Foreword
 

Dear friends in Asia and the Pacific, and across the world,
 
The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting us all. As the Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO Jakarta has shifted many of our activities to online platforms and continued to implement our programmes and activities closely engaging with our stakeholders. We look forward to your feedback on some of the highlight activities and how can we more closely work together.
 
To commemorate the World Science Day, and as our response to the pandemic, we supported three activities namely Eco Squad Goals in the Philippines, an online Scienceteen Festival in Indonesia and a workshop "Youths Empowering Youths" in Thailand. We also have launched national launch of Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 in Indonesia, in the Philippines and in Timor-Leste.

In conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila and UNESCO, in partnership with Free Press Unlimited, TEMPO and Malaysiakini, jointly organized a special digital conference with the theme “Journalism without Fear or Favour”.

In celebrating Indonesia’s National Batik Day on 2 October, Citi Indonesia and UNESCO Jakarta under the support of Citi Foundation have a two-hour live-streaming event featuring talk show on batik, environmentally friendly natural dye, and  music performance by young artist groups.

We have strengthened the long-term partnership and signed a grant agreement between UNESCO and KOICA for the new project aims at strengthening the National Capacity of Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) enabling Basic Education School-aged children and youth’s continuity of learning through distance learning opportunities during and post COVID-19.

We also organized a sub-regional-policy-dialogue forum on Strategic Education Policy during COVID-19 Pandemic. In collaboration with the World Water Council and youth water organizations across Asia and the Pacific, we led an online satellite event for the 9th World Water Forum to be held in Dakar, Senegal in 2022. Another virtual meeting was the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) - Regional Steering Committee (RSC-AP) and the Southeast Asian Biosphere Reserve Network (SeaBRnet) to support cooperation and exchange among its members during the pandemic.

From September to October 2020, we continue organizing interactive online interview sessions on "Sustainability Insight", and organized six IOTIC Online Lecture Series and six online series talk show "Let's Talk DRR".

In this issue, we also would like to share our activities on safety for journalists during the pandemic and on indigenous language in Indonesia. We are delighted to share more news and publications in this third edition of the 2020 newsletter.

#StaySafe
 
Shahbaz Khan

Director and Representative

UNESCO Supports Tourism Vocation Education for Sustainability in Timor-Leste

 

UNESCO Jakarta Office organized a Training for Tourism Vocational Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Dili, Timor-Leste on 1-3 October 2020. This training aimed to provide capacity building to curriculum developers and teachers to action-oriented tourism vocation education for sustainable development which can enable them to share expertise and experiences in institutional change in vocation education in tourism. 
Around 40 tourism vocational school teachers from eight tourism schools in eight municipalities in Timor-Leste participated in the training.
Click here to read more

Revitalizing the Sub-Regional Green School Actions for Education Substainable Development 2030 and Response to COVID-19

To contribute to the achievement of SDG4 and ESD, UNESCO Jakarta initiated an activity of “Revitalizing Green School Actions for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for 2030 and as part of Education Response to COVID-19 to Build Sustainable, Peaceful, and Resilience in Southeast Asia.
On 10 December 2020, UNESCO Jakarta organized the Final Review Meeting of “Revitalizing the Sub-regional Green School Actions for Education Sustainable Development 2030 and Response to COVID-19” to present the findings in the draft report of the study and gather feedback from the Member States.
Click here to read more

A two-day virtual Training of Trainers (ToT) on “Revitalizing Green School Actions for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for 2030 and as part of Education Response to COVID-19 to Build Sustainable, Peaceful, and Resilience in Southeast Asia.
The virtual training conducted on 3 and 4 November 2020 joined by 30 representatives from the Ministry of Education, principals, and teachers from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Timor-Leste.
Click here to read more

Life Skills Training on Media and Information Literacy for ALS Implementers

 

UNESCO Jakarta organized a virtual 3-session life skills training for ALS implementers on 23 and 24 November 2020 in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte in Region VIII, Eastern Visayas, Philippines.
The online training was organized to support the learning continuity plan of the Philippines’ Department of Education. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Secretary Dr. Leonor Magtolis-Briones emphasized that “education must continue” in anticipating the opening of classes for 2020 in the Philippines. Along with this pronouncement, DepEd implemented its learning continuity plan in the country as a response to the unprecedented global health crisis.
Funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
Click here to read more

