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UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONAddress byMr Marcio BarbosaDeputy Director-Generalof the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)on the occasion of the opening of the Third Session of theIntergovernmental Council for the Information for All ProgrammeUNESCO, 4 May 2004DDG/4.05.2004 Page 6Madam Chair Fernandez-Baca,Distinguished Members of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme,Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,Let me begin by extending to you the greetings and good wishes of the Director-General who, to his regret, is unable to be with us today for the opening of this important meeting. As you may know, he is currently on an official visit to Serbia and Montenegro, where yesterday, World Press Freedom Day, he participated in the award ceremony for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. I am pleased to inform you that the Director-General will be back in time for the closing of the meeting.On his behalf, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to UNESCO for the opening of the third session of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme. I welcome the Representatives of Member States and non-governmental organizations, and the observers from other organizations. I would like to take this opportunity to cordially thank the Chairperson of the Council, Ms. Fernandez-Baca, for her excellent work during the last two years. Through your remarkable skill in chairing the proceedings and your political sensitivity you have considerably advanced the work of the Council. I know that the Bureau was of great support to your work and I would like to commend all its Members for their excellent contributions and their outstanding engagement.This third meeting of your Council comes at an important moment as, during the last year, the Information Society has gained worldwide attention and become a major subject of international debate, thanks in particular to the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva in December 2003. This outstanding event was attended by over 11,000 participants as well as Heads of State and governments from over 60 countries, and will be continued in Tunis in November 2005.The Geneva Phase of the World Summit was very successful for UNESCO for a number of reasons. It was the culmination of a long negotiation process, during which UNESCO was very proactive in broadening the debate. The final outputs of the Summit, the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action, entrench the four principles espoused by UNESCO as prerequisites for building Knowledge Societies, namely: freedom of expression; universal access to information; the promotion of cultural diversity, multilingualism and local content; and equal access to education. All these principles are also central to the Information for All Programme.The final texts can be interpreted as representing an international consensus on the values underpinning the building of inclusive and pluralist societies where all should be able to benefit from the potential of ICT. We now need to maintain the momentum from Phase I by strong UNESCO presence in the process and events leading up to Tunis. In this process, in which the Information for All Programme must play an essential role, UNESCO needs to capitalize on the banner headline Towards Knowledge Societies. In particular, it should continue to advocate the four principles of building Knowledge Societies, but focus on operationalizing them into actions. We will also have to articulate the proactive nature of UNESCOs response to the Summit Action Plan, which covers 150 areas, with half of them being relevant to and anticipated by UNESCO in 32 C/5.UNESCO intends to be an active participant in the debate on the two pending issues of Internet Governance and Digital Solidarity mechanisms, which will be the focus of two UN Working Groups.In the discussion on Internet Governance, UNESCO will be particularly concerned with the broader ethical, legal and societal issues for which indeed it has a specific mandate and is naturally expected to make a distinctive contribution. As far as Digital Solidarity is concerned, UNESCO will be addressing the underlying issue of bridging the digital divide and it will accordingly participate from this perspective in the discussion on Digital Solidarity, stressing the importance of measures other than financial assistance, such as capacity-building and facilitating the provision of local content.Overall, the emphasis of the Second Phase of WSIS and of UNESCOs activities within this scope will be on the implementation of the Geneva Action Plan. I am convinced that the Information for All Programme and its Council can play an important role in this implementation process, in particular by pursuing an aim that will be one of the major concerns of this session of the Council: to advance the transition from structural reflection to action. I believe that the time has come to take another important step forward in this transition. How this can be done and what can be the benefits of this process with regard to the objectives of the Information for All Programme will be discussed by your Council during this third session under the title “Role and Focus of IFAP”.The definition of the role and focus of the Information for All Programme is also important for another aspect of your discussion, namely, the relationship between this Programme and the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) whose Intergovernmental Council held its 24th Session one month ago here at UNESCO Headquarters. Since its inception, in 1980, IPDC has supported a total of nearly 1000 projects in 135 countries. One month ago, the Council granted more than US$1.5 million to 62 media projects in developing countries and countries in transition. This is impressive. I am aware that the Information for All Programme was not set up to replicate IPDC (which currently has a different focus on mass media), nor to operate primarily as a funding body. However, in the absence of this type of significant fundraising modality, it is extremely important that the Council articulates how the Information for All Programme will have impact and how it will materialize its policy focus. I therefore invite Member States to take the opportunity offered by this meeting to refine its priorities and consider how to convey its core messages and added value.A fruitful interactive relationship should also be established between the Secretariat and the IFAP National Committees. In the last year, 40 National Committees were established within diverse institutional frameworks upon the request of the Director-General corresponding to the instructions of the Council at its first session. The establishment of National Committees is a unique opportunity to build a network that could greatly increase the impact of the Information for All Programme on the national level, such as by implementing global policies at the country level, by exchanging “best practices”, and by generally acting as a mobilizing force within Member States. I therefore invite Member States that have not yet set up a Committee to do so.By way of illustration, let me refer to another important aspect of this Session of the Council, which will be the presentation and discussion of the “Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information”. These Guidelines have been finalized during the last year, and are an important step in contributing to the WSIS Action Plan and in promoting the development of public