Dear friends of UNESCO, and those involved in the activity for a Culture of Peace which will be achieved through Education for All - EFA. We have read with interest the Report of the Meeting of the Working Group on Education for All held at UNESCO Headquarters 22-24 November 2000, and have the following encouraging observations: The Preface presented by Jacques Hallak identified several Core areas that the Director General has focussed his attention on since Dakar - a main component being to integrate EFA fully in all programme activity of UNESCO. We point this out as the Culture of Peace program that we are championing received its second birthing as a UNESCO project. Our Culture of Peace program, can effectively be integrated into all "core" aspects of EFA. We trust that UNESCO understands the opportunity afforded by our program. I would like you to consider our activities when you establish the task force to contribute to the work on financing strategies. These would be our financing model and brand label strategy. Consider our programs for the designation of Global Accountant when considering establishment of Evaluation systems, and our education pedagogy (open-ended) when considering a code of conduct. We would like to present our future model - as a positive example as to how we work together to build a constituency for the disenfranchised on the planet. Our activities focus on both formal and informal education strategies, and we encourage UNESCO to broaden its implementation strategies in the area of informal education through our processes. Certainly in non-aligned countries (non UNESCO Membership) this can be very effective and encouraging. We heartily discourage EFA from the launching of a media campaign for donations, but rather encourage EFA to the launching of a media campaign to identify the responsibility of media in participating in the functional use of media as an informal teacher, and as such bears the responsibility to educate for peace and not war. This process is more empowering for the media and can remove from media the shame that it bears for the existing state of the world. This will be done by utilizing the brand label campaign of a Culture of Peace and integrating of our budgets. We ask those that are reviewing the information of the Conference to look deeply at the proposal that is being implemented by the International Association of Educators for World Peace, and ask those members of UNESCO to consider how their current EFA activity can serve a Culture of Peace as we involved in a Culture of Peace look at how we might effect Education For All. We have attached below a reference and summary that may be of interest to the reader. We also should like to add that since originally writing the document below, a fourth Proclamation has been added - to encourage governments at all levels to establish a Department of Peace utilizing 1% of Defence budget spending. We look forward to determining some protocols for working together in the future. The future is now. Sincerely, Mitchell L Gold G.A. Mitch
Gold G.A. |
|