World Telecommunication and Information Society Day: 17 May
The theme for this year's World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is "Connecting Persons with Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All.” Learn about the work, strategies and stories that ITU is doing in Accessibility.
UNESCO works with its partners to promote the use of ICT for access to information and knowledge for People with Disabilities.
The main objective of the seminar, "Sharing experience on best practices and services for people with disabilities," held in September 2007 by the ITU was to create a global awareness on the importance of accessibility by all to Information and Communications Technologies.
Global Action Week
The Global Campaign for Education organized Global Action Week 2008 from April 21-27, 2008 which calls for an end to all forms of exclusion from quality education. Read about where 7.5 million children, adults, teachers and politicians in over 100 countries took part in the WORLD’S BIGGEST EVER LESSON to learn about the importance of everyone having the chance for a quality education.
UNESCO presents a selection of stories, case studies and reports of projects promoting quality inclusive education.
Send My Friend to School, the UK coalition of the Global Campaign for Education, has teaching resources and lesson plans exploring why school is so important, why some children are missing out and how to act to make a difference.
Read Your Right to Education: A handbook for refugees and displaced communities created by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children to raise awareness of everyone's right to education.
World Malaria Day
World Malaria Day organized by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, which coordinates the global approach to fighting malaria, commemorates the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world.
Test your knowledge of malaria by taking this short interactive quiz produced by the World Bank: "What do you know about malaria in Africa?"
UNESCO's FRESH: Focusing Resources on Effective School Health, has produced a set malaria school health policy tools for schools to be able to teach effectively about malaria.
A report by UNICEF and Roll Back Malaria Partnership, "Malaria & Children: Progress in intervention coverage," assesses progress in malaria control and analyses how well countries are making available interventions that reduce the malaria burden.
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Earth Day
Held annually, Earth Day promotes awareness of the Earth's environment and helps us unite to protect our planet through continued environmental action. Earth Day is recognized by the United Nations on the March equinox, while a global observance originated as an environmental teach-in, also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22.
• The Earthday Network's "Earth Day in a Box" explains how to organize events, get involved, and help protect the environment.
• Calculate your impact on climate change using the Nature Conservancy's "online carbon footprint calculator".
• Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multimedia teacher education programme published by UNESCO.
• The Wilderness Society has developed curriculum and activities for teachers and students in which to engage for Earth Day.
• The World Wildlife Fund's "Time for Change" has ideas, tools and connect for change to make every day Earth Day.
World Health Day: April 7
World Health Day marks the founding of the World Health Organization and is an opportunity to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. In 2008, World Health Day focuses on the need to protect human health from the adverse effects of climate change. Click here to learn more about how climate change is a significant and emerging threat to public health.
WHO's Regional Office for South-East Asia has produced a World Health Day Kit including manuals for teachers and students on how climate change is affecting health.
Read about the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) work for World Health Day to protect health from climate change.
International Day for Mine Awareness: April 4
The Portfolio of Mine Action Projects is available on the UN's Electronic Mine Information Network (E-MINE). E-MINE has information on 14 UN organizations, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, commercial demining companies and others involved in mine action.
The International Campaign to Ban Mines, a network of 1400 NGOs in 90 countries working for a Global Ban on Landmines, has tools, resources and news on landmines.
World Tuberculosis Day: March 24
• World TB Day raises awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and the efforts of countries and global organizations to eliminate this disease. This year's slogan is "I am stopping TB." Find out what you can do through the 2008-2009 Stop TB campaign toolkit.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) published its annual Global TB Control Report 2008 which describes the current scale and direction of TB worldwide and reveals new trends on the TB/HIV co-epidemic.
• The Canadian Lung Association has teaching and learning activities for students to learn about TB.
World Water Day: March 22
The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Water Day.
•UN-Water is the official United Nations mechanism for water-related issues, supporting Member States in their efforts to achieve water and sanitation goals and targets. UN Water's work encompasses all aspects of freshwater, including surface and groundwater resources and the interface between fresh and sea water. Click here to visit the UN Water's World Water Day '08 site.
• The years 2005 to 2015 were proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life.' The primary goal of the 'Water for Life' Decade is to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015.
• Visit the World Water Day site managed by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre to find information, events and resources on water.
International Women's Day: March 8
Celebrated on 8 March, International Women's Day (IWD) is the global day about raising awareness all over the world about the legitimate rights of women and girls. The theme for 2008 is: “Investing in Women and Girls”.
•Features on the International Women's Day's site include a brief history of the holiday, a calendar of IWD events throughout the world, news, and links to related sites.
•Oxfam has produced a guide with ideas for campaigning against poverty on International Women's Day. Read about the courageous and creative women that they are working with around the world who are making a difference.
•UN Cyberschool Bus has a program of information and fun for the classroom to celebrate International Women's Day with a focus on women, peace and politics.
• Read about women who live, travel and work and build bonds between countries in "Women Between Two Shores", a Dossier produced by UNESCO Courier on the occasion International Women’s Day, in collaboration with the Division for Gender Equality of the Bureau of Strategic Planning, UNESCO.
• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a series on women whose work through USAID-supported projects that are making a difference in the lives of other women, families, and communities in global health.
Resources and Organisations working on Women's Issues
•UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
•WomenWatch: Information and Resources on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
•UN Development Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
•World Health Organization
For a list of International Women's Web Sites, click here.
International Year of Planet Earth
The International Year of Planet Earth aims to ensure greater and more effective use by society of the knowledge accumulated by the world’s 400,000 Earth scientists. A joint initiative of UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Science (IUGS), the International Year of Planet Earth, runs from January 2007 to December 2009, the central year of the triennium, 2008, having been proclaimed the United Nations (UN) year by the UN General Assembly.
On 12 and 13 February 2008, the International Year of Planet Earth will be officially launched at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris. The UN sees the Year as a contribution to their sustainable development targets as it promotes wise (sustainable) use of Earth materials and encourages better planning and management to reduce risks for the world’s inhabitants. The Year’s ultimate goal of helping to build safer, healthier and wealthier societies around the globe is expressed in the Year’s subtitle ‘Earth Science for Society’.
To celebrate the International Year of Planet Earth, Nature, a weekly scientific journal,published a special supplement Year of planet Earth which explores recent developments and future directions in the Earth sciences. With climate change to the fore, Earth scientists have much to offer society, and these articles explore both our understanding of the planet and how this knowledge can be used to benefit the people who live on it.
To raise awareness among youth of the state of the planet, UNESCO’s Earth Sciences Programme is running a photo contest on the theme of The Changing Face of the Earth. Click here for details. Entries close on 30 June 2008.
State of Youth in the World
• The World Bank's World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation concludes that developing countries which invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their record numbers of young people could produce surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty.
• The UNICEF's State of the World’s Children Report 2008 assesses the state of child survival and primary health care for mothers, newborns and children today. While recent data show a fall in the rate of under-five mortality, the report goes beyond the numbers to suggest actions and initiatives that should lead to further progress.
• The United Nations - World Youth Annual Report 2007 examines the challenges and opportunities existing for the roughly 1.2 billion young people in the world.
