Corporate body

UNESCO. Division of Youth

• UNESCO. Division de la jeunesse

• ED/YTH
• SS/YTH
• SHS/YTH

1973 - 1990-08-30

Within the Secretariat in the 1950s, UNESCO had a specific section in the Department of Education responsible for activities on youth. In the 1960s, youth activities continued to be included in the Programme and Budget, but were overseen by larger units such as the Education Out of School Division. Beyond the Secretariat, in the Federal Republic of Germany UNESCO’s Institute for Youth in Gauting and then Munich operated from 1951 to 1965. At the 78th Session of the Executive Board in 1968, members noted the “extent and gravity of the problems of youth and of the movements in which those problems are finding expression throughout the world” and asked the Director-General to prepare proposals to reinforce UNESCO’s youth programme (UNESCO, 1968, 15 C/65). The Programme and Budget for 1969 to 1970 indicates the efforts that were to be made to enlarge UNESCO’s work for youth. One effort was to improve coordination of the planning and execution of activities by the creation of an internal Secretariat Working Party, chaired by the Director of the new Department of Out-of-School Education. Whereas previously UNESCO had confined itself to assisting and sometimes stimulating the projects undertaken by Member States and international non-governmental organizations, UNESCO’s new policy was to take more direct action through analysis of youth problems, seeking solutions to these problems with Member States, and by securing the active participation of youth in this work on a national and international level (UNESCO, 1968, 15 C/65).

Upon its creation in 1973, the Division of Youth was placed within the Education Sector, within the Office of the Assistant-Director General, and was to take on a coordinating role. The Division was also responsible for the realization of certain programme activities already planned for in the Programme and Budget, as well as for participating in or consulting on other activities in progress carried out by other units, and the development of future projects and programmes. The activities for which it had primary responsibility included: changing education, culture and scientific development by the action and thoughts of youth; the role of youth in the promotion of peace; the promotion of a better understanding of the problems and attitudes of youth; and, the involvement of youth in the development and execution of development projects at a local level. The creation of the Division corresponded to a shift in focus in the programming. According to the Report of the Director-General for 1973, UNESCO was to shift from activities for youth and towards “more and more emphasis on activities to be carried out with and increasingly by youth” (UNESCO. General Conference, 18th Session. 1974, 18 C/3-2).

In 1975, the Secretariat as a whole was reorganized and the Division of Youth was moved to the newly created Sector for Social Sciences and their Applications. The reasoning for the move was stated as follows: “a knowledge of the social phenomena in question, as they manifest themselves in the different kinds of society, is imperative if one is to guide youth activities and help young people to play a more fruitful part in social life and schemes for development” (UNESCO. General Conference, 18th Session. 1974, 18 C/3-2). The Division’s structure remained stable through to 1990, though the sector’s name was changed to the Sector of Social and Human Sciences in 1984. In 1990, responsibility for activities on physical education and sports - such as, for example, the International Fund for the Development of Physical Education and Sport (FIDEPS) - was transferred to the Division and it became the Division of Youth and Sports Activities (SHS/YSA).

SHS/YTH and its immediate predecessors had the following heads: Ehsan Naraghi, 1973-1975; and, Pierluigi Vagliani, Acting 1975-1981, 1981-1990.

Created by AWT, 7-8-2015. Revised when SHS/YSA administrative history was entered; reviewed again by Chief Archivist; entered AWT, 10-12-2015.

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-UNESCO. (1973). Coordination en matière d’activités intéressant spécialement la jeunesse. ODG/DG/Mémo 32.388. 21 mai 1973. Archives de l’UNESCO, AG 8 Secretariat Records, Office of the Director-General Records, CAB 9/2.
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-UNESCO. General Conference, 15th Session. (1968). Report on Youth. 27 September 1968. 15 C/65. Available online in UNESDOC, accessed 17-04-2015: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001602/160212eb.pdf.