UNESCO-CEPES (the European Centre for Higher Education/Centre Européen pour l'Enseignement Supérieur) was established in September 1972 with a view to promoting co-operation in higher education among Member States of the Europe Region (the countries of Europe, North America, and Israel). The creation of such a centre was recommended at the Sixteenth Session of the General Conference of UNESCO which was held in the autumn of 1970. Specifically, in November of that year, the Government of Romania officially invited UNESCO to set up the Centre in Bucharest. The Director-General accepted the offer in principle, pending the outcome of negotiations relative to the legal basis and the conditions under which the Centre would be housed and would operate. These conditions were spelled out in an Accord de siège signed on 12 June 1972 and in an Annex to this Accord signed on 21 September 1972.

Following the disastrous floods of 1966 in Venice and Florence and the Italian Government's invitation one year later for UNESCO to play an international action, the Liaison Office for the Safeguarding of Venice was established in 1973 on the occasion of the UNESCO International Campaign for the Safeguarding of Venice.
UNESCO Scientific Co-operation Bureau for Europe (SC/BSE) was established in 1972 as a separate unit attached to the office of the Assistant Director General for Sciences of UNESCO's Secretariat in Paris. In 1988, following the proposal of the Italian Government to host and support the activities of the Bureau for Scientific Co-operation, the Bureau was relocated to Venice, Italy and renamed as Regional Office for Science & Technology for Europe(ROSTE).
Thanks to the substantial financial and logistical support provided by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) on behalf of the Italian Government, UNESCO ROSTE started its activities in 1989.
Ten years later, within the frame of UNESCO's field strategy set out in the Decentralization Action Plan, UNESCO Bureau in Venice was renamed Regional Bureau for Science in Europe while maintaining its acronym ROSTE.
In 2002, UNESCO established a single office in Palazzo Zorzi with the mandate to achieve UNESCO’s and Member States’ goals in the fields of science and culture.
In order better to reflect the scope of action of the UNESCO Office in Venice and after consultation with the Italian Government, UNESCO Director General on 27 March 2006 decided that this Office will henceforth be named the “UNESCO Office in Venice - UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe” (BRESCE).

The first Staff association of UNESCO (STA) was established in 1947. For the first 35 years of UNESCO existence, this organisation was the only association officially recognized by the Administration as representative of the UNESCO's staff.
In 1981 another staff association emerged: the ISAU (International Staff Association of UNESCO). Both associations, the STA and ISAU represent all different groups of UNESCO Staff members and have the same functions and activities.
In 1995/96 the STA changed its name from UNESCO Staff Association into UNESCO Staff Union (STU) in order to respond to a demand of FICSA (Federation of International Civil Servants' Associations). Despite the change of name, the organisation and activities of the associations stayed the same.

Over the years, there have been several attempts to divide the existing two staff associations in order to create associations who would be responsible for only the General or Professional Staff. But none of these attempts have been successful or would have been recognized as representative for UNESCO Staff.

In 1991, a new kind of association emerged: the AFUS (Association of former UNESCO Staff) who deals with all kind of questions concerning the former Staff members of UNESCO.

Since its creation, the organizational structure of UNESCO has included supporting offices to the heads of programme. From 1946 to 1948, there was an Office of the Head of Section for the Social Sciences Section. Following this, there was an Office of the Director for the Department of Social Science from 1948 until 1974. From 1976 to 2000, there has been an Office of the Assistant Director-General. In October 2000, Executive Offices were created in most sectors, pooling together coordination, evaluation, administrative and information services within the offices of the Assistant Directors-General. This structure was only introduced in the Social and Human Sciences Sector in 2002.

Smaller units have sometimes directly been placed in the Office of the Assistant Director-General or Executive Office. Over time, this has included the following units: Administrative Unit, 1976-2002; Publications Unit, 1976-1991; Publications and Documentation Unit in 1991-1992; Publications Unit, 1993-2002; Unit for the Least Developed Countries, 1991-1994; Unit for the Institutional Development of Social and Human Sciences (SHS/IST), 1991-1992; Coordination and Evaluation Unit, 1978-2005; Unit of Bio-ethics, 1992-1994; Coordinating Unit for Activities Relating to Women, 1993-1994; Unit for Tolerance, 1994-1996; World Summit for Social Development Unit, 1994-1997; Cooperation for Development, 1994-2001; Administration and Finance Section, 2003-2009; Anti-Poverty Program Unit, 2004-2006; Communication, Information and Publications Unit, 2003-2007; Supervisor Coordination Unit – Anti-Poverty and Human Rights Programme, 2007-2008; Unit for Coordination of Information and Publications, 2008; Section for the Coordination of Information and Publication, 2009; Unit for Communication and Information, 2010-2011; Unit for Publications, 2010-2011.

SHS/EO has not always had a head of unit since it was introduced in 2002. The Chiefs of the Executive Office were: John Nkinyangi, 2004; Alexander Schischlik, 2008-2010; (Acting) Maya Makhlouf 2010-2011; and, Julius Banda, 2011-present.

