UNESCO Urged to Rethink Science Strategies

An independent review has called for a rethink of UNESCO’s approach to science and what its core activities should be.

The recommendations, released in April, were put together by a review committee made up of scientists from UNESCO and experts from a number of countries, with the aim of informing the organization’s strategy and planning for scientific programs from 2008.

UNESCO’s general conference called for the review in 2006, following criticism from several member states of the agency’s support for science.

The report says UNESCO has failed to foster collaboration between its natural and social sciences sections, as well as having insufficient cooperation between its science and education divisions, to the detriment of promoting scientific research at universities in developing countries.

The review concluded that “policy advice towards capacity building needs strengthening” and that UNESCO should be a facilitator for building scientific networks and capacity, not a funding body for research projects themselves. It also recommended reevaluating activities, particularly in the area of water, that overlap with the work of other UN agencies.