United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - Harare
Explore further
The UNESCO Office in Harare was initially established in 1986 as a sub-regional office for education in Southern Africa, with a special emphasis on higher education. Since then, it has also played the role of cluster office, covering Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The office has since 2014 regained a regional role as the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, covering all of UNESCO’s programme sectors: Education, Sciences, Culture, and, Communication and Information, in nine countries, namely Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Consequently, its capacity has been enhanced to mobilize and co-ordinate UNESCO’s programme strategy and action at the regional level, in close co-operation with UNESCO headquarters, other field offices and National Commissions for UNESCO.
The office also serves as UNESCO’s focal point for cooperation with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Guided by the principles of cultural diversity and human dignity and in collaboration with its partners, governments, and institutions, the regional office seeks to advocate for and build countries’ capacity for:
-
the provision of universal access to quality basic education and expanded access to pre-basic, post-basic and continuing education;
-
the development and application of scientific and technological knowledge for social development;
-
the promotion of cultural diversity and the preservation of the world’s cultural heritage;
-
the expansion of access to information and communication technologies.
Through the regional office, UNESCO undertakes these actions in the region by focusing on poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS prevention and the mitigation of its impacts, especially among women and young people. The Office's work is guided its Regional Support Strategy (2017-2021).
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.