In his 1956 article reviewing the first ten years of UNESCO’s Social Science Programme, Arvid Brodersen traces the mandate for the Programme to several articles in the Constitution, including most explicitly Article I calling on the Organization to encourage cooperation among the nations in all branches of intellectual activity. Brodersen continues by suggesting that it is the social scientist’s duty to test, study, identify and define the researchable problems involved in the famous sentence of the Preamble - “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed” - and to seek valid answers to these problems (p. 402).

When it came to taking this mandate and specifying a programme though, there were early problems of scope and definition. In the discussion paper prepared by the Social Sciences Section for presentation to the Preparatory Commission Member States in 1946, the staff wrote that the “term social sciences is a generic label applied to a group of disciplines covering a field as broad and deep and complex as human life itself” (UNESCO/Prep.Com/Soc.Sci.Com./2, 1946). Preparatory Commission staff suggested to Member States that UNESCO should encourage a program for social sciences both as areas of “pure research” and as areas for the application of learning to social action. In other words, it was to be a dual role of both advancing the social sciences as scientific disciplines and of applying and using social sciences in support of all other UNESCO programmes. The scope of the programme was also determined by the distinction made between social sciences, philosophy and humanistic studies. This distinction was clearly made in the Preparatory Commission’s 1946 Report on the Programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. From 1988 to 1989, a Special Committee of the Executive Board carried out in-depth studies on the evolution of the Social Sciences Programme at UNESCO. The Special Committee observed that, in early days, the distinction made between the fields based on methodology - with emphasis on the idea of the social sciences as both positive-empirical and critical disciplines - consequently stressed UNESCO’s mission in helping to improve the methodology of the social sciences. (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.3). The Organization’s differentiation of the fields, apparent after 1947 in the early administrative structures of the Organization, has been deemphasized over time. While some humanistic studies have often been structured under the Culture Programme, in later years human sciences have been coupled with social sciences. Philosophy has also both occupied its own distinct space in the programme of the Organization and been integrated into the Social and Human Sciences Programme.

The administrative structure of the Social and Human Sciences Programme at UNESCO has developed in five main stages: Social Sciences and Philosophy/Social Sciences Section 1946-1948; Department of Social Sciences, 1948-1965; Department of Social Sciences within the Social Sciences, Humanities and Culture Sector (SHC), 1965-1974; Sector for Social Sciences and their Applications, 1976-1984; and, Social and Human Sciences Sector (SHS), 1984-present day.

The first list of personnel published in January 1947 after UNESCO formally came into existence in November 1946 showed a unit called Social Sciences and Philosophy. Later in 1947 the unit became the Social Sciences Section, reflecting the distinction given to the disciplines in the overall Programme of the Organization. In the earliest period, 1946-1948, the Social Sciences Programme was concentrated on encouraging the development of international associations and the study of the tensions affecting international understanding which came to be known as the Tensions Project. Other activities or projects on the international development of social sciences (connecting social scientists throughout the world) included: exchange of persons, collection of information (yearbook and abstracting service); and development of international manuals in the social sciences (standardizing methodology). Work on the aim of finding practical solutions to world problems began to expand beyond the Tensions Project to look at the status of women and struggled to define UNESCO’s role in Home and Community Planning (re-adaption of man’s environment), international studies; and, international and comparative law. In July of 1948, the structure of the Organization was changed and the programme sections were renamed departments, such as, in this case, the Department of Social Sciences.

In 1949, Director-General Jaime Torres-Bodet instructed staff to rethink and broaden the Programme, keeping in mind that UNESCO’s work was to be on a practical, general-level and not speculative or erudite (Plan de travail…, 1949). The work thus far was too slow to be delivered and too dispersed according to Torres-Bodet. This idea echoed the findings in the 1948 Report of the Advisory Committee of Experts on UNESCO Administration, known as the ‘Aghnides Report’ (). The Social Science Programme activities for 1949 were therefore reoriented and began to take more stable form as grouped under three headings: the facilitation of international professional associations and meetings of specialists in various social science fields; the dissemination of knowledge concerning social science findings and improved methods of work; and the study of tensions affecting international understanding as a pilot research project where the incidental by-product of the project might be the experience gained in research planning on an international scale and the development of methods for making data and techniques more comparable on an international scale (UNESCO and the social sciences, 21 April 1949). A statistical service was also created at this time but reported directly to the Office of Director-General. An end was foreseen for the Tensions Project based on the idea of it as a pilot project, and studies on race began to emerge as a clear priority. By 1950, some units were formed in the Department without formalized names. Between 1950 and 1952, there existed the Tensions Project unit, the Studies of International Co-operation unit, the Aid to International Scientific Collaboration unit, the Division of Studies of Social Tensions, and the Division of the Study of Racial Questions. In 1952, the Statistics Division was moved to the Department, though, much like activities on philosophy, statistical activities would shift in and out of the Social Sciences Programme over time. The structure and titles of units were formalized in 1952, leaving: the Statistical Division, the Division of Applied Social Sciences, and, the Aid to International Collaboration Division. Responsibility for research and its application to world problems was thus grouped under one more general division at headquarters, though responsibility was partly decentralized to new institutes created in Cologne, UNESCO Institute for Social Sciences (1951-1960), and Gauting, UNESCO Institute for Youth (1951-1965), as well as to field cooperation officers, first introduced in 1951 in field offices in Cairo and New Delhi. By the mid-1960s, these field structures had gradually been replaced by autonomous institutes, though social science programme officers were intermittently assigned to larger field offices over time. At headquarters, the names of the units changed slightly but the structure remained relatively stable until the study of economic development was emphasized as an area of research, first by the creation of a unit in the Division of Applied Social Sciences in 1959, then with the creation of a distinct Office of Economic Analysis, reporting directly to the department’s director in 1962.

