Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
783 Results found
Practical Legal Guide for Women in Algeria Year of publication: 2023 Author: Fériel Khelil | Saadia Gacem Corporate author: Fondation Friedrich-Ebert This practical legal guide, in Arabic and French, enables women in Algeria to find out about their rights, the laws that protect them, but also the legislative inequalities they will encounter in their life course, through tools for practical understanding of the laws. It was produced by Feriel Khelil, jurist with the Réseau Wassila/Avife association, and Saadia Gacem, doctoral student in anthropology and feminist activist, and supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. 
An Ed-Tech Tragedy? Educational Technologies and School Closures in the Time of COVID-19 Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO Charting a new course for the transformation of education in a digital age An Ed-Tech Tragedy? is a detailed analysis of what happened when education became largely reliant on connected technology during school closures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest global disruption to education in history.Many claim that this experience was chiefly one of forced progress and transformations that have, however haltingly, helped propel education into desirable digital futures. Others underline an experience of imperfect salvation – technology saving the day in an emergency and preserving learning continuity for significant numbers of students, even if not all students were helped. But the global evidence reveals a more sombre picture. It exposes the ways unprecedented educational dependence on technology often resulted in unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and the elevation of learning models that place machines and profit before people. This publication examines the promises of educational technologies against the reality of what was delivered during periods of pandemic school closures, which stretched for various durations from early 2020 to the end of 2022. Dedicated sections consider alternate possibilities that had the potential to be more inclusive and equitable.The analysis extracts lessons and recommendations to chart new and more humanistic directions for the development, integration and use of technology in education. 
UNESCO Guidance for the World Heritage ‘No-Go’ Commitment: Global Standards for Corporate Sustainability Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: UNESCO UNESCO World Heritage properties are cultural, natural and mixed sites of outstanding universal value (OUV) that exemplify some of humanity’s most exceptional heritage and treasures on our planet. They cover over a thousand properties in all regions of the world and it is the duty of the international community as a whole to cooperate on their protection. UNESCO World Heritage sites provide major benefits to our society and help safeguard ecosystem services and cultural resources vital for human well-being. Yet the threats to UNESCO World Heritage sites have been rising steadily for decades, including those arising from harmful industrial and infrastructure projects, extractive activities such as mining, oil and gas and large hydropower projects, among others. In view of these significant threats, several leading companies and financial institutions have committed to protect World Heritage by respecting them as ‘no-go’ areas. UNESCO World Heritage sites are protected under international law as humanity’s legacy to future generations and, as such, merit particular attention in corporate policies and business conduct. However, there is wide variation in the nature and strength of sustainability policies and due diligence processes. This guidance was developed to assist companies to develop comprehensive strategies for World Heritage as part of their efforts to measure and manage environmental, social and governance risks. 
Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research Year of publication: 2023 Author: Fengchun Miao | Wayne Holmes Corporate author: UNESCO This Guidance aims to support the planning of appropriate regulations, policies and human capacity development programmes to ensure that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes a tool that genuinely benefits and empowers teachers, learners and researchers. It explains the Al techniques used by GenAI and maps out a list of GPT models that are made publicly available, especially those under open-source licences. It also opens a discussion on the emergence of EdGPT - GenAI models that are trained with specific data to serve educational purposes. Furthermore, it summarizes some of the key controversies around GenAI, from worsening digital poverty to the homogenization of opinions, and from deeper deepfakes to issues of copyright. Based on a humanistic vision, the Guidance proposes key steps for the regulation of GenAI tools, including mandating the protection of data privacy and setting an age limit for independent conversations with GenAI platforms. To guide the proper use of the tools in education and research, this Guidance proposes a human-agent and age-appropriate approach to the ethical validation and pedagogical design processes. 
Readiness Assessment Methodology: A Tool of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO In November 2021, the 193 Member States of UNESCO signed the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first global normative instrument in its domain. The Recommendation serves as a comprehensive and actionable framework for the ethical development and use of AI, encompassing the full spectrum of human rights. It does so by maintaining focus on all stages of the AI system lifecycle. Beyond elaborating the values and principles that should guide the ethical design, development and use of AI, the Recommendation lays out the actions required from Member States to ensure the upholding of such values and principles, through advocating for effective regulation and providing recommendations in various essential policy areas, such as gender, the environment, and communication and information. With these values, principles, and policy areas in mind, the UNESCO Secretariat elaborated a programme for the implementation of the Recommendation, with the core aim of building national capacities to discharge the actions set out in the Recommendation and bolster regulatory frameworks. The Recommendation mandated the development of two key tools, the Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) and the Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA), which form the core pillars of the implementation. These tools both aim to assess and promote the resilience of existing laws, policies and institutions to AI implementation in the country, as well as the alignment of AI systems with the values and principles set out in the Recommendation. The goal of this document is to provide more information on the Readiness Assessment Methodology, lay out its various dimensions, and detail the work plan for the implementing countries, including the type of entities that need to be involved, responsibilities of each entity, and the split of work between UNESCO and the implementing country. 
