Kampala — Namirembe Bitamazire, the chairperson of the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO, presented the paper below at the 35th session of the UNESCO general conference in Paris, France October 8, 2009.

I bring you warm greetings from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Government and the people of Uganda.

My delegation congratulates the outgoing director general, Koichiro Matsuura, on his successful 10 years in office and wishes the new director general success in her office.

Mr. President, today the world faces severe financial, economic and social crises, including climate change, food shortages and disease epidemics which put increased pressure on the budgets of UNESCO and of member states.

Against this background, our organisation must devise new approaches and strategies for the management of programmes and delivery of services. The strategies and programmes of UNESCO must not lose focus of the attainment of the Education For All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Mr. President,Uganda supports the director general's proposals in all the five major programmes as reflected in the 35C/5 documents for the period 2010/2011. We note with appreciation, the increase in the budget of $9.5m (sh190b) for programme I, Education.

Mr. President, Uganda is on track with the implementation of the Universal Primary Education (UPE). Over 85% of the school going age children are enrolled in schools. Since 2005, Uganda has also been implementing a four-year Universal Post-Primary Education and Training Programme, giving the youth 11 years of basic education.

Our goal is to consolidate literacy, numeracy, lifeskills and to promote academic and intellectual growth among the learners for sustainable livelihood and national development.

Mr. President, Uganda supports the director general on the following core initiatives which directly affect the attainment of EFA goals:-

• HIV/AIDS interventions under EDUCAIDS

• The Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE)

• Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa. (TTISSA).

We would like to see accelerated and concrete actions on all these initiatives.

Mr President, the youth constitute over 60% of the population in Uganda. The Government faces challenges of educating, training and engaging them in productive endeavours.

My delegation, therefore, appreciates the director general's programmes for the youth and urges him to implement the youth strategy. The reactivation of the Management of Social Transformation Programmes is one way to enhance member states' efforts to address some of the social problems in society, including the youth.

Uganda has ratified the Convention on Anti-Doping in Sport and supports UNESCO's programmes on philosophy and bioethics aimed at shaping societal thinking and behaviour particularly among the youth at school.

Mr. President, the Government of Uganda embraces the programmes of culture and information as proposed in 35C/5. To this effect, Uganda has ratified the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 and is at advanced stages to ratify the Convention on Promotion of Cultural Diversity and Cultural Expression 2005.

Mr. President, in pursuit of the spirit and commitment of UNESCO to "delivering as one", Uganda supports the director general's proposal to continue reforming the organisation. These reforms should particularly target the better delivery of services in Africa and the gender priority as proposed in 35C/5. They should also embrace the strengthening and empowerment of national commissions to give visibility to UNESCO programmes.

Mr. President, Uganda is grateful to UNESCO for supporting projects in the country during the last biennium. We thank the director general for visiting Uganda and for his personal interest in some specific projects namely:

- The use of ICTs in technical and vocational education.

- A local language dictionary.

These projects contributed to raising the visibility of the organisation in Uganda. We also thank the UNESCO staff at the headquarters and in the field for their cooperation.

We look forward to enhanced programme activities including the building of a Peace Education Centre in Uganda with the support of UNESCO.

Mr. President, in conclusion, I would like to pay tribute to Matsuura for his dedicated and relentless service to UNESCO.

He has contributed to making the world more learned, more cultured, more informed and peaceful. I wish you, Matsuura, greater success in your next assignments.

I thank you for your attention.

The writer is the Minister of Education and Sports