This stage saw the establishment of professional associations and engagement with existing associations. In 1952, for example, the International Social Science Council was founded by UNESCO. Social science information and documentation was disseminated through professional associations or by periodicals published by UNESCO, such as, for example the International Bibliography of Social Science. The research studies commissioned and published under the Tensions Project constituted, in Peter Lengyel’s words “a cascade of material of very different quality and durability” (1986, page 22). The publications on the question of race are some of the most well-known products from the Department during his period. For Lengyel, later publications issued from research-based projects from the early 1960s “were clearly all contributions to the great international debate then in progress, but they did not cohere or cumulate, did not converge into a scientific paradigm or model” (1986, page 43). However, from its in-depth studies of the Social Sciencs Programme, the 1988-1989 Special Committee of the Executive Board found that the 1950s surveys on “Teaching in the social sciences” at university-level made a considerable impact on the development of social sciences (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.7).

When the Secretariat was reorganized in 1965, larger Programme Sectors were introduced and the social sciences were brought together with culture and humanities programming to form the Social Sciences, Humanities and Culture Sector. The Department of Social Sciences continued to exist, but reported to an Assistant Director-General equally responsible for the Division of Philosophy and the Department of Culture. The 1989 Special Committee of the Executive Board found that in “this new sectoral structure, the social science programmes had lost their autonomy and their scientific components had become less significant” (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.4). The Office of Economic Analysis was moved from the Department of Social Sciences to report directly to the Assistant Director-General, only to be dissolved in 1968. However, research into social sciences methods and analysis was undertaken again by a distinct unit in the Department of Social Sciences in 1971. A shift was signaled in 1974 again when the departments were dissolved and all units reported directly to the Assistant-Director General of the Social Sciences, Humanities and Culture Sector. The following year the sectors began to be reorganized. The Office of Statistics was transferred from the Sector at the end of 1975.

In the period 1965 to 1974, the Department worked on the extensive survey of the Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences with the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies. Part One of this work was published in 1970 and Part Two in 1978. In 1989, based on its review of the Programme, the Special Committee of the Executive Board found that these surveys also had considerable impact (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.7). Work on the teaching of social sciences included the continuation of the series on works on teaching in the various disciplines at the university-level, and it included activities on a regional-basis through support of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). Collaboration with international non-governmental organizations continued. The 1989 Special Committee of the Executive Board cites the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the European Co-ordination Centre for Research and Documentation in the Social Sciences (Vienna Centre) as two successful efforts in networking and institution-building, but also named the Centre for the Co-ordination of the Social Science Research and Documentation in Africa (CERDAS) and the Arab Regional Centre for Social Sciences (ARCSS) as less successful (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.8). Studies on apartheid policies, peace research, and cultural rights as human rights were examples of how the Department sought to encourage the application of social science research to current social and political problems. Socio-economic indicators and simulation models were tested as part of general studies on development.

In 1976, the Sector for the Application of Social Sciences was created and its units were organized principally by thematic field of research. The new units were: the Division for the Study of Development, the Division for Socio-Economic Analysis, the Youth Division, the Division of Human Rights and Peace, the Population Division, the Division for Human Settlements and the Socio-Cultural Environment. From the old structure, there also remained the Division of Philosophy and the Division for the International Development of the Social Sciences which continued the networking, institution-building, knowledge dissemination, and capacity-building activities. The thematic units were created to facilitate research, as well as practical application of that research to social action in Member States.

Beyond ongoing activities for the international development of the social and human sciences such as those supporting international non-governmental organizations, teaching of social and human sciences, and dissemination of documentation, the work for this period was often focused on preparatory and follow-up activities to several major international conferences: the World Population Conference, 1974; the United Nations World Conference of the International Women’s Year, 1975; the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, 1976; and, the International Population Conference, 1984. Preparatory work undertaken by the Department also led to the General Conference’s 1978 Revised Recommendation concerning International Competitions in Architecture and Town Planning and its 1978 Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice.

At the Twentieth Session of the General Conference, Member States recognized recent actions to give impetus to the Social Science Programme and invited the Director-General to intensify his action to consolidate funds and concentrate efforts along three major projects: 1) methods of applying social science research to development planning and public policies; 2) research on substantive issues of development and social change; and 3) activities to increase understanding of the conditions and factors affecting the promotion and realization of human rights, peace and disarmament (UNESCO. General Conference, 20th Session. 1979. Resolution 3/0.1, 3/0.2). The General Conference also called for the establishment of an ad hoc external consultative mechanism to advise on the implementation of these major projects. The International Committee of Experts on the Orientation and Structure of the Programme for the Social Sciences and their Applications met in 1979 and made twenty-four recommendations which were intended to have an impact on the Medium-Term Plan for 1984-1989 and the Programme and Budget for 1981-1983 (UNESCO. 1979. SS-79/CONF.615/7).