Life Skills Training on Financial Literacy and Basic Business Management Skills for ALS Learners

 

Tacloban City, Philippines. UNESCO organized a 3-day virtual life skills training on Financial Literacy and Basic Management Skills for ALS learners of Palo in the Division of Leyte in Region VIII, Philippines, under the capacity building component of its “Better Life for Out-of-School Girls to Fight Poverty and Injustice in the Philippines” Project.
This continuing learning opportunities intended for ALS learners aim to contribute in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in particular SDG 4 with an overall goal of improving quality of life of girls living in poverty. The training tackled six topics: Exploring your traits and characteristics that could help propel your business; Bringing the Business idea to life; How’ to Marketing Your Business; Marketing Dynamics; Financial Literacy; and Basics of Bookkeeping and Accounting.
Click here to read more

National Launch of the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report in Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste

 

The National Launch of the 2020 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report has been organized in Indonesia, in the Philippines and in Timor-Leste.
The virtual national launch in Indonesia was organized on 10 September, then in the Philippines on 25 November and later on 11 December 2020 the national launch was held in the UN Coumpound in Timor-Leste.The launch aimed to inform and increase awareness of the Report’s messages on inclusion in education to multilateral stakeholders and key decision-makers and to forge new cross-sectoral partnerships to tackle crosscutting disadvantages standing in the way of inclusion.

UNESCO and Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) have strengthened the long-term partnership through a mutual agreement for Basic Science Education Project (2020-2021) in Timor-Leste with technical and financial supports respectively.
The project is part of UNESCO-KOICA’s cooperative Education Response to COVID-19.The new project aims at strengthening the National Capacity of Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) enabling Basic Education School-aged children and youth’s continuity of learning through distance learning opportunities during and post COVID-19 in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in Timor-Leste.
Click here to read more

UNESCO organized a Sub-regional Policy-dialogue Forum on Strategic Education Policy during COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond on 12 November 2020. The forum aimed to explore the strategic education policy and planning during COVID -19 and beyond as well as to identify key findings of the sub-regional policy review to be reflected in the final Education Policy Review Report.
Around 30 key officials and representatives from the Ministry of Education in the cluster countries, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste, participated in the event..
Click here to read more

On 8 December, UNESCO Jakarta in collaboration with the World Water Council and youth water organizations across Asia and the Pacific, led an online satellite event for the 9th World Water Forum to be held in Dakar, Senegal in 2022. Six youth leaders shared their best management practices and youth-led activities to solve water-related problems in their respective countries and sub regions.
The main session of the event featured an interactive exchange between youth from Senegal, India, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, and the Federated States of Micronesia, moderated by a youth water expert from Indonesia. The discussion highlighted that social media could be a powerful tool to involve youth to solve water and sanitation challenges. In addition, big data analytics has the potential to yield valuable information to achieve targets on SDG 6.

 

The UNESCO Water Family in Asia and the Pacific conducted a virtual meeting of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) - Regional Steering Committee (RSC-AP) on 26 and 27 October 2020.
The special session was held to ensure that the water science community continues its important deliberations on cooperation and exchange in the hydrological sciences amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biosphere Reserves in Southeast Asia Share Updates on COVID-19 Impacts and Responses

The Southeast Asian Biosphere Reserve Network (SeaBRnet) met virtually on 26 November 2020 in a special session of the network held to support continued cooperation and exchange among its members during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The meeting focused on ongoing research activities in BR sites as well as impacts of and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, with participation of around 50 participants representing Biosphere Reserves, Man and the Biosphere (MAB) national committees and research partners from eleven countries across the region.

Nine new Sites in Asia and the Pacific Join UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves

 

Twenty-five new Biosphere Reserves were welcomed to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves during the 32nd session of the International Co-ordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme held online on 27 and 28 October 2020.
Of the new Biosphere Reserves, nine are located in Asia and the Pacific that will make a significant contribution to the region’s engagement with the MAB programme and to the sustainable future of the region’s people and nature.

