SI UN Reps attend the UNESCO Executive Board

Dominiqe Mertz and Marie-Christine Gries de la Barbelais recently attended the 185th Session of the UNESCO Executive Board.

The Executive Board is one of the three constitutional organs of UNESCO (the others being the General Conference and the Secretariat). The Board examines the programme of work for the Organisation. It consists of 58 Member States with a four-year term of office. The Executive Board’s Committee on International Non-Governmental Organizations is held to examine“Relations with International Non-Governmental Organizations”.

As part of the meeting, topics up for discussion included culture and development and a forum on UNESCO's relationship with NGOs like SI and how best to enhance practical cooperation. As part of this disucssion Dominique Mertz was able to present to the board some examples of successful cooperation even though liaison with the field offices and National Commissions is sometimes difficult to arrange. She welcomed the improvement of relations with NGOs over the previous four years in the context of the revitalization of the NGO Committee of the Executive Board and of the new programmatic orientations adopted by the Director-General of UNESCO “gender, education, rights and empowerment” which directly concerns young people and women.