In 1984, the Sector changed names to the Sector of Social and Human Sciences. In the Medium-Term Plan for 1984-1989, a Major Programme for “reflection on world problems and future-oriented studies” was introduced, identifying the Organization’s task as “a contribution to a continuing appraisal of the problems of today's world and of the way they might develop in the future (4 XC/4, p. 57). The activities under this Programme were to “be supported by systematic use of the statistical data collected by the Organization. This work will be largely interdisciplinary. It will be based on advances in the social and human sciences, which it will help to develop in certain particular fields, and it will call for philosophical reflection” (4 XC/4, p. 59). The link between social, human sciences, and philosophy was once again emphasized by this Major Programme, hence the change of the Sector’s name. Other aspects of the Social and Human Sciences Programme were concentrated in different Major Programmes described in the Medium-Term Plan for 1984-1989, such as one on the elimination of prejudice, intolerance, racism and apartheid. However, the 1989 Special Committee of the Executive Board found that the recommendations made by the 1979 International Committee of Experts were not implemented or incorporated into these plans (Executive Board, Special Committee, 1989, p.5). The organizational units within the Sector remained unchanged with the exception of the introduction of a Division of Economic and Social Sciences. Responsibility for the activities of the Division for Human Settlements and the Socio-Cultural Environment was shifted in and out of the Sector from the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s. The Analysis and Forecasting Office was incorporated into the Sector in 2000 as a new Division of Anticipation and Prospective Studies, but responsibility for these activities was moved again in 2006, only returning to the Sector in 2011. Indeed, the units in the Sector became more fluid in the mid-1990s, reflecting the Programme which in turn reflected responses to world problems as prioritized by Member States at the General Conference. Programme priorities from 1990s to 2000s included: foresight and prospective studies; youth; fighting against discrimination and enhancing protection of human rights; human security, peace-building and democracy; social transformations and intercultural dialogue; the ethics of science and technology; and, physical education and sport.

The heads of the Sector and its predecessors have been: (Acting) Arvid Brodersen, 1947-1949; Arthur Ramos, 1949; (Acting) Robert Angell, 1950; Alva Myrdal, 1950-1955; Thomas H. Marshall, 1956-1960; André Bertand, 1961-1967; Harry Alpert, 1967-1970; Gene Lyons, 1970-1972; Jacques Havet, 1974-1976; Martha Hildebrandt, 1976-1978; (Acting) Jacques Havet, 1978-1979; Rodolfo Stavenhagen, 1979-1982; (Acting) Zala Lusibu N’Kanza, 1982-1984; (Acting) Nicolas Bodart, 1984-1985; Julio Labastida Martin del Campo, 1985-1990; Francine Fournier, 1990-2000; (Acting) Ali Kazancigil, 2000-2001; Pierre T. Sané, 2001-2010; Maria del Pilar Álvarez-Laso, 2010-2014; (Acting) Philippe Quéau, 2014-2015; and Nada Al-Nashif, 2015-.

Before the creation of the Department of Cultural Activities (CUA) in 1948, there existed a Museums Section/Division from 1947-c. 1948. During CUA’s existence from 1948-1965, and before the major reshuffle that created the Social Sciences, Human Sciences and Culture Sector (SHC) in 1966, there existed a division with the following name changes: Division of Museums and Historical Monuments (1950-1951); Preservation of Cultural Heritage of Mankind (1952-1954?); Division of Monuments and Museums (1956?-1964); Division of Monuments, Sites and Museums (1965-1966.) Within SHC, the Department of Culture continued to exist and within its Division of Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage, there existed the Monuments and Museums Section (1967?-1970). In 1972, the Department of Culture within SHC split into two new departments and the museums programme was organized under the Department of Cultural Heritage (CLP). It was called the Standards, Research and Museums Section from 1972 to 1974 (not within any division). In 1974, it was renamed the Division of Museums. In 1975, the two Departments within SHC disappeared and the unit was renamed the Division of Museums and Standards. The Sectors were reorganized and the culture programme was merged with the communication programme to form the Sector for Culture and Communication (CC) in 1976. The museums programming was likely carried out by the Division of Cultural Heritage (1976-1989) at this time because staff members from the former unit continued on in this Division. The CC Sector was split apart by programme so that there was an independent Culture Sector from 1981 to 1985, until the programmes merged again to reform CC from 1986 to 1989. The Culture Sector (CLT) was on its own again by 1990. The Division of Cultural Heritage was renamed the Division of Physical Heritage circa 1991. The Division becomes again the Division of Cultural Heritage (1997-2006). Within the Division of Cultural Heritage (CLT/CH), there was the Museum International unit (1993-2006) and the Tangible Heritage Section (CLT/THS) (2003?-2006). From 2007 to 2010, there was a Section of Museums and Cultural Objects (CLT/CIH/MCO) within the Division of Cultural Objects and Intangible Heritage (CLT/CIH). As part of a larger reorganization of the Culture Sector in 2011, the Museums Section (CLT/DDD/MUS) was created in the new Division of Thematic Programmes for Diversity, Development and Dialogue.

