By resolution 54/68 of 6 December 1999, the General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week, to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition.
World Space Week is the largest annual space event in the world. the weeks helps build up the workforce of tomorrow by inspiring students; demonstrates visible public support for the space programme; educates the public about space activities; and fosters international cooperation in space outreach and education.
Each year a theme is selected by the World Space Week Association Board of Directors in close coordination with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs. The theme provides broad guidance to World Space Week participants on the content of their programmes. The theme is selected to increase the impact of World Space Week on all humanity further, by using a uniform theme globally.
Space and Entrepreneurship
The theme for World Space Week 2023, “Space and Entrepreneurship”, recognizes the growing significance of the commercial space industry in space, and the increasing opportunities for space entrepreneurship and new benefits of space developed by space entrepreneurs. With miniaturization and decreasing launch costs, it is now possible for a small business to build and launch a small satellite, and for entrepreneurs to create valuable new data products for governments and industry.
World Space Week 2023 will inspire students worldwide to study STEM and business, and offer space companies the opportunity to recruit the workforce needed for the expanding commercial space industry. It will also serve as a forum for important discussions on the transition of Low Earth Orbit to a more entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Space science and technology and their applications are increasingly being used to support a wide range of United Nations activities. At least 25 United Nations entities and the World Bank Group routinely use space applications. They make important and sometimes essential contributions to the work of the United Nations, including in the implementation of recommendations of major world conferences and those of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), as well as support towards sustainable development.
As a consequence, coordination, cooperation and synergy are essential for those activities to be effectively carried out by the United Nations system. The annual sessions of the Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities are the main means of achieving that synergy. The effectiveness of the Meeting has been further enhanced by the holding, since 2004, of an open informal session immediately after the end of the Meeting, as a means of engaging Member States, in a direct and informal setting, in important space-related developments in the United Nations system. The agenda of the Inter-Agency Meeting is reviewed at each session and adapted to current operational needs.
UN and Space
From the very beginning of the Space Age, the United Nations recognized that outer space added a new dimension to humanity's existence. The United Nations family strives continuously to utilize the unique benefits of outer space for the betterment of all humankind.
Recognizing the common interest of humankind in outer space and seeking to answer questions on how outer space can help benefit the people's of Earth, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution related to outer space, resolution 1348 (XIII) entitled "Question of the Peaceful Use of Outer Space".
Today, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the United Nations office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. UNOOSA serves as the secretariat for the General Assembly's only committee dealing exclusively with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space: the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS).
UNOOSA is also responsible for implementing the Secretary-General's responsibilities under international space law and maintaining the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space.
The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on 5 October to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.
It is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.
World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and Education International (EI).
"We call upon countries to ensure that teaching is transformed everywhere into a more attractive and valorised profession where teachers are valued, trusted, and adequately supported to meet the needs of every learner. Bold actions must be taken, if we are to reverse the current decline and successfully increase teacher numbers."
2023 celebrations
Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfilment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status.
With the theme "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage", the 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda. Through various activities, they will advocate for a dignified and valued teaching profession, analyse their challenges, and showcase inspiring practices to attract, retain and motivate teachers and educators. It will also examine the ways in which education systems, societies, communities, and families recognise, appreciate, and actively support teachers.
SDG 4
Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal supports the reduction of disparities and inequities in education, both in terms of access and quality.
Congratulations!
Celebration of the successful completion of Africa Educates Her Campaign with Sofonie Dala - Season 3
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's entertainment!
This night at this place, we have a great deal to celebrate. And I want to begin by saying, simply, to every one of you - thank you.
Access of girls to education in rural areas
Girls in rural areas of Africa are excluded from education not because of cultural resistance or unwillingness, but because of poverty - the main barrier to girls' education.
Our today's activity was carried out in a rural community. We decided to give our support to girls who are not studying due to extreme poverty and also because of the barriers that Covid-19 has caused.
We carry out activities such as conducting a lesson, singing, reciting poetry and distributing school and biosafety materials.
"If a poor girl cannot come to the education, then education must go to her."
Our case study today are the sisters Teresa and Tininha, they participated in our interview at the end of last year. According to them, they stopped studying in 2018 because of serious financial problems facing the family. Fortunately, we also had the opportunity to speak with their mother who certified that she has no financial means to pay for her daughters' studies. They live in a rural area, in the slate house in very poor conditions where they never had electricity or clean water. With the advent of Covid-19, their lives became even more difficult.
Thank God, we had a basic class with them, we distributed some school and biosafety materials such as notebooks, pencils and surgical masks. They thanked and were very happy.
Women in rural communities, in particular, have been left behind
In times of crisis or conflict, education is on the frontline. Everyone is affected but specially girls' and women. COVID-19 threatens the right of over 10 million African girls to education - these girls might never come back to school if we do not take action!
For over a decade, education for girls has been identified as one of the best solutions to reversing the relentless trend of poverty and disease devastating large portions of sub-Saharan Africa.
