Today, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Takehiro Kano, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Japan to UNESCO, signed a monetary agreement worth $14. 6 million in Ukraine. With these funds, the Organization will accentuate its movements on the ground to revive culture, education and the media. This agreement confirms Japan’s role as UNESCO’s main donor to Ukraine’s recovery.
UNESCO projects that will be implemented in 2024 thanks to these funds include:
Culture: Emergency operations for heritage preservation will be carried out in several cities, in addition to Lviv and Kharkiv, while contributing to the creation of a recovery assistance unit through the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. In Odessa, home to a World Heritage site threatened by attacks, UNESCO will help advance an emergency preparedness and threat mitigation plan. The Organization will also strengthen the monitoring and assessment of damage to cultural heritage, as well as the education of the Ukrainian government and cultural professionals in the collection of damage data, an essential step in prioritizing reconstruction works.
Education: UNESCO will engage an additional 20,000 education actors – including psychologists, teachers, parents, caregivers, security guards and librarians – to provide intellectual aptitude and psychosocial services to all Ukrainian students, which is key to ensuring the recovery of future generations. Ukrainian schools and inclusive resource centres, which work with children with disabilities, will also be better welcomed to children and other young people in a safe and inclusive environment.
Safety of journalists and media development: UNESCO will focus on the protection, psychological support and upskilling of journalists. The Organization will continue to provide emergency financial and material aid to journalists and newsrooms, helping media workers to deliver independent, professional, ethical and with due regard for the risks of war. Additionally, UNESCO will launch a media and information literacy programme to help citizens be better equipped in the face of disinformation and hate speech.
Numerous actions completed in 2023In 2023, Japan had already provided $10M to UNESCO to support Ukraine in drawing up emergency plans to safeguard its heritage, support its education system, and strengthen access to information through the media.
This initial budget has trained more than two hundred cultural professionals in emergency measures and damage assessment, while site managers have received “heritage assistance kits” to limit damage pending restoration. More than 7,000 school psychologists have also been trained in psychosocial support for Ukrainians. following the creation of a programme specially designed to help education staff contribute to the well-being of students. UNESCO also trained 230 bloodhounds in safety measures for their safety in the field and awarded monetary grants to two hundred bloodhounds. at a time when the war has impacted their revenue resources.
To date, more than $66 million has been mobilized through UNESCO in fulfilment of its mandate in Ukraine.