Article XI, paragraph 4 of UNESCO’s Constitution establishes the basis for co-operation between the Organization and the non-governmental sector. UNESCO’s relations with non-governmental international organizations are further governed by Directives issued by the General Conference. The first Provisional Directives were approved at the first General Conference. Following an examination by the Executive Board, revised Directives were approved at the Second General Conference in 1947. Beyond minor revisions, the Directives were revised significantly in 1960 by the General Conference at its 11th Session, in 1966 at its 14th Session, in 1995 at its 28th Session, and in 2011 at the 36th Session. The Directives establish the requirements and process for admission into official relations with UNESCO. They indicate the different categories of relations according to the nature of the co-operation, as well as the advantages for and obligations of the non-governmental organization (NGO). The Directives also describe the mechanisms for collaboration and financial contributions, as well as the review, renewal and termination of relations.

As per the Directives, the admission of an NGO and assignment of a category of relations is made through a decision by the Executive Board. The 1947 Directives indicated three types of relationship: Consultative Arrangements, Advisory Committees, and Formal Agreements. The policy on financial contributions to NGOs was considered separately by the General Conference up until it was incorporated into the 1960 Revised Directives. The 1960 Directives also called for a Conference of International Non-Governmental Organizations (category A and B – see below) to be held every two years in conjunction with the General Conference. These conferences were held to examine any problems arising out of co-operation with UNESCO and to facilitate co-operation between organizations having common interests. The conferences could also establish a Standing Committee to represent the NGOs as needed between meetings. The possibility of holding regional conferences of NGOs was also added. From 1960 to 1995, the relations were divided into three categories: A - consultative and associate relations; B – information and consultative relations; and C – mutual information relationships. Originally the Director-General accepted or rejected NGOs for category C relations, while the Executive Board admitted organizations to category A or B relations, needing first a proposal of the Director-General for admitting an Organization to category A – the closest working relationship. The 1966 change to the Directives allowed the Executive Board to consider a category A relationship without a proposal first from the Director-General. The 1995 revision of the Directives broke the relations down into Associate relations, Consultative relations and Operational relations. The 2011 revision simplified the classification, breaking the relations down into Associate or Consultative relations. Whereas the Director-General may admit NGOs to Consultative relations, the Executive Board decides on admitting them to Associate relations. The Standing Committee of the International Conference was also renamed the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and its duties were clarified in the revised Directives.

At the level of UNESCO’s governing bodies, an Executive Board Committee on Relationships with Non-Governmental and Semi-Governmental International Organizations was first set up to examine and report on any matter concerning the relations of UNESCO with non-governmental international organizations in 1947. This Committee existed only until 1948 when it was replaced by a more general Committee on External Relations (later the Programme and External Relations Committee). However, in order to avoid increasingly lengthy discussions in the plenary of the Executive Board, a Committee on International Non-Governmental Organizations was created again in 1966 with responsibility for examining new requests for admission as well as changes of status of relations (UNESCO, 2014). According to the Directives, the Executive Board makes a report every six years to the General Conference on the contributions made by NGOs to UNESCO’s activities. With the 2011 revision of the Directives, the name of the Executive Board body was changed to the Committee on Non-Governmental Partners.

In the Secretariat, UNESCO has had a centralized unit since 1946 to administer these relations and to provide the secretariat for the NGO conferences – see temporal relationships indicated below. For the most part, this unit has been placed under the Sector responsible for external relations. The responsibilities of the unit include liaising with the NGOs, preparing for the NGO Conferences, assuring coordination between UNESCO units and the NGOs, and centralizing and disseminating data on cooperation with NGOs. The unit further supports the Committee on Non-Governmental Partners of the Executive Board by preparing recommendations on requests for admission/reclassification and providing information for its sexennial report to the General Conference (Daniels, 2006). UNESCO Programme Sectors are responsible for the execution of any programme activities undertaken in collaboration with the NGOs.

In 1961, UNESCO established an educational facilities section at Headquarters and three regional school building centres in Africa, Asia, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, in parallel to the educational policy and planning units. To strengthen the multidisciplinary approach of educational projects, in 1973 the Asian and African regional centres, as well as the policy and planning units, were integrated into the Regional Offices for Education. However, the Educational Building Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean (CONESCAL), established in Mexico in co-operation with the Organization of American States continued to function until 1984.

The Office in Montevideo was created in 1949 as one of the first Field Offices of UNESCO, soon after the creation of the organization itself. Uruguay was one of the States ratifying the UNESCO convention in 1945.

The Second General Conference the UNESCO, taking place in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, instructs the General Director of UNESCO to organize an experts' meeting in order to advise the Organization on the best way to support the progress of science in Latin America. This meeting took place in Uruguay in 1948 and led to the creation of UNESCO's first center for scientific cooperation worldwide in 1949: the Regional Office of Science and Technology for Latin America and the Caribbean, with seat in Montevideo.

During the six decades of existence, the Office has seen its functions and challenges increased and today its activities comprise a great number of projects that involve governments, civil society organizations and the citizens of the 33 countries and 4 associate members of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The UNESCO Programme Office on Global Water Assessment in Perugia, Italy, was established in 2007 following the signature of a Fund-in-Trust Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding with Italy. From the establishment of World Water Assessment Programme(WWAP) in 2000, UNESCO hosted Secretariat of the Programme at headquarters in Paris. This function shifted to the newly created Programme Office which is considered part of the UNESCO Secretariat's Division of Water Sciences.