#ECOSQUADGOAL: A Digital Citizen Science Approach to Understanding Solid-Waste Management

 

To commemorate World Science Day 2020 and as response to the pandemic UNESCO supported the #EcoSquadGoals launched on 11 December 2020 and organized by De La Salle University, Philippines. #EcoSquadGoals was an online initiative that combines a workshop, contest, and symposium to help equip the Filipino youth with the tools and capacity to evaluate and curb the increased plastic consumption, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. One hundred registered students from six schools (three of which are Universities and the other three are senior high schools) participated in the kick-off workshop. During the workshop, the participants learned several tailored topics such as citizen sciences and its impact on the coastal communities and solid waste management.

Scienteen Festival: When the Power of Youth and the Magic of Technology Combined Against COVID-19

To commemorate the World Science Day 2020 and as a response to the pandemic, UNESCO supported an online workshop entitled “Scienteen Festival: When the Power of Youth and the Magic of Technology Combined Against COVID-19” on 10 November 2020.
The workshop was the opening event of a series of Scienteen Festival activities organized by Nano Center Indonesia during November and December 2020.

Youths Empowering Youths: Ensuring Adaptation of High Schoolers for the New Normal

To commemorate the World Science Day, UNESCO together with PTT Exploration and Production Plc. (PTTEP), Thailand supported a workshop entitled “Youths Empowering Youths: Ensuring Adaptation of High Schoolers for the New Normal”. The workshop was successfully organized by Thai Young Scientists Academy (TYSA), in conjunction with Uttaradit Daruni School, Uttaradit Rajabhat University, and National Science Museum Thailand (NSM) on 14 November 2020 at Uttaradit Daruni School, Uttaradit, Thailand.
Twenty-five selected students from Uttaradit Daruni School and eight selected students from Uttaradit School have participated in the workshop. The workshop aimed to find ways to maintain quality education of high school students, which is one of the most significant issues seen and emerged during COVID-19 pandemic situation. .

The Gaps and Challenges Faced by Teachers in the Classroom for Science and Mathematics Primary Education in Timor-Leste
 

Under the umbrella of the UNESCO’s project “Strengthening Science and Mathematics Primary Education in Timor-Leste” supported by the Government of Japan, 22 teachers (41% female) from thirteen (13) municipalities in Timor-Leste participated at the “Curriculum Mapping Workshop” on 6 and 7 November 2020 in the UN House, Dili, together with the representatives from Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MEYS), Centre for the Study of Science and Mathematics (SESIM) at Timor-Leste National Commission for UNESCO, lecturers from University of Timor Leste (UNTL), and Koei Research and Consulting (KRC) team from Japan who joined online (total participants 41 in Dili and 7 online).
The workshop aimed to identify the gaps in resources available for science and mathematics by teachers and students in primary education, and to identify necessary components for teachers and students’ supplementary materials (printed and multimedia) to support science and mathematics primary education.

Youth Empowerment to Promote ASEAN's Culture through Data Science
 

Since 2019 UNESCO has been supporting the Future Ready ASEAN programme for youth that initiated by ASEAN Foundation, Empire Code, and Microsoft by hosting a national training in Lao PDR and hosting the final Coding Hackathon on face recognition web-interface in their sustainability themed blog at UNESCO Office in Bangkok.
This year the grand finale of Future Ready ASEAN on Data Science Challenges was successfully organized online on 10 October 2020 in collaboration also with Singapore International Foundation. There were nine finalist teams from eight ASEAN Member States selected from 70 entries. The finalists presented their project to promote ASEAN’s culture through Data Science to the judges virtually.

IOTIC Online Lecture Series
 
 

From September to October 2020, The Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre of IOC-UNESCO, UNESCO Office Jakarta and BMKG organized six Online Lecture Series on IOC-UNESCO Tsunami Ready Program.
The objective of this lecture series is to give broad understanding of IOC-UNESCO Tsunami Ready program and motivate and encourage communities, disaster management offices, and non-governmental organization to initiate, pilot, and implement the tsunami ready indicators.

UNESCO Jakarta launched an online series talk show on Disaster Risk Reduction. Starting from November 2020, the online series of UNESCO and U-INSPIRE Alliance have provided six virtual conversation on Science, Engineering, Technology, and innovation for DRR has provided six talk show.