domain content as specified in the “Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace”. They will need to be advocated at the country level, and this might be an opportunity for action by the IFAP National Committees.The “Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace” was one of the cornerstones of last years activities. With its adoption at the 32nd session of the General Conference, Member States recognized the importance of promoting multilingualism and equitable access to information and knowledge. The Recommendation stresses the important role of UNESCO in encouraging access to information for all and promoting cultural diversity in global information networks. Now the follow-up is of utmost importance. Member States were requested to give great consideration to the rapid integration of the Recommendation into national legislation or policies.Ladies and Gentlemen,The Information for All Programme is of great importance in the process of building inclusive and pluralist “Knowledge Societies”. Its unique intergovernmental structure and its intersectoral character offer a multitude of possibilities for grasping the opportunities that ICTs offer to fulfil UNESCOs mandate to “promote the free flow of ideas by word and image”, to “maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge”, to encourage “cooperation among nations in the exchange of publications” and to initiate “methods of international cooperation to give the people of all countries access to printed and published materials”. I am confident that your Council, during this third Session, will take the opportunity offered by increased global awareness of issues related to the Information Society to tap the full potential of this Programme./ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15744&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htmlMarcio BARBOSADeputy Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)Marcio Barbosa, born in 1951, holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1972) from the CatholicUniversity of Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a M.Sc. degree in Systems Analysis and Applications (1975)from the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), So Jos dos Campos, Brazil. After two years as aProduction Control Analyst in the private sector, in 1973 Mr Barbosa joined the Brazilian National Institute ofSpace Research (INPE) where he was promoted to the post of Head of the Data Bank Division (1975-1976),before becoming Head of the Image Production Department (1976-1983), Deputy Director of INPE (1982-1985),and Director of Remote Sensing at INPE (1985-1989).From 1989 to February 2001, he served as Director-General of INPE. In this capacity, he led the restructuring andmodernization of INPE, as well as its research and development programme resulting in the launching into orbit ofthe first four Brazilian satellites. He was actively involved in international cooperative programmes in spaceresearch, collaborating with national, regional and international partners such as the French National Centre forSpace Studies (CNES), the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the US National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). He also established at INPE the Centre forNumerical Weather Forecast and Climate Studies (CPTEC) and the Inter-American Institute for Global ChangeResearch (IAI).Since February 2001, Mr Barbosa is Deputy Director-General of UNESCO. In this capacity, he has beensupervising and coordinating the implementation of the vast programme of reforms launched by the Director-General Kochiro Matsuura, in particular the administrative reform, including the new staff policy, decentralizationand the introduction of an integrated management information system, as well as the Headquarters renovationplan and the Sciences sectors review. He leads the College of Assistant Director Generals a consultative bodybringing together heads of all sectors and main services of the Secretariat, - as well as many task forces andworking groups. From June 2003 to July 2006, he also ensured the interim Assistant Director General ofAdministration. Since 2002, Mr Barbosa has represented the Director General in the process of dialogue onUNESCO related matters between Israel and Palestine. In this capacity he has been in the Middle East region onseveral occasions.Mr Barbosa has attended or chaired numerous international meetings and symposia both in his personal capacityand as a representative of the Brazilian Government and later UNESCO. In the 90s, he was elected Chairman ofthe International Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and of the Integrated Global ObservingSystem (IGOS). From 1996 to 2000, he was Vice President of the International Society for Photogrammetry andRemote Sensing (ISPRS) and, from 2000 to 2004, President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the Brazilian Academy of Engineering(ANE). Mr Barbosa has authored, co-authored or edited many books, manuals, reports and articles in his fields ofspecialization, and is a recipient of many national and international awards and distinctions.Mr Barbosa is married to Maria Barbosa and has a daughter, Beatriz (born in 1977) and a son, Alexander (born in1981).Statement by Mr Kochiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO,on the occasion of the High-Level Education Event“Keeping our promises on Education”Delivered on his behalf by Mr Marcio BarbosaDeputy Director-General of UNESCOBrussels, Belgium, 2 May 2007Education is everyones business and this is especially true in the case of basiceducation, which is foundational for all other learning. UNESCO applauds theUnited Kingdom, the World Bank and the European Commission for organizing thismeeting and inviting a broad range of stakeholders and partners who share acommon concern how best to ensure that the educational needs of the worldschildren are met by 2015.We are here today to raise the level of action to address this challenge, especiallyby committing more resources with greater speed and effectiveness to theeducation-related Millennium Development Goals and the broader objectives ofEducation for All.The shape of the challenge has been clear for some time: international aid toeducation has not matched the commitment made at the World Education Forum inDakar in 2000 that no country should be thwarted in its efforts to achieve Educationfor All merely for lack of funding. Despite recent pledges, there are worrying trendsthat point to a decline in aid to basic education, particularly to the poorest countries.Meanwhile, countries with a serious commitment to basic education are calling formore sustained and more predictable aid, aligned with national education plans.The long-term nature of education demands a corresponding answer from bilateraland multilateral donors in support of national efforts.Page 2Not only must we increase aid; we must also ensure that money is spent on theright things, and that it is spent well.Spending money on the right things involves clear priorities and careful choices.Recent progress towards the education-related MDGs and the EFA goals, and inparticular in primary school enrolments, means that the remaining challengeconcerns parts of the population that are harder to reach. We must therefore ensurethat adequate resources go to children who need special attention girls,minorities, indigenous peoples, street children, AIDS orphans and many more whohave not yet had a realistic chance to get an education. Equally, we must focus onthe quality of schooling, and indeed of learning of all kinds. By ensuring adequ