“Large-scale attention to population questions by the United Nations system dates from the mid-1960s when the attention of the international community was aroused by high population growth projections, with Member States beginning to be increasingly concerned with the interrelations of demographic factors and socio-economic development” (UNESCO, 19 C/4 Approved, 1978, para. 8109). UNESCO’s General Conference first resolution on a population programme dates from the 15th Session in 1968. The overall purpose of the Programme was to improve knowledge and to increase awareness of the causes and consequences of population change, of their interrelations with other aspects of social, cultural and environmental change, and of their implications for human rights and the quality of life (UNESCO, 19 C/4 Approved, 1978).

In 1973, a Population Co-ordination and Research Unit was created in the Department of Social Sciences in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Culture Sector. The Unit was responsible for the overall co-ordination and development of the intersectoral programme in population, and for co-ordination with other agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, as well as with non-governmental organizations, in matters concerning the programme. This change took place in the lead-up to the World Population Year and the World Population Conference in 1974. Population programming had previously been concentrated in the Population and Family Planning Section, Division of Curriculum and Research in the Education Sector, but population activities were also carried out by the Natural Sciences Sector and the Department of Social Sciences.

The Unit became a Division in 1974 and was originally placed directly under the Office of the Director-General in the Draft Programme and Budget for 1974-1975. It was moved to the Department of Social Sciences in the Approved Programme and Budget. The following year the Secretariat as a whole was reorganized, and the Sector for Social Sciences, Humanities and Culture was dissolved and in its place a Sector for Social Sciences and their Applications and a Sector for Culture and Communication were created. The Population Division remained in the Sector for Social Sciences and their Applications. The Medium-Term Plan for 1977-1982 further confirmed ‘Population’ as one of ten world problems which UNESCO would seek to address through its work.

The Division’s structure remained stable for most of the 1980s, though in 1984 the sector’s name was changed to the Sector of Social and Human Sciences. The Director of Division was also given the title Coordinator for Population Programmes with overall responsibility for coordinating activities financed by UNFPA in all programme sectors. In the 1988-1989 Programme and Budget, the Division absorbed activities on the human environment and was renamed the Division of Population and Human Settlements (SHS/POP). The role of Coordinator for Population Programmes was introduced starting January 1, 1989. Initially the Coordinator was also Director of SHS/POP, but an Office of the Coordinator for Population Programmes existed concurrently with the new Division for Population, Human Settlements and Development Studies (SHS/PHD) from 1993 to 1994. In 1994, the Social and Human Sciences Sector was reorganized and some activities of SHS/PHD were inherited by a new Division of Social Science, Research and Policy (SHS/SRP). That year a transdisciplinary project on “environmental and population education and information for development” was launched. In the Approved Budget and Programme for 1996 and 1997, the transdisciplinary project existed as a separate unit reporting directly to the Office of the Director-General. The following biennium the Project was renamed Educating for a Sustainable Future (environment, population, development). In the Approved Programme and Budget for 2000-2001, the unit was moved to the Education Sector and became the Division for Educating for a Sustainable Future (ED/EPD). However, this move was soon revised in July 2000 when the Secretariat as a whole was restructured. Education on population issues fell under health, foresight and sustainable development programming from this point forward in lead up and following the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014. Social science research on population-related issues fell under the responsibility of successive units responsible for social science research in general.

The Population Division and its immediate predecessor and successors had the following heads: Alexander Graham (1974-1983); Ferdinand Rath, Director (1983-1984), Director and Coordinator for Population Programmes (1984-1988); Raul Urzua, Director (1988-1990), Director and Coordinator for Population Programmes (1990-1993); and, Wolfgang Tochtermann (1994).

In 1993, the 27th session of the General Conference endorsed the idea that youth should contribute to ideals of peace on an international scale. Within this context, the UNESCO ‘Peace Games’ (‘Jeux de la Paix’ in French) were conceived, and based on an idea of an ‘Olympiades de l’Esprit’ (Olympiad of the Mind), wherein young people from around the world would compete through tests or activities centred around the theme of peace. The Games were approved by Director-General Federico Mayor in 1994 on the condition that an evaluation (test edition) take place to demonstrate the viability of the project. The soon-to-be-named Administrator of the Games, Suzanne Diop, would manage the project under the supervision of Arthur Gillette, Director of the Division of Youth and Sports Activities (SHS/YSA). After surveying the activities related to youth and peace among Permanent Delegations, it was decided that the test edition would take place in 1995, coinciding with the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Youth, as well as the 50th Anniversary of UNESCO. This small-scale, trial edition took place in Romania in collaboration with the Romanian Ministry of Education and the National Commission, and saw some 5,000 youth participating from 30 UNESCO Associated Schools and Clubs throughout the country. Youth competed in the categories of spelling, choral singing and relay racing. Medals were awarded 7 June 1995 in Bucharest by Mr. Mayor. The Games received some financial and in-kind contributions from businesses in Romania and France, as well as from Non-Governmental Organizations.

In the Programme and Budget for 1996-1997, presented to the 28th Session of the General Conference in 1995, the Peace Games were included under the umbrella of the larger transdisciplinary project ‘Towards a culture of peace’, as they contributed to wider efforts of “peace-building ”. The Programme and Budget simply states that “Consideration will be given to the possibility of instituting a UNESCO Peace Games competition” (UNESCO. General Conference, 28th Session. 1995. 28 C/5, para. 05216). The Peace Games were discussed again at the 149th session of the Executive Board. The Board requested that the Director-General prepare a Feasibility Study to be submitted at the Board’s 150th Session.