Entry poetry by Teresa, followed by a basic class with the children
Hello, my name is Teresa, I am 13 years old, I stopped studying when I was in seventh grade in 2018 due to financial problems. All these kids who are here with me don't study either.
However, I would like to recite a poem about Covid-19:
There are diseases that are worse than diseases
There are diseases that are more than disease
That make things more urgent and more difficult
I fear coronavirus and zeal for my life
Our faith is the vaccine
The pandemic that now dominates the world haunts me
I didn't want this plague
Protect yourself and protect us
There is no evil that lasts forever
Have resilience because everything passes!
After reciting the poem, Teresa decided to leave an appeal to all sponsors and investors:
Coronavirus is one of the reasons that these children do not study. I hope that a sponsor will appear to finance the school for all the girls.
After all we had a basic class in which the children learned to speak English.
The class was so fruitful that at the end of the program, the children shouted in chorus "We want to study, we want to study"!
"We want to study, we want to study"!
"We want to study, we want to study"!
Post-Campaign Report
Our campaign, named "Africa Educates Her Angola - Season 3'', started on December 18, 2020, collecting over 40 video interviews of girls and young ladies with different academic levels, from pre-school to university degrees. Some participants never attended school and others dropped out of school for various reasons, such as teenage pregnancy, poverty, child marriage and the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic.
From season 1 launched in August 2020 to to season 3 ended in January 2021, over hundred students including teachers were interviewed.
All participants were from different provinces of Angola. The data showed that COVID-19 pandemic lockdown affected the academic performance of most participants (99%) with varying degrees.
20% of the girls we interviewed are no longer students, they dropped out of school many years ago due to poverty, teen pregnancy and child marriage. Today they regret bitterly for dropping out of school for futile reasons.
35% of the girls we interviewed returned to school in October 2020 once they reopened. But most girls are dissatisfied with the weak conditions that their school created against the covid-19. They complain that there is not enough protection or biosafety materials. In addition, some teachers and students do not follow the preventive measures against covid-19.
Many students commented that they forgot almost everything they studied before the pandemic, and this affected their exams. According to them, the exams were very difficult.
45% of the girls we interviewed have been out of school since March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and inability to pay school fees. Many of them spend their entire day at home busy with housework, some spend their days on the streets playing and dancing with friends.
However, they all dream of returning to school one day.
It is important to remember that schools in Angola reopened in early October, the Angolan government postponed the resumption of lessons in primary education (1st to 5th grade), the largest chunk of the education system. The postponement in the Primary Education owed to the increase in Covid-19 positive cases in the country.
The main goal of the campaign is to ensure all girls have access to a quality and safe education by dismantling the barriers imposed by Covid-19, poverty, teenage pregnancy and child marriage. In addition, we also want to partner with communities in support of girls ’education.
The campaign works to integrate girls who have dropped out of school back into the education system.
Brief covid-19 considerations and special interviews from a girl passing by
Hello, my name is Engracia, I will talk about the damage that the coronavirus caused in my country Angola.
Since the coronavirus emerged, a lot has happened in my country, such as increased hunger and poverty and also because of this same disease, many parents lost their jobs, many children stopped going to school, we lost our school year.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic many parents, mothers and children are locked up at home. For example, I am also a student and spent a lot of time at home without studying!
However, I would like to sing a special song for you!
School school school is beautiful, see you tomorrow comrade teacher, if God wants tomorrow we will come again!
When the quarantine passes I want to enjoy,
I will love I will love until I say enough
And if the world ends it may even end,
But I will live with you in the heavenly city
School, school school that teaches us to read and write, I want to go
I want to go to school, school, school even with this pandemic
Time will repair everything that it caused and will fix it
Time will show me everything that wins, it will fix
School school, school I want to go to school to learn to read and write
I want to be someone in life, I want to go to school my God help us
I want to go to school, school to learn
I want to go to school to learn
I want to go to school, school, school
I miss my classmates.
“While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not.” We campaign and advocate at the international, regional and national level to put pressure on governments and the international community to deliver the right of everyone to a free, quality, public education.
I want to express to each of you my deep gratitude for contributing to the success of this outstanding campaign.
Together we have transformed African consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become, and have taken this continent a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for educational justice, economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice.
Gallery
Sofonie Dala
Interviews - the Complete Collection
Ladies and gentlemen, here Ladies a glimpse of how the post-COVID-19 education looks like for students in Angola.
We launched this campaign to ensure that every girl is able to learn while schools are closed and return to the classroom when schools safely reopen. Everyone can play a role in supporting girls education - whether you are a teacher, parent, student, journalist, policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen.
Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Tell us your story!
Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus would you like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the poverty among women?
FIND SOMEONE TO SPONSOR TODAY
Your sponsorship will help the most vulnerable girls and women to take the first step out of poverty.
Angola vs Argentina | International Friendly Football Match 2025 | eFootball PES 21 Simulation 🔴AO VIVO! 🇦🇴🇦🇷 ARGENTINA VS ANGOLA 202...
m.jpg)
