UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

concrete action so that, this transformation of higher education landscape becomes a reality in the very near
future.
Namibia supports the conclusions and recommendations of Second International Congress on Technical
and Vocational Education held last April, in Seoul, Republic of Korea. We therefore request UNESCO to assist
Member States in formulating their technical and vocational education policies and programmes to provide the
youth and adults with the opportunity for lifelong learning and training for the world of work. UNESCO should
also assist Member States in raising the status and prestige of technical and vocational education through training
and capacity building of technical and vocational education personnel, scholarship schemes and exchange of
information and experiences.
Namibia further recognizes the development and application of Sciences and Technology as a critical
building block for socio-economic development, protection of the environment, sustainable use of natural
resources and lastly for peace and social harmony. Therefore, the Republic of Namibia supports the
recommendations of the World Conference on Science held in Budapest, especially the elements contained in the
Declaration of Science and Action Plan.
We welcome the recommendation of the Stockholm Conference on Cultural Policies for Development.
The World Culture Reports also assisted our individual countries and regional blocks to harmonize policy
developments as well as some instruments like the present SADC draft protocol on culture, information and
sports. The development of intersectoral cooperation is taking us all in the right direction.
Our heritage is not only a resource for inspiration through the irreplaceable sites of artistic expression,
In our country it also poses a big challenge for the development of future cultural tourism. With a population of
about 1.7 million people we already attract more than half a million tourists per annum with a growth rate of 15%
since 1993. We manage this through acknowledgement of the rich and diverse cultures of all Namibians, actively
promoting reconciliation and respect for the environment. We still face many challenges concerning the
promotion of living culture. While our copyright institutions are steadily growing we still need a more
comprehensive strategy regarding crafts development, especially in the field of training managers in
administration and marketing. We welcome UNESCO’s emphasis on arts education and using craft production
for poverty alleviation. For all nations with a zest for progress the programme area called “reading for all” should
be treated as a priority area, Namibia is of a UNESCO pilot project researching the areas of developing reading
materials as well a textbooks. This project is spearheaded by the UNESCO Windhoek Office, the Namibian
National Commission for UNESCO and the Namibia Book Development Council.
We hope that all these issues, as set out in detail in the draft 30 C/5, will assist in the projection of
culture as an instrument of development, peace and tolerance.
The Namibian Government recognizes the importance of the flow of ideas and the universal access to
information as underlying development worldwide. As a developing country, there is great concern that the
advent of the information revolution is increasing the gap in the information flow between developed and
developing countries. This hampers the ability of developing countries to use the information society to address
societal issues such as poverty and social exclusion, especially of rural and marginalized communities. For this
reason, Namibia welcomes UNESCO’s undertaking to strengthen capacities of Member States,
Madam President, Mr Director General, ladies and gentlemen, on numerous occasions, we have
identified global challenges as well as answers to these challenges. The time has now come for concrete action,
but an action that makes a difference. We, the Member States should give our commitment and cooperation and
UNESCO, through National Commissions, must play its role model and demonstrate the feasibility of the action.
We had a very pleasant experience in Namibia when we hosted a UNESCO Training Workshop for Craftswomen
of Southern Africa which concluded two days ago in Windhoek. A group of 22 women from various countries,
most of them from rural areas, spent 20 days together producing diverse pots and baskets of very high quality.
The fact that they could not communicate did not stand in their way to learn from each other and improve their
skills - an experience that will certainly have a positive effect on their lives.
This is a clear demonstration that our action can reach everybody and provide hope to all our people.
We only need to work together as a team, at the national, subregional, regional and international levels to
eradicate evils facing our people. We can no longer continue to be spectators to scenes inflicting suffering to
humanity: illiteracy, ignorance; hunger, poverty, preventable diseases, violence, etc. the list is just too long. We
have our common tool – the programme and budget we are going to approve in two weeks’ time. Namibia is
looking forward to the implementation of this promising programme and budget.
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