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If her
appointment is confirmed by the organisation's general assembly next month,
one of Bokova's first tasks will be to build bridges with the governments
that supported her rival in the final round, Farouq Hosni, Egypt's culture
minister.
Many of
Hosni's supporters are in Asia and Africa — they will be disappointed that
remarks he made in the past may have cost him the race, as they were
perceived as anti-semitic by some in the West. This will need careful
attention, as UNESCO should be playing a key role in bridging the cultural
divide of an increasingly polarised world.
The
science challenge
But
Bokova's broader challenge will be to give new purpose and coherence to
UNESCO. Too often, internal and external political wrangling has undermined
its effectiveness and prevented the agency from achieving its full potential.
Nowhere
has this been more true than in its science programmes, which did not figure
prominently in the election. The only candidate who emphasised science in his
campaign — Sospeter Muhongo from Tanzania — received just one vote in the
first round and promptly dropped out, apparently in favour of Hosni.
And while
Bokova stressed the importance of education and meeting the needs of Africa in
her campaign, she said virtually nothing about science.
Nevertheless,
promoting science and integrating it into development strategies —
particularly through science education — rightly remains an important
priority for the organisation.
The
problem is that UNESCO's efforts to meet a wide set of goals — partly a
reflection of the diverse agendas of its member states — combined with
thinly-stretched financial resources, has led to damaging fragmentation in
its science programmes. This was pointed out by an external review committee
in 2007 (see UNESCO science
'not good enough', says review).
Bringing
resources to bear
Little has
changed since the review committee delivered its recommendations. The need to
address fragmentation with greater focus and a new sense of purpose remains
as acute today as it was two years ago.
Next
month's general assembly offers an opportunity to put much needed changes
into effect. One welcome suggestion is to increase UNESCO's support for
building capacity in developing countries — particularly in Africa — to
create sustainable science policies (even if this has yet to be translated
into concrete proposals for the next programme and budget).
But the
organisation has long had ambitious goals to support science in this way. The
problem has been a lack of resources, so efforts have too often led to little
more than cosmetic changes.
Other
proposals that will be put to the conference for streamlining science
programmes are relatively modest, leading to fears among many of the larger
delegations that the future will only bring 'more of the same'.
A
mandate for change
Real
change in science programmes, as elsewhere within the agency, will require
strong and visionary leadership.
The good
news from this week's election is that the final ballot, in which Bokova beat
Hosni by 31 votes to 27, provided a clear outcome. A stalemate at this stage
— each candidate had secured 29 votes in the previous round — could easily
have undermined the authority of the eventual winner.
Less
satisfactory is that, to secure her victory, Bokova is likely to have made
serious commitments to those governments who eventually voted for her (she
visited 45 countries in her campaign).
Accommodating
these promises in a coherent and focused reform agenda will be a challenging
task — but an essential one if UNESCO is to reclaim its leadership position
in science and technology for development.
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