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186 EX/4 Part I Add. – page 123
Education
711. To address education sector issues and challenges facing Afghanistan, UNESCO has
contributed to strengthen the Government’s capacity in planning, managing, implementing and
monitoring of the education system at all levels from pre-school to higher education, including
formal and non-formal approaches. The overall goal of the various projects implemented in the
education sector was to assist national efforts to promote quality education for all and achieve EFA
goals, Afghan MDGs, and NESP and ANDS goals with a particular focus on children, youth and
adults vulnerable to exclusion and marginalization with the strategic objective of supporting the
Ministries of Education and Higher Education to develop and improve policy, planning, delivery,
monitoring, evaluation and research, at different levels.
Culture
712. The culture section of the UNESCO Office in Kabul worked in cooperation with the Afghan
authorities to safeguard and promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage, cultural diversity
and human rights in Afghanistan. UNESCO’s activities in Afghanistan re-affirmed UNESCO’s
mission to promote peace through the intellectual and moral solidarity of humankind. To this end,
UNESCO continued to assist the Afghan authorities in delivering projects to safeguard
Afghanistan’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage and to promote public awareness amongst
the Afghan Nation of the value of preserving that heritage for future generations. UNESCO also
promoted cross-cultural understanding and dialogue by raising awareness on Afghanistan’s
cultural and natural heritage and on its contribution to world history, art and science.
Communication and Information
713. UNESCO has been working with the Government of Afghanistan and media professionals to
develop policy frameworks to support media pluralism, and to develop effective Communication
and Information guidelines. UNESCO has been supporting the effective communications and
collaborations with Governmental and civil society stakeholders to preserve the freedom of press
and freedom of expression. These activities activated dialogues among media sector, Government
and international communities around such issues as Media Law and Public Service Broadcasting.
UNESCO also supported the national radio and television institution, RTA, and has played a
decisive role in the development of a national distance education strategy based on ERTV.
Gender
714. Gender based violence (GBV) is a serious human rights violation and a complex problem all
over the world, including Afghanistan. As part of the promotion of the Education for All (EFA) and
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to gender equality, UNESCO in collaboration with
UNDP, supported the Gender Studies Institute (GSI) based in Kabul University to conduct a multi
province research project in universities (Kabul, Mazar, Heart) which documented the experience,
nature and forms of GBV within educational institutions in Afghanistan. Through this research,
evidence has been created by documenting experience of female and male respondents, to
advocate for legislations and policy addressing GBV in educational institutions.
Contribution to the UNCT’s activities and common country programming exercises
UNDAF implementation
715. UNESCO co-chairs one of the three working groups of UNDAF implementation, i.e. Basic
Social Services: Health, Education, Water and Sanitation.
Joint Programmes
716. UNESCO has been the lead agency for the United Nations joint literacy programme, LEARN
(Literacy & Education in Afghanistan, Right Now!), which seeks to enhance and improve the quality