at UNESCO in the
education field. Relentless insistence by the US and other
like-minded countries on what matters most to transform the
organization produced a much richer debate in Commission II
than at the last General Conference and, more importantly,
more logical and strategic decisions for the education
program and budget.

Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) Launch

5. During the first week of the General Conference, the
Director-General - joined by U.S. Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings and others - launched the Literacy
Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) and announced the first 10
pilot countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Haiti, Mali, Morocco,
Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Yemen. This document
included extensive comments and suggestions provided by
USDel.

Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher
Education

6. The US helped draft the Guidelines for Quality Provision
in Cross-Border Higher Education that are best practices to
assist consumers worldwide in choosing educational services
from foreign providers. USDel worked with like-minded
countries to block efforts by Brazil, India and others to
prevent turning this into a normative instrument with
restrictions on trade in educational services implement more
stringent guidelines (that would also impede WTO actions in
this area). Ultimately a better, clearer and non-restrictive
draft decision was adopted by consensus.

Budget

7. The US succeeded in getting more of the budget's
education sector money directed to the three core
priorities: literacy, teacher training and HIV/AIDS
education - all of which target Africa in great proportion.

Medium-Term Strategy

8. There was broad consensus in favor of a resolution that
set the format and procedure to be followed in drafting the
next medium-term strategy. The aim of the resolution is to
ensure that member states take a pro-active role in the
process; for the U.S., this presents an opportunity to
enhance UNESCO's focus on programs, rather than on normative
instruments.

Education Roundtable

10. Once again, education ministers met for two days to
discuss key issues surrounding UNESCO's mission to achieve
Education for All. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings' remarks were particularly well received. With an
eye on the upcoming 5th High Level Group meeting in Beijing,
China, the group boiled down their views in a communiqu
about what they will do in their own countries and what they
want UNESCO to do to speed the progress on EFA.

http://www.unesco.org/education/mined2005/com munique.pdf

Decade for Education for Sustainable Development

11. Since last spring, USDel has worked to curb the excesses
in a proposed framework to guide the UN Decade for Education
for Sustainable Development. The document, a 52-page
rambling and unfocused effort prepared by UNESCO at the
request of the UN General Assembly, pleased no one when
initially presented at the April 2005 Executive Board. At
the time, USDel called for major changes and the document
was revised and presented during the General Conference.

12. A number of delegations during the General Conference
urged new ADG/Education Peter Smith to consolidate the
various education initiatives - Education for All, UN
Literacy Decade, Decade for Education for Sustainable
Development, Literacy Initiative for Empowerment, HIV/AIDS
education, and the Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-
Saharan Africa -- to minimize overlap and maximize results.

13. Comment: Unlike the fireworks in the cultural
commission, the education commission dealt with some
difficult issues and reached consensus. There was a spirit
of cooperation and openness in this commission that was
absent in the cultural commission. The U.S. came back to
UNESCO primarily to focus on educational programs and our
return is already bearing fruit. The task of getting more
focus to the education programs has been something like
turning a super tanker; it is slow at first but eventually
the ship starts turning, and that is what we are seeing.

OLIVER

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