FSM Office of National Archives, Culture & Historic Preservation

We are pleased to announce that the UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Conservation  is open and ready to accept applications for the 2021 edition of the prize. Please click here for more information.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day UNESCO is organizing, in cooperation with the World Economic Forum, the panel Girl Trouble: Breaking Through The Bias in AI.  The panel will occur on the 8^th of March from:

Paris / Geneva	Apia	Suva	Palikir	Port Moresby
Monday, 8 March 202115:00 hrs	Tuesday, 9 March 202104:00 hrs	Tuesday, 9 March 202102:00 hrs	Tuesday, 9 March 202101:00 hrs	Tuesday, 9 March 202100:00 hrs

This roundtable will bring together leading female voices in tech to confront the deep-rooted gender imbalances skewing the development of artificial intelligence – as a technology and as a sector.

Our amazing line up of panelists are female change-makers in Artificial Intelligence (AI). From C-suite professionals taking decisions which affect us all, to women innovating new AI tools and policies to help vulnerable groups, to those courageously exposing injustice and algorithmic biases.

Please check out our website for the event here available in English and French with more information.

This is an intersectoral and housewide event. In this regard, I am writing today to invite you to:

• Participate in what will be an excellent event by registering here, with our due apology for the timing that is not particularly convenient for the Pacific;
• Share the promotional material attached in this email in English and French on relevant UNESCO and personal social media channels as well as with your networks, with the below suggested message to mobilize participation from your networks. The hashtags to use are #UNESCO #WEF, #IWD2021, and #InternationalWomensDay.
• Please share the social media cards for speakers available for download via this wetransfer link in English and French (examples also attached); or create your own for AI professionals you may know.
• Share the event page and invitation with your media networks and in your office communication prior to the event.  There will be a question and answer session dedicated specifically to the media for this event.
• On 9^th of March, please share the YouTube and FB live that will be shared from UNESCO’s English and French accounts and available on the event page via UNESCO office social media channels.

A media advisory will be published in all six languages on 1 March, and we will also share this with you for further distribution in your networks.

Suggested social media posts:

Did you know that only 22% of #AI professionals globally are women and that by 2022, 85% of AI projects will deliver inaccurate outcomes due to bias in data, algorithms or the teams responsible for managing them?

Join #UNESCO and #WEF for #InternationalWomensDay on March 8 for our panel Girl Trouble: Breaking Through the Bias in AI to hear from leading women in AI about what can be done to address bias in AI – as a technology and as a Sector.

Learn more and register here:  https://en.unesco.org/girltrouble

UNESCO is pleased to inform that the nominations for the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are now open. The Circular Letter 4340 sent on 10 February, 2021 to all Ministers responsible for relations with UNESCO, with copies to Permanent Delegations and National Commissions, is attached for reference.

Funded by the Government of Japan, the UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD consists of three awards of USD 50,000 for each recipient. 

UNESCO recommends that this call for nominations be made widely known in your country among relevant stakeholders involved in ESD, and encourages Member States both to set up a national selection process and to announce the selected nominees.

Ø  The nomination process takes place via an online platform: https://unesco.sharepoint.com/sites/committees/ESD-Prize/

Ø   Permanent Delegations and National Commissions will be able to connect with their existing generic user accounts (see user guide here).

Ø  Each Member State may submit no more than three nominations in consultation between the Permanent Delegation and the National Commission.

Ø  The online nominations should be submitted by Permanent Delegations in their responsibilities via the online form in English or French by 30 April 2021 at the very latest (midnight, Paris time).

Further information on the UNESCO-Japan Prize are available on the Prize website: https://en.unesco.org/prize-esd  

FSM Independence Day

Thank you, to all veterans, for your service. This Veterans Day, we offer a bit of history of Micronesians who serve in the United States military.

The Compact of Free Association is an international agreement establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island nations of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Among the aspects of the Compact, the option to the United States military is one of the aspects.

According to the United States Department of Defense, per capita, there are more Micronesians who serve in the United States Military than any other country. Moore than 1,500 Micronesians serve in the U. S. Military.