Keystones to foster inclusive knowledge societies: access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy, and ethics on a global internet

The transnational and multi-dimensional nature of Cyberspace and its growing importance presents new frontiers with unparalleled opportunities and challenges for access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethics. The Internet Study being undertaken by UNESCO is seeking to provide the necessary clarity to support holistic approaches to addressing this broad range of interrelated issues as well as their short and long-term effects. The study was built on a year-long multistakeholder consultation process, which involved several rounds of consultation with member states and other actors, as well as almost 200 major responses to an online questionnaire. The Study includes the Options for future actions of UNESCO in the Internet related issues, which has served as a basis for the Outcome Document as adopted by the CONNECTing the Dots Conference on 3 and 4 March 2015. The Study also affirmed that the same rights that people have offline must be protected online, and good practices are shared between Member States and other stakeholders, in order to address security and privacy concerns on the Internet and in accordance with international human rights obligations. The Study also supports the Internet Universality principles (R.O.A.M) that promote a human rights-based approach, including freedom of expression, privacy, open Internet, accessible to all and characterized by multistakeholder participation

CBR: A Strategy for Rehabilitation, Equalization of Opportunities, Poverty Reduction and, Social Inclusion of People With Disabilities

[From Introduction] Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) promotes collaboration among community leaders, people with disabilities, their families,and other concerned citizens to provide equal opportunities for all people with disabilities in the community. The CBR strategy, initiated two and a half decades ago, continues to promote the rights and participation of people with disabilities and to strengthen the role of their organizations (DPOs) in countries around the world

The Dialogue Among Peoples: The Rabat Commitment

This document contains the recent declaration adopted during the “Conference on Fostering Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations through Concrete and Sustained Initiatives” held in Rabat, Morocco from 14 to 16 June 2005. This international conference was convened by six co-sponsoring organizations: UNESCO, OIC, ISESCO, ALECSO, the Danish Centre for Culture and Development and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, and with the participation of the Council of Europe as observer. It is of note that this event represents a unique international partnership initiative

How to teach fully illiterate adults to read.

About 750 million adults (15%) worldwide lack any literacy skills, most because they lack adequate learning opportunities (UNESCO, 2016). In this chapter, we discuss how to teach to read to such people. We first examine scientific evidence suggesting that literacy acquisition does not radically differ as a function of age of acquisition. We then discuss the data relevant for designing effective methods aimed at teaching literacy to fully illiterate adults. We argue that the available adult data confirm those relative to teaching methods and learning processes that have been gathered on literacy acquisition by children. On the basis of those works we propose principles that should underlie any method aiming at rapidly developing basic literacy skills. Lastly, we present evidence (Kolinsky, Leite, Carvalho, Franco, & Morais, submitted) suggesting that implementing these principles does indeed allow teaching illiterate adults to decode words and pseudo-words in a very short period of time

Education and Disaster Vulnerability in Southeast Asia: Evidence and Policy Implications

This article summarizes the growing theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of education on disaster vulnerability with a focus on Southeast Asia. Education and learning can take place in different environments in more or less formalized ways. They can influence disaster vulnerability as the capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from natural hazard in direct and indirect ways. Directly, through education and learning, individuals acquire knowledge, abilities, skills and perceptions that allow them to effectively prepare for and cope with the consequences of disaster shocks. Indirectly, education gives individuals and households access to material, informational and social resources, which can help reducing disaster vulnerability. We highlight central concepts and terminologies and discuss the different theoretical mechanisms through which education may have an impact. Supportive empirical evidence is presented and discussed with a particular focus on the role of inclusiveness in education and challenges in achieving universal access to high-quality education. Based on situation analysis and best practice cases, policy implications are derived that can inform the design and implementation of education and learning-based disaster risk reduction efforts in the region

RBC: Une Stratégie de Réadaptation, d’égalisation des chances, de Réduction de la Pauvreté et d’Intégration Sociale des Personnes Handicapées

[From Introduction] La réadaptation à base communautaire (RBC) promeut la collaboration entre les dirigeants communautaires, les personnes handicapées, leurs familles et les autres citoyens intéressés afin d’offrir des chances égales à tous les membres de la communauté ayant un handicap. La stratégie de RBC, initiée il y a vingt-cinq ans, continue de promouvoir les droits et la participation des personnes handicapées et à renforcer le rôle de leurs organisations (OPH) dans les pays du monde entier

RBC: Estrategia para la rehabilitación, la igualdad de oportunidades, la reducción de la pobreza y la integración social de las personas con discapacidad

[From Introducción] La rehabilitación basada en la comunidad (RBC) promueve la colaboración entre los dirigentes comunitarios, las personas con discapacidad, sus familias y otros ciudadanos involucrados para ofrecer igualdad de oportunidades a todas las personas con discapacidad en la comunidad. La estrategia RBC, iniciada hace 25 años, sigue promoviendo los derechos y la participación de las personas con discapacidad y fortaleciendo el papel de sus organizaciones (OPD) en el mundo

Women in contemporary cancer research

Despite recent advances, gender inequality persists in many scientific fields, including medicine. Thus far, no study has extensively analyzed the gender composition of contemporary researchers in the oncology field. We examined 40 oncological journals (Web of Science, ONCOLOGY category) with different impact factors (Q1-Q4) and extracted all the articles and reviews published during 2015 17, in order to identify the gender of their authors. Our data showed that women represent about 38% of all the authorships, both in articles and reviews. In relative terms, women are overrepresented as first authors of articles (43.8%), and clearly underrepresented as last or senior authors (<30%). This double pattern, also observed in other medical fields, suggests that age, or more specifically, seniority, may play some role in the gender composition of cancer researchers. Examining the pattern of collaboration, an interesting finding was observed: the articles signed by a woman in the first or in the last position roughly showed gender parity in the byline. We found also some differences in the content of the articles depending on which gender occupies the first and last positions of the authorships

Perceptions of the barriers to effective inclusion in one primary school: Voices of teachers and teaching assistants

This study examined the barriers to inclusion in one primary school in the north of England. Qualitative data were collected from teachers and teaching assistants through the use of a focus group. The evidence suggested that practices within the school were varied and ranged from highly inclusive to highly exclusive. Some teachers worked in good faith to develop effective inclusion for learners with special educational needs. Conversely, other teachers displayed negative attitudes towards these pupils and this impacted negatively on the school's commitment to inclusion. Lack of funding, resources and training were identified as key barriers to inclusion. Parental resistance to inclusion was also evident within the context of this school and there was a strong feeling that the inclusion agenda was problematic in the context of the standards agenda. Despite these issues there was a strong sense that practitioners should be willing to commit to the principles of inclusive education and the study considers some ways in which schools can advance their practice in this respect. Within this study the term ‘practitioner’ is used to represent teachers and teaching assistants