Following on the first trial edition, an international trial edition of the Games was subsequently held with five countries participating: Benin, Costa Rica, Morocco, Romania and Togo. Approximately 20 youth from each country competed in the final which took place in Lomé, Togo, in September 1996.

Upon consideration of the feasibility study, the 150th session of the Executive Board called for a “scope that is less ambitious yet more consistent with the need for programme decentralization and concentration and with the Organization’s financial constraints” (UNESCO. Executive Board, 150th session. 150 EX/decision 8.1). The Board further invited the Director-General to take any “necessary steps to create a ‘UNESCO Peace Games’ label” that could be awarded to future ventures (UNESCO. Executive Board, 150th session. 150 EX/decision 8.1). However, after this point no further UNESCO Peace Games were awarded or held.

These UNESCO Peace Games are distinct from the UNESCO-IADC (Inter-American Defense College) PeaceGames which took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and aimed to include military organizations in wider, concrete peace-building efforts.

The Participation Programme provides a means by which UNESCO can fund initiatives of Member States or NGOs that were not foreseen in the Regular Programme, but which fall within UNESCO’s fields of competence and current programme priorities. The Participation Programme makes funds available from the regular budget for either a direct financial contribution, or UNESCO implementation of the following forms of assistance: specialist and consultant services; study grants and fellowships; publications, periodicals and documentation; equipment; and, conferences, meetings, seminars or training courses (UNESCO, 2010).

Under UNESCO’s Programme and Budget for 1955-1956 (8 C/5), assistance for unplanned activities was provided to Member States through a programme called “Technical Aid Services for Special Activities” or “Aid to Member States.” The title “Participation Programme” was first used in the Programme and Budget for the following biennium (9 C/5, 1957-1958). In his introduction to this document, Director-General Luther Evans stated his belief that many of UNESCO’s initiatives in the field of special activities should “…cross over to the Participation Programme… Many of the activities were initiated by the Organization only in a purely formal sense. They were mostly brought to our attention by individual Member States who had inadequate opportunities of securing UNESCO’s support in any other way” (UNESCO, 2010). The objectives and operational modalities of the Programme are determined specifically and in full by a resolution of the General Conference at each session and in the framework of the approved C/5 budget (UNESCO, Executive Board, 191st Session).

The resulting flexibility of the Programme means that its procedures have evolved over time. The General Conference determines the budget amount to be dedicated to the Participation Programme and may set priority themes (capacity building of National Commissions, Culture of Peace, Africa, youth, etc.). UNESCO Field Offices have been given the responsibility to assist National Commissions in the preparation of requests. The Director-General and the UNESCO Secretariat approve the requests submitted according to criteria explained in the General Conference resolution in force and following internal procedures documented in the current Handbook, Guide or Administrative Manual item. With slight variations over time, the workflow within the Secretariat is as follows: 1) unit responsible for relations with member states receives the requests; 2) requests directed to programme sector for comments on substance, and also potentially forwarded to units responsible for procurement and budget for additional comments; 3) comments sent to Deputy Director-General (1966-1981) or an intersectoral committee (since 2000) for comparative intersectoral review; 4) final decision by Deputy Director-General (1960-1966, 1988-1992) or Director-General (1966-1988, since 1992) 5) unit responsible for relations with member states sends notification; 6) financial services allot and distribute funds; 7) programme sector or field office follows implementation (1966-2010) or reviews financial and evaluation reports sent by member states or NGOs (since 2010). The Director-General submits a list of approved projects and reports on the overall implementation of the Programme to the Executive Board.

In 1989, the General Conference approved the use of Participation Programme funds for emergency assistance programmes. After an emergency, a Member State can seek assistance which has an expedited process for approval and implementation. A percentage of the Participation Programme budget is reserved for such cases. Another change to the Programme came in 1999 when the 30th Session of the General Conference decided that Intergovernmental Organizations could no longer make requests.

Limits to the amount of requests accepted from member states, NGOs, and on a regional basis, and to the amount given for each request were introduced over time to address the disparity between demand and funds available. The growth of the Programme is demonstrated by these limits. A limit to the maximum number of requests per Member State was first established during the 28th Session of the General Conference in 1995. Member States were asked to submit a maximum of 15 requests at that time, which was reduced by the General Conference to 12 requests maximum by its 31st Session in 2002, then to 10 requests by its 33rd Session in 2005, and then reduced again to 7 requests by its 37th Session in 2013. Whereas the limit to the amount that could be granted was set at $10,000 in 1960, in 2001 the limits were: $46,000 for regional activities, $35,000 for interregional and sub-regional activities and $25,000 for emergency assistance activities. Overall in 1955, 105 requests were received for an amount totaling $2,000,000. In answer to these requests, a total of $1,099,330 was allocated. For the biennium 2012-2013, as of August 2012, 1,263 requests were received for an amount totaling $33,250,266. From this, as of September 2013, a total of $11,905,125 was allocated which was nearly 100% of the overall appropriation for the Participation Programme as voted by the General Conference.

