Africa_Water_Sanitation_Hygiene_July_August Africa_Water_Sanitation_Hygiene_July_August | Page 26

People
Achim Steiner takes office as Administrator of the
United Nations Development Programme
The UN Development Programme
(UNDP) today welcomed Achim
Steiner as he begins a four-year
term as Administrator of the
Organization.
Mr. Steiner’s appointment as the new
head of the UN’s lead development
agency was confirmed by the UN
UNDP Administrator
General Assembly in April this
Achim Steiner. Photo
year, following his nomination by
courtesy of David Fisher/
Oxford Martin School.
Secretary-General António Guterres.
UNDP works in some 170 countries
and territories across the world to help them eradicate
extreme poverty, strengthen good governance, and prevent
and respond to crises.
ideals of UNESCO.”
Ms Pisar’s organization facilitates international cultural
exchanges, namely between France and the USA, the
country of her birth. She has organized a great many
festivals and concerts of American music in France and
was, for 17 years, the President of the American Center
of Paris. Earlier, Ms Pisar directed the Brooklyn Academy
of Music and the avant-garde Merce Cunningham Dance
Company.
UNESCO Special Envoys serve as the standard-bearers
of the Organization. Through their professional activities
and personality, they help make UNESCO’s message heard
worldwide.
President Jimmy Morales Cabrera of Guatemala
visits UNESCO
Mr. Steiner will also chair the UN Development Group,
which unites the 32 UN funds, programmes, specialized
agencies and other bodies that work to support sustainable
development.
Speaking after the confirmation of his nomination, Mr.
Steiner said he was honoured by the Secretary-General’s
decision to appoint him as the next Administrator of
UNDP, and grateful for the trust and confidence that
Member States had expressed in the General Assembly.
“I very much look forward to working with all UNDP
staff and UN Member States to continue the fight to end
poverty, protect the planet and promote peace and justice
around the world,” he said.
Mr. Steiner brings more than three decades of
leadership experience in global development issues and
international cooperation. He is a passionate advocate
for the Sustainable Development Goals and the need
for unprecedented global cooperation to deliver on this
ambitious agenda.
Judith Pisar to be named UNESCO Special Envoy
for Cultural Diplomacy
Judith Pisar, President of the non-
profit organization Arts France-USA,
will become a UNESCO Special
Envoy for Cultural Diplomacy
in a ceremony at UNESCO’s
Headquarters on 15 June (6pm).
UNESCO Director-General Irina
Bokova named Ms Pisar to this
Judith Pisar
position “in recognition of her
contribution to cultural action as an essential component
of dialogue between peoples, her effort to promote
culture as indispensable for diplomatic action in favour of
peace and development, and for her commitment to the
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • July - August 2017
© UNESCO/Christelle ALIX
Paris, le 09 Jun—The President of the Republic of
Guatemala, Jimmy Morales Cabrera, visited UNESCO on
Friday 9 June to celebrate cooperation between his country
and the Organization. Eric Falt, Assistant Director-
General for External Relations and Public Information,
welcomed the President and the First Lady of Guatemala,
Patricia de Morales, on behalf of UNESCO Director-
General Irina Bokova. Several members of the
Organization’s senior management team joined them to
review initiatives such as the conservation project for
the Tikal National Park, inscribed as a World Heritage
site since 1979. The project, financed by Japan, aims to
consolidate the most vulnerable parts of the site’s North
Acropolis and develop a digital archive for purposes of
conservation and public education.
The Assistant Director-General praised Guatemala for
its work on the preservation of its underwater cultrual
heritage, which paved the way for the scientific mission
UNESCO will send to Lake Atitlán in the near future.
The mission will study Mayan archaeological sites situated
on the floor of the lake and develop a management plan
for the preservation of these sites in cooperation with
local communities. In education, they highlighted the
reinforcement of distance secondary education underway
in Guatemala, which UNESCO will support, and reviewed
plans to create a UNESCO Chair for Peace, Security,