Social Transformations and Cultural Dialogue
Under the influence of globalization, global environmental changes, economical and financial crisis, the world undergoes major social transformations. It is a fact that brings a lot of negative effects, e.g. increasing inequality, extreme poverty, denial of basic human rights.
In connection with these changes, it is necessary to look for new innovative solutions which would lead to preservation and consolidation of universal values such as peace, human dignity, gender equality and which would also fight against violence and discrimination. Young men and women who are most affected by these changes are also the main actors in relation to social changes.
Social transformation is a very important issue which affects all the other areas in which UNESCO operates. The UNESCO Management of Social Transformations Programme and its intergovernmental committee are a drive motor for capacity building and for the creation of links between the knowledge of social and human sciences, public policies and the society. UNESCO MOST Programme focuses on two priorities: social inclusion as an essential element in the fight against poverty, in mitigating inequalities and the creation of an inclusive society, one of the main conditions for sustainable development; and social transformations arising from environmental changes and from the awareness of the need to address the crisis of the reduction of natural resources (lack of food, water, lack of energy sources), loss of biodiversity, pressure resulting from rapid urbanization and rapid population growth, climate changes and natural disasters. Due to the fact that sustainable development undeniably stands on social and environmental grounds, both social and environmental issues are closely linked.
Slovak Committee for UNESCO Management of Social Transfromations Programme (MOST)
UNESCO MOST Programme in general:
More information in this matter may be found here: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/most-programme/
National Committees for UNESCO MOST Programme:
UNESCO MOST Programme encourages UNESCO Member States to create National Committees for this programme, so called “liaison committees”, in order to induce cooperation between researchers, policymakers and the MOST Programme. The Member States may determine the structure and the composition of the National Committee according to their priorities. The Committees are usually created with the help of the related National Commissions for UNESCO. In Slovakia, we have the Slovak Committee for UNESCO MOST Programme.
Our participation in the Programme enables the Slovak Republic to stimulate its activities in social science research and its application, to identify its problems in an international context, use best practices in order to solve them, as well as to intensify international cooperation in these areas by engaging in the networking and database systems.