Public Policies on Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 21st Century: New Protagonisms and Old Dilemmas in Times of Uncertainty Year of publication: 2023 Author: Cinthya Fernández Lépiz | Esteban Zolezzi Corporate author: Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) The III Report of FLACSO on Gender Issues is the result of a collaborative process among the Academic Units of FLACSO. Its chapters aim to identify the main challenges in each country regarding gender equality in the early 21st century and engage them in a dialogue with contributions from the academic community of FLACSO. They seek to provide a general characterization of each country, analyze the main challenges in terms of gender equality, as well as the critical contributions and limitations raised by gender and feminist studies in conjunction with the contributions made by FLACSO. 
Bridging the Gap: Holistic Education Policy to Foster Opportunities for Girls in Rural Pakistan Year of publication: 2023 Author: Hina Saleem Corporate author: Center for Universal Education at Brookings Seven out of ten girls in rural Sindh are excluded from schooling. This happens for a myriad of reasons and occurs both in the presence and absence of operational school buildings. When schools are present, the challenges that children—especially girls—face due to their economic and social context often go unaddressed; children who are able to enroll in school often find their learning affected by classroom design and practices and experiences that mirror the exclusion they experience outside of school. At the broader level, this exclusion is reflected in limited representation of the needs and aspirations of sizable rural populations in Pakistan’s formal education system and the pathways beyond it. This policy brief presents findings from on-the-ground research in rural settlements in Sindh province that explores the disparities between boys and girls in enrollment and continuation of schooling in addition to overall inadequate education outcomes. It also provides policy recommendations to support all children and particularly girls in meeting their education needs and aspirations. Education policy must respond to these challenges of unmet education needs and aspirations by taking a holistic, welfare-based approach that supports children to overcome the effects of exclusionary conditions to meet their education needs. However, the benefits of such an approach can only be realized if teaching practices and learning experiences are contextualized, build a connection with local knowledge, question root causes of exclusion and support and prepare all children in negotiating pathways beyond education. 
Artificial Intelligence Needs Assessment Survey in Africa Year of publication: 2021 Author: Prateek Sibal | Bhanu Neupane Corporate author: UNESCO There are encouraging signs of AI innovation and development across Africa, from community run AI classes over weekends, AI training bootcamps for students and young researchers to the establishment of private sector and government driven innovation hubs across the continent. Even as there is an enormous potential for AI development, there are also legacy challenges in terms of infrastructure availability as well as human and institutional capacity gaps to develop and govern AI to optimise benefits and minimise harms. Building upon the recommendations of UNESCO report Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies, the findings of this survey aim to bridge the information gap concerning the strategic priorities, policy measures, developmental challenges, human and institutional capacity needs, and legal frameworks concerning AI in African countries. 
Communication Strategy: UNESCO Guidance on Communicating on Gender Equality in and through Education Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: UNESCO About 259 million children and youth are out of school according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, including 127 million girls and 132 million boys. Twothirds of the 750 million non-literate adults around the world are women. This gender disparity remains one of the persistent challenges in adult literacy and education. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges, disrupting the education of over 1.5 billion learners. UNESCO estimates that close to 24 million children and youth, including over 11 million girls and 13 million boys, may drop out of school due to the pandemic’s economic impact. A window of opportunity is now more than ever open to build back equal. This communication strategy is designed to provide strategic guidance on communicating on gender equality in and through education. While prepared for UNESCO Education Sector staff, including those at Headquarters, in Field/Regional/Cluster Offices and in Institutes as well as for implementing partners, a broader audience of gender focal points, partners, Member States and others with an interest in and commitment to gender equality in and through education may also find this strategy particularly useful. 
National Policy on Native Languages, Oral Tradition and Interculturality by 2040 Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: Ministry of Culture of Peru The Ministry of Culture, in coordination with the different sectors of the State, has carried out the process of updating the National Policy on Native Languages, Oral Tradition and Interculturality by 2040 (PNLOTI), which will be the main instrument of guidance and attention in subject of indigenous languages. Seeking to guarantee the participation of citizens in public decisions, the Ministry of Culture makes the PNLOTI proposal for 2040 available to them, with the aim that they can access it and learn about the 41 services declared in charge of the different sectors. In this way, the PNLOTI ensures the full exercise of the linguistic rights of the more than 4 million citizens who speak one of the 48 indigenous or native languages of the country.