Interview of the month HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development Princess Laurentien has been committed to the cause of literacy for more than 20 years. On March 24 she became UNESCO’s Special Envoy on Literacy for Development worldwide. She spoke to EduInfo about how she plans to use her position and what her hopes are for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education to be held in Brazil in May where she will make the keynote speech. More Higher education in the Asia-Pacific: quality assurance in a cross-border environment, 6-8 May Demand for higher education is surging across the Asia-Pacific region, home to over 3 billion people. With increased academic and labour mobility, the issue of recognizing qualifications and quality assurance has gained prominence. Assessing the value of a qualification has become more complicated because of a diversification of programmes, delivery modes and the growth of cross-border provision. UNESCO has developed six regional conventions on the recognition of higher education qualifications and developed the UNESCO-OECD guidelines for quality provision of cross-border education. UNESCO/OECD Guidelines for “Quality provision in cross-border higher education” Coming up Managing education against the worst effects of HIV and AIDS in Africa, 20-24 April A series of capacity-building workshops tailormade for each region in Africa, aims to increase awareness of educational planning and management issues caused by HIV and AIDS. International meeting on early childhood education, Buenos Aires, 24 -26 April The World Organisation for Early Childhood Education is to hold its 2nd international meeting entitled Building a Good Education for Children. Workshop on Education for Sustainable Development, Tehran, 28-30 April Tehran will play host to a follow up workshop for UNESCO Member States based on the recent World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Bonn. Asia-Pacific countries to develop Education for All strategy plan to reach the unreached by 2015, 4-7 May EFA partners will meet for the 10th Regional Meeting of National EFA Coordinators and Regional Launch of the 2009 Global Monitoring Report. Higher education in the Asia-Pacific: quality assurance in a cross-border environment, 6-8 May Issues relating to cross border higher education will be examined during a meeting on the Regional Convention on the Recognition of studies. Rewarding Champions of Quality Education in Africa UNESCO is encouraging entries in a competition to identify Champions of Quality Education in Africa supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in partnership with Ashoka’s Changemakers initiative. Photo contest Reversing Realities: Seeking Gender Equality in Education As part of the initiative to promote gender equality in education UNESCO Bangkok and the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative invite entries for the photo contest 2009 on the theme of Reversing Realities: Seeking Gender Equality in Education. Roundup Turn knowledge into action for sustainable development declares Bonn Conference A commitment to education that empowers people to change their lifestyles was the message from UNESCO's World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which finished on 2 April. “The future of an entire country is taken hostage,” says Director-General on girls’ education in Pakistan’s Swat Valley “For months, attacks have struck educational institutions, teaching staff and students,” declared the Director-General. Education in cyclone-hit Myanmar to benefit from partnership between UNESCO and Plan International Two projects to rebuild the education infrastructure in cyclone-hit Myanmar are to get the go ahead thanks to a new partnership. UNESCO Director-General to G-20: “Invest in education” Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, wrote to the leaders of the Group of 20 nations before their recent meeting in London on 2 April, to plead the cause of education. Latin America and the Caribbean urged to continue education investment despite the crisis The economic crisis should not erode important education gains made in Latin America and the Caribbean. Central Asian countries need greater funding effort for Education for All Insufficient financing and poor literacy skills among vulnerable groups are among the challenges identified in the mid-decade assessment reports published by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Third session of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians for Education convened in Cairo, 12-13 April Parliamentarians took part in the third session of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians for Education (FARPED III). Five multilateral agencies urge collaboration on Education for All in joint letter Expressing a strong resolve to act together, the heads of the five multilateral agencies that convened the 2000 World Education Forum have sent out a joint letter in support of Education for All (EFA).