DRR Talk #1: Science, Engineering, & Technology and Innovation into action in DRR
DRR Talk #2: Knowledge Management for Resilience
DRR Talk #3: Early Warning Systems
DRR Talk #4: Buit Environment and Safety School
DRR Talk #5: Disaster Risk Reduction for Heritage Sites (Natural and Cultural heritage, Biosphere reserve, and Geoparks)
DRR Talks #6: Nature Based Solutions for DRR

Celebration of National Batik Day, October 2020 - Heritage in the Move!

 

Citi Indonesia and UNESCO Jakarta under the support of Citi Foundation celebrated Indonesia’s National Batik Day, marking the inscription of Batik into UNESCO List of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage back on 2 October 2009. The Celebration was streamed live on on 2 October 2020 through Kita Muda Kreatif Youtube account.
The two-hour event featured talk show on batik, environmentally friendly natural dye, and  music performance by young artist groups.   Through this occasion, UNESCO attempted to place batik in the middle of contemporary and socio-economic agenda, linking it to the works of young creative entrepreneurs supported under Citi-UNESCO Project on Creative Youth at Indonesian Heritage Sites from Central Java, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Toba and Bali.
The event can be watched here

UNESCO Facilitated Community Dialogues in Borobudur Areas

UNESCO Jakarta in collaboration with Borobudur Conservation Office (BCO), Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Indonesia organized a series of village consultation meetings from 26 October to 16 November 2020 in Borobudur area to gain community inputs and feedback on the cultural mapping process. Under the programme “Capacity Building and Community Participation for Cultural Landscape Management at Borobudur World Heritage Site” – funded by OCHSPA since 2018,  UNESCO Jakarta has been mapping the cultural heritage resources in the rural area surrounding the Borobudur Temple Compounds World Heritage Site.
Village consultations revealed that the development of creative industries and tourism is very dynamic over the last few years. Village leaders are open to new tourism investment as long as this leads to local employment and promotion of local cultures.

UNESCO and Citi Indonesia Celebrated Kita Muda Kreatif Program

UNESCO Jakarta in collaboration with Citi Indonesia, under the support of Citi Foundation organized a Celebration of the Kita Muda Kreatif program milestones, or Gelar Karya Kreatif 2020. The live event presented the project impact and the works of young entrepreneurs assisted by the Creative Youth at Indonesian Heritage Sites Program, a youth empowerment program.. The live stream event also marked the launching of Kita Muda Kreatif website at www.kitamudakreatif.com.  
The Creative Youth at Indonesian Heritage Sites Program, completed its third phase in November 2020. During its implementation in 2020, youths engaged in various creative industry sectors took part in entrepreneurial capacity building and heritage awareness-raising sessions to improve their business skills while tapping into local heritage resources. Despite the COVID-19 restriction, the program has continued providing support to the youth entrepreneurs and held more than 90 online courses via WhatsApp, Zoom and YouTube between March and November 2020. The internal survey in November 2020 showed that the project supported the creation of more than 200 local youth brands inspired from local cultures.  Nearly 25% of the project beneficiaries  have an increased income and 30% of them developed new products.
Gelar Karya Kreatif can be watched here

UNESCO Supports Indonesian Journalists on the Pandemic

A group of Indonesian journalists to continue to bring news about the pandemic and its various impact on the society. The reporting has been collected in the book “Cerita di Balik Pandemi” (Stories behind the Pandemic). It is a collection of 20 journalistic works on the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia with stories originated from several regions, from Jambi to Nabire, Papua.

