Education and culture at the heart of UNESCO’s action in Haiti

The donation for the project, which will benefit 110,000 secondary and higher education students, was announced by Brazilian Foreign Minister
Celso Amorim after he met the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova,
at the Organization’s Headquarters on 1 February. Teachers and
educational support staff will be trained to understand how learners
are affected by the disaster; how to use learner-centred pedagogies and
methods of behaviour management and make referrals for those who are
severely traumatized.

 Significant contributions have also been pledged by Bulgaria, Israel and the Norwegian Refugee Council and UNESCO has launched a public appeal for donations.

 UNESCO will also provide emergency repairs and support to secondary and higher education. It will assist the Haitian authorities’ assessment of damage to secondary and higher education
facilities, and identify emergency needs while helping the Ministry of
Education elaborate a master plan for the speedy resumption of classes.

 Of some 1,500 schools visited to date in the worst hit areas of Haiti, only 85 had escaped severe damage.

The vast reconstruction effort to rebuild Port-au-Prince will require skilled workers. To this end UNESCO is developing technical and vocational education and training for young
people so that they may find employment and participate in this
undertaking.

 UNESCO has been extending emergency support to the national education authorities, providing them with basic equipment and temporary work space, following the collapse of the Education
Ministry’s building. UNESCO is to provide basic training for Ministry
officials in emergency response planning and management.

 Alongside education, UNESCO is also focusing on cultural projects to safeguard
the country’s rich cultural life, including cultural objects, crafts,
and intangible heritage, as well as monuments, museums, libraries and
archives. Thus the Organization is assessing damage to heritage and is
mobilizing efforts to avert the danger of looting. To that end the
Director-General has called on U.N.-wide support for a temporary
international ban on the trade in Haitian artefacts. It has also asked
the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, to provide
round the clock protection to key landmarks and museums.
 
UNESCO is also gathering information from all possible sources about the
status of various cultural sites and institutions so as to help the
authorities plan their safeguarding or, where possible, rehabilitation.
It has taken the first step to set up an international coordination
committee to mobilize international institutions concerned with culture
and avoid duplication of efforts.
 
UNESCO has already helped salvage the exceptionally rich archives of George Corvington, the
historian of Port-au-Prince. It is contributing to attempts to rescue
whatever panels or significant fragments remain of the remarkable
painted murals that used to decorate the Episcopal Cathedral of the
Holy Trinity in Port-au-Prince, which collapsed in the quake. UNESCO is
also working on the establishment of training in anti-seismic
construction techniques for the professionals who will be rebuilding
the country.

 Haiti’s only World Heritage site, The National History Park – Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers, an early 19th century
complex in the north of the country, which includes the ruins of a
royal palace and the largest fortress of the western hemisphere,
appears to have been largely spared by the quake. But its full impact
on the property, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1982, is
yet to be fully analyzed.

 Many historical and cultural landmarks, including the Presidential Palace, churches and cathedrals
have been destroyed. This is also the case with much of Jacmel, the
French colonial town, founded in the late 17th century. The Haitian
authorities placed Jacmel on their “tentative list” in 2004 with a view
to proposing its inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. 

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The above report has been taken for the information of the learned telecentre community.