The Participation Programme has been audited or evaluated on a number of occasions, including, most recently, a 2013 external audit and a 2008 internal evaluation. These audits have drawn attention to the staff time required to process requests and the dispersed nature of the wide variety of themes approved. The 2013 audit also recommended the codification of the Programme by means of Statutes voted upon by the General Conference.

While multiple UNESCO units work on the Participation Programme, the following units have had primary administrative responsibility: Technical Assistance Department, [Aid to Member States] 1955-1957; Bureau of Relations with Member States,1957-1969; Bureau of Relations with Members States and International Organizations and Programmes, Division of Relations with Member States (RMO/RMS), 1969-1975; Cooperation for Development and External Relations (CPX),1975-1985; Sector for External Relations and Public Information (REX) 1985-1987; Sector for External Relations/Office of External Relations (REX/RMO) 1987-1989; Bureau of the Budget, Participation Programme Unit (BB/PP), 1989-1992; Bureau for External Relations, Participation Programme and Emergency Assistance Co-ordination Unit (BRX/PPE),1992-2000; Sector for External Relations and Cooperation, Participation Programme Section (ERC/RMS/PP), 2000-2005; Sector for External Relations and Cooperation, Participation Programme Section (ERC/RSC/PP), 2006-2010; Sector for External Relations and Public Information, Participation Programme Section (ERI/RSC/PP), 2010-2011; Sector for External Relations and Public Information, Participation Programme Section (ERI/NCS/PPE), 2011-2013; and Sector for External Relations and Public Information, Participation Programme and Fellowships (ERI/MSP/PPF), 2013-.

As an organizational unit of UNESCO, the Office of the Director-General has in certain periods been considered to include the Director-General, the Deputy-Director General, the Executive Office and any services that report directly to the Director-General as opposed to an Assistant-Director General in charge of a sector. However, based on the status described in the Constitution, the Director-General is not a staff member of UNESCO, and so cannot be considered a part of any organizational unit. The Deputy Director-General, while periodically considered to be included in the Office of the Director-General, has also existed structurally within a separate Office of the Deputy Director-General. The idea of a Directorate has existed since 1959 when it was the unit within ODG which included the Executive Officer, Executive Secretary and other staff supporting the activities of the Director-General. This incarnation of the Directorate was renamed the Executive Office of the Director-General in 1962. The term Directorate, or ‘la Direction Générale,’ was then reintroduced in 1975 to describe the grouping of the Director-General, Deputy-Director General, as well as any special advisers and personal support staff. In 1982, the concept of the Directorate was expanded to include the Assistant Director-Generals and supporting staff were grouped into a unit called the Secretariat of the Director-General. By 1985, the term Directorate was used to refer to the Director-General, Deputy Director-General, their support staff, and the Executive Office of the Director-General and the units attached to the Executive Office. The Directorate (DRG) was most distinctly separate from the ODG in the period 1990-1999. During this period, the ODG referred to a smaller office supporting the Director-General. The Directorate was the larger body encompassing the units attached to two Deputy Director-Generals (for Programme and Management) from 1990 to 1993. The Directorate was overseen by an Assistant Director-General (ADG) beginning in 1994 and some of the services that formerly reported directly to the Director-General, then reported to the ADG/DRG. In 1999, the post of ADG/DRG was eliminated and the services attached to the Director-General were moved to appropriate programme sectors or central services.

The Executive Office of the Director-General (ODG), or ‘le Cabinet’ (CAB) in French, continues now to support the Director-General and the Deputy Director-General in the execution of their duties and to coordinate the central services of the Organization which report directly to the Director-General. ODG is led by an Executive Director.

ODG has had the following heads: Director René Maheu 1949-1953; Director Mahdi Elmandjra 1963-1965; Director Manuel Jimenez 1966-1969; Director Gérard Bolla 1969-1971; Director Pierre Henri Coeytaux 1972-1974; Director José Blat Gimeno 1975-1976?; Acting Director Chikh Bekri 1976; Director Chikh Bekri 1976-1986; Assistant Director-General Ernesto Melo Antunes 1986-1987; Director Luis Marques 1989- 1991; Director Georges Malempré 1992-1994, Assistant Director-General for Directorate and Director CAB Daniel Janicot 1994; Director Solomon Hailu 1995-1996; Director Georges Malempré 1997-1999; Executive Director/Assistant Director-General Françoise Rivière 2000-2006; Executive Director Elizabeth Longworth 2006-2009; and, Executive Director Ryuhei Hosoya 2010-.

The Office of Public Information was created in 1948 to inform people of the aims and the work realized by UNESCO. From 1950 to 1967, it appears to have been assimilated by the Department of Mass Communication, which was also responsible for taks related topublic information and communication. In 1967, it reappeared as a distinct entity, supervised by the Assistant Director-General for Communication. In 1990, then fell under the supervision of the Office of the Director-General. In the organizational chart of 2020, it is designated the Division of Public Information.

The Office of Public Information disseminates educational, scientific and cultural information in a popular form to Member States and to specialized groups such as the press. By its very nature, the work calls for the closest co-operation with the Department of Mass Communications and with the other sectors of the Secretariat.

The Office of Public Information uses press, radio, film, photography and exhibitions to make known the UNESCO activities all around the world.