The anthology published by the Alliance of Independent Journalists of Indonesia (AJI) with the support of UNESCO touches on the issues of health, economic impact, the problems faced by marginalized groups in the coronavirus era.
Click here to read more

UNESCO Highlights Safety of Journalists at Bali Civil Society and Media Forum

The current pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of the media and of access to verified information.
This point was highlighted at the 13th Bali Civil Society and Media Forum (BSCMF) that has traditionally taken place alongside the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Bali, Indonesia. The theme of BCSMF 2020 is “Civil Resilience: Activisms during the Pandemic COVID-19”. This year, due to the pandemic, the forum was organized as a mixed event with in-person and online components.
Click here to read more

Making Indonesian Indigenous Language Scripts Available Online
 

2,500 endangered languages listed in UNESCO’s Atlas of World’s Languages in Danger, more than 570 are considered critically endangered languages and over 230 languages have become extinct since 1950. At the same time, less than five percent of the world’s languages have a presence online.
Therefore, UNESCO is supportive of Indonesian Internet Domain Registry (PANDI) in its initiative, “Connecting the Nation through Ancient Character Digitalisation,” to preserve Indonesian indigenous languages’ characters and to make them as widely available scripts online and on various digital platforms.
Click here to read more

Indonesian Memory Institutions Examine Gender Equality in Documentary Heritage

Only four out of 155 inscriptions from Asia and the Pacific for the Memory of the World (MOW) Registers can be considered as documentary heritage that contributes to gender equality.
This was one of the key findings of a recent baseline study published by UNESCO. The figure mirrors other regions as well. It is one of the reasons that an online focus group discussion to identify documentary heritage that promotes gender equality was organized on 26 October 2020. The event was organized by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, LIPI) who is serving as the Chair of the Indonesian MOW Committee, and Indonesia National Archives (Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia, ANRI) with the support of UNESCO.
Click here to read more

UNESCO Discusses Gender Responses Reporting with Journalism Students in the Philippines

“To be truly equal, men and women must be seen and heard as equals. Let us put gender in the agenda of journalism in a fair and sensitive manner”
These were the rousing words from H.E. Excellency Rita Rasoulian, the Austrian Ambassador to the Philippines in her opening remarks to nearly 3000 journalism students from eight universities in the country who participated in a webinar on gender-responsive reporting hosted by the Austrian Embassy and the news portal The Freeman on 23 September 2020.
Click here to read more

"Journalism without Fear of Favour"
 

In conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila and UNESCO, in partnership with Free Press Unlimited, TEMPO and Malaysiakini, jointly organized a special digital conference with the theme “Journalism without Fear or Favour”. More than 200 participants joined in the online conference held on 9 December 2020.
During the open discussion segment, six journalist, photojournalist, and cartoonist from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines shared the challenges they experienced including harassments, threats, and attacks both offline and online. The session was moderated by Ms Ruth de Vries (Free Press Unlimited).
Click here to read more

Youth's Voice for the Future of Media and Information Literacy in Asia and the Pacific
 

More than two hundred young people from Asia and the Pacific participated the online consultation “Youth's Voice for the Future of Media and Information Literacy in Asia and the Pacific” on 18 November. UNESCO Offices in the region, and Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) organized this online consultation.
Through the online consultation, youth’s suggestions and opinions would help us better integrate Media and Information Literacy (MIL) into education and strengthen the youth network on MIL.
Click here to read more

UNESCO Empowers Journalism Educators to Counter Disinformation in Southeast Asia

Nearly forty educators from journalism and mass communication schools from across the region participated a three-day “Online Training on the State of Journalism and Mass Communication Education on Countering Disinformation in ASEAN Countries”, from 27-29 October 2020.
This first regional virtual training organized by UNESCO in Southeast Asia coincided with the Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week which took place in the same week.
Click here to read more

Indonesia Spotlights People's Right to Know

Indonesia spotlighted people’s fundamental right to know on the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) on 28 September despite the ongoing challenges caused by COVID-19.
Over 500 people participated in an online event where H.E. Ma’ruf Amin, the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, was the keynote speaker and stressed on the importance of access to information (ATI) especially during the current pandemic.
Click here to read more

As a first step of the formulation of the new UNESCO Country Strategic Document (UCSD), UNESCO Jakarta, through Dili Antenna Office organized an engagement and consultation meeting which was well-attended by the key stakeholders and relevant UNESCO partners in Timor-Leste.
Click here to read more

Sustainability Science: Implementation Framework and Toolbox for UNESCO Designated Sites


Strategic Education Policy during COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond in the Sub-region of Southeast Asia

Sub-Regional Strategic Education Policy During COVID-19 and Beyond



COVID-19 Education Response Policy