UNESCO Director General, Koïchiro Matsuura, talks about UNESCO's efforts to meet the complex challenges of an increasingly globalised world.

Today's UNESCO

Last autumn, UNESCO's General Assembly elected Koïchiro Matsuura to a second term, extending his tenure as Director General to 2009. Matsuura, who was educated in Japan and the United States, has held numerous diplomatic posts with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including stints in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. He is also an accomplished author having written a wide range of books and articles on economic development and cooperation and diplomacy. Before assuming his leadership post at UNESCO, Matsuura served as the Japanese Ambassador to France and concurrently to Andorra and Djibouti. Earlier this spring, the Director General agreed to respond to a series of email questions in which he discussed his accomplishments during his first term and his plans and hopes for his second term. Excerpts follow.

Koïchiro Matsuura

What do you consider to be your most significant accomplishments during your first term? What do you hope will be the primary accomplishments of your second term?
There is a range of accomplishments that I believe can be attributed to the reform agenda upon which I was first elected Director General. These cover all dimensions of UNESCO's operations, from management to programmes. Perhaps one of the achievements to which I personally attach the greatest importance---although it was far from easy---is to have succeeded in putting UNESCO back on the map as a credible international partner with unique, or at least valued, expertise in certain priority areas: education for all; water resources management; cultural diversity; information and knowledge for all; and the ethics of science and technology.
As for the second term, I would like to consolidate many of the reforms I have already introduced, some of which will necessarily take time to fully implement. Specifically, I would like to concentrate on two things: converting staff policy reforms into an everyday reality for the benefit of what is the organisation's greatest asset---its staff; and mobilising the huge and multifarious network of UNESCO constituents, friends and supporters---far beyond official government and civil society circles. Ultimately, I hope to advance what must still be our ultimate goal when all is said and done: promoting peace through better understanding among people.

What are the strengths of UNESCO's broad mandate? The weaknesses?
One of UNESCO's greatest riches is precisely the fact that it covers a range of important fields of inquiry. What makes us unique is that these issues are not just in juxtaposition, but interact with one another. The attendant weakness is the constant temptation to do too much with too little. I have had to be very watchful about this and quite tough sometimes.

Most people would agree that culture and education are more closely related than culture and science. How has science fitted into UNESCO's overall mandate? Considering that scientific development is an integral part of sustainable development, how do you propose to use the offices of UNESCO to improve scientific development in developing countries?
I am not sure I can entirely agree with the proposition. Of course a country should always address its educational needs in a culturally sensitive manner, which puts culture and education into constant interaction. But I know of few people today who would deny the links between science and culture, if only in the broad and complex field of sustainable development. The 'S' in UNESCO has been a major part of the organisation's programme since its inception. During the Cold War, UNESCO was a meeting place for scientists from the East and West; many scientific initiatives born within the scientific community---for example, the idea for CERN, the European particle physics laboratory---have been created and have taken shape thanks largely to the governmental links that UNESCO provided. UNESCO has also helped increase awareness among developed nations of the importance of building scientific capacity in the developing world as a driver for economic growth and independence; it has promoted ethical conduct and more widely enhanced understanding of the place of science within society; and much more. We are currently engaged in a review of the Natural Sciences Sector and the Social and Human Sciences Sector of the secretariat that I know will produce interesting proposals for the future place of science in UNESCO. That place is more important than ever, for science is knowledge, and knowledge is freedom, empowerment and dignity.

Ten years ago, UNESCO assumed lead administrative responsibility for ICTP from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). How would you describe ICTP's relationship with UNESCO? In what ways would you like to strengthen the UNESCO-ICTP relationship in the future?
To be honest, the relationship in the past was, by all accounts, tenuous, partly because Abdus Salam was an independent and strong-minded personality, but partly because UNESCO, from an institutional perspective, had not sufficiently come to grips with the role of its major institutes within its overall programme objectives. Much has been achieved over the past four to five years. I think we all have a much clearer idea of why the institutes---including ICTP---are there, what their potential is, and why it is most important that they continue to function with a degree of autonomy that guarantees the flexibility they need to succeed. ICTP can certainly play a greater role in its capacity-building dimension by partnering with other parts of UNESCO---including other institutes and field offices, foremost among which should be the office in Venice. This is one of the reasons why ICTP has been asked to be involved in the development of the new International Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP). But its research function should remain central, as should its role as an echo chamber for the needs and aspirations of scientists from the developing world.

You played an instrumental role in helping ICTP secure a grant for the Mori Fellowship programme, which provides funding for young scientists and mathematicians from sub-Saharan Africa to continue their education. What are your hopes for this programme? How does such an initiative fit into UNESCO's overall mandate and strategies?
As I have just said, ICTP has an important role in capacity building. This was part of Abdus Salam's vision. The Mori Fellowships cannot do everything alone and need to be integrated into a broader drive for support. I am glad, though, that the name of the former Prime Minister of Japan is associated with these important goals.

WHEN UNECO BECAME UNESCO
Culture and education were destined to be part of UNESCO's mandate from the earliest discussions leading to the creation of the organisation. But science was another matter. Indeed it was not until the Preparatory Commission met in 1945 that science became part of UNESCO's primary responsibilities thanks largely to a campaign led by British biologists Joseph Needham and Julian Huxley. Without this campaign, there is a good chance that the organisation's acronym would be UNECO, not UNESCO.

INSTITUTES AND CENTRES
ICTP is one of twelve institutes and centres that operate under UNESCO's umbrella. These include: the UNESCO European Centre for Higher Education in Bucharest, Romania; UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water in Delft, The Netherlands; UNESCO International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg, Germany; UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris, France, and Buenos Aires, Argentina; UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean in Caracas, Venezuela; UNESCO International Bureau of Education in Geneva, Switzerland; UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education in Moscow, Russia; UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Bonn, Germany; and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics in Montreal, Canada.

BACK TO BASICS
UNESCO has launched an International Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP) that is designed to strengthen "national capacities in the basic sciences and science education." Specifically, IBSP will seek to build member-state capacities for basic research, training, science education and the popularisation of science, and to transfer and share scientific information and excellence in science through North-South and South-South cooperation. Representatives from ICTP and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) served on IBSP's ad-hoc committee of experts, which helped to design the programme. The two institutions will also play a key role in the implementation of IBSP as it moves forward. For additional information, see www.unesco.org.

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