The United States and UNESCO hosted a roundtable discussion entitled "Teacher
Training and Literacy" on January 15, 2007 at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters,
which focused on literacy and teacher training for educational
practitioners who teach literacy outside of formal school settings. It was
hosted by the
Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura and First Lady Laura Bush,
who serves as the Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade.
The U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO, Louise V. Oliver moderated the
discussion which included the following participants: Mr. Mohammad Zahir
Aziz, Ambassador of Afghanistan to UNESCO, Dr. Edward Kame'enui,
Commissioner for Special
Education Research at the U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Shadia
Kenawy, Ambassador of Egypt to UNESCO, Mrs. Yvete Rabetafika
Ranjeva, Ambassador of Madagascar to UNESCO, Mr. Peter Smith,
UNESCO's Assistant Director General
for Education and Mrs. Marie Cecile Traore, Director of Basic
Education in Burkina Faso.
The roundtable at UNESCO Headquarters served as a bridge between the first ever White House Conference on Global Literacy in September 2006, and the first of five follow-up UNESCO regional literacy conferences, which will be held in Qatar in March. That meeting will be followed by the Africa regional conference in Mali in September. Three other conferences are planned for Latin America (Costa Rica), Europe and Central Asia (Azerbaijan) and Asia (location to be determined).
To read the First Lady's remarks, please click here
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