United Nations Radio

Irina Bokova

The first woman to head UNESCO, Irina Bokova, takes up her duties in two weeks. Currently the Ambassador of Bulgaria to France and its representative to UNESCO, Ms. Bokova, has laid out a vision for the organization that includes prioritizing gender equality and education. Bissera Kostova found out more from the UNESCO Director-General elect.

Bokova: I have to say that already gender priority, as well as priority Africa is one of the horizontal objectives of UNESCO, but I'm very much committed in promoting more concrete activities in that area, because I think that after the Beijing Conference in '95, in certain cases we see a step back from what had been objectives of the Plan of Action of Beijing, and especially in some of the developing world countries, we see a lot of negative developments, which is probably partly caused by the current economic crisis. But as far as UNESCO is the lead agency in education, and I'm very much committed to do it, to have more programmes and to make education for women and girls as one of the priorities of this organization.

BK: You put an emphasis on education, which, of course, is one of the mandates of UNESCO, but what more would you like to see the organization do in this area?

Bokova: I think that UNESCO has been very good at promoting primary education and there are countries which are doing really, really well. Now we have beginning of December one of our biggest conferences on adult education CONFINTEA VI , which will take place in Belem, Brazil. UNESCO has been promoting education for sustainable development and technical and vocational education. And of course, in times of crisis, as we see now, the message of UNESCO is don't cut budgets for education and in terms of development aid, also, we have to have a continuous and predictable flows for education, because education is not the problem, but education is the solution of the current crisis.

BK: And finally, you also spoke of the need for a 'new humanism'. Can you explain briefly what that means to you and how it can help solve our various crises?

Bokova: You know, I have been thinking a lot about the crisis that was extremely shocking for so many people, and especially for the most vulnerable, and I did travel a lot during my campaign, I visited 47 countries. I saw a lot of poverty, a lot of misery, and I sincerely believe that in such a globalized world, and especially after this crisis, which has economic, financial, and I would say also, moral, ethical side -- I named it a new humanism, ... so this was basically my idea in the title of my vision for the future of UNESCO.

PRES: Irina Bokova, the Director-General elect of UNESCO, the UN agency for education, science and culture.

Producer: Bissera Kostova
duration: 2'35"