Unesco and the printed word

UNESCO Courier, July, 1988

Unesco and the printed word | The rural press in Africa In Africa today only 15 out of every 1,000 people are reached by daily newspapers, and the use of the press as a medium of mass communication presents many problems, especially in the rural areas where 80 per cent of the population lives and where over 800 languages are spoken. And yet the printed media can play an important role by bridging the communications gap which prevents isolated farming communities from taking full part in national development programmes and by providing excellent follow-up materials in literacy teaching. For many years Unesco has co-operated with Member States in this field by helping to create rural newspapers, by training journalists and by providing other forms of technical support. One current undertaking, the West and Central Africa News Agencies Development Project (WANAD) based in Cotonou, Benin, is serving 13 national news agencies. As part of its activities WANAD, which was launched in 1984 by Unesco with finance from the Federal Republic of Germany, provides training for journalists in the fields of international relations, health, rural development and the environment. A sister project, SEANAD, was set up in 1986 in Southern and Eastern Africa. Above right, front pages of rural newspapers from 2 WANAD Member States: issue of Kpodoga, published in the Ewe language by the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana; special International Literacy Day (8 September 1987) issue of Tew Fema, published in the Kabyie language of Togo. | Children's books in Asia and the Pacific Launched in 1970 by the Tokyo-based Asian Cultural Centre for Unesco, the Asian/ Pacific Copublication Programme (ACP) is a venture designed to provide children in countries of Asia and the Pacific with reasonably priced illustrated books. Good stories and illustrations by authors and artistsfrom different countries are selected and published in an English version. Participating countries use this master edition (as well as films of the colour illustrations, which are also provided free) to produce editions in their own languages. ACP books have so far been translated into some 27 Asian languages and more than 2.5 million copies have been printed. Right, illustration from Folk Tales from Asia for Children Everywhere (Book 6). | Practical training for publishers As part of its efforts to stimulate book publishing in the developing world, unesco has organized a number of regional training courses for publishing personnel in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean. Over 200 people attended these courses in 198l and 1987. During a 6-week course jointly undertaken by Unesco and the University of the Philippines Institute of Mass Communication in December 1987, participants were divided into 3 teams, each of which was given a manuscript about rice and asked to prepare it for publication as an illustrated booklet. Each team had to edit the manuscript, prepare it for typesetting, correct proofs, lay out the text, design the cover, and write publicity material. Left, the booklets produced by the 3 teams. | Book development in Latin America The Regional Centre for Book Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLALC) was founded in Bogota in 1971 by an agreement between Unesco and the Government of Colombia. Participating countries today are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Spain and Venezuela. The Centre aims to promote the production and distribution of books and to encourage the reading habit, taking account of development programmes as well as the public and school library systems in each country. In addition to the professional training courses which CERLALC organizes for publishing personnel, it has launched a copublication programme of children's books for Latin America. The aim is to publish good-quality children's literature at low prices by sharing the production costs between all the participating countries. The first title to be published was "Tales, Myths and Legends for Latin-American Children", in an edition of 20,000 copies (above left, cover of the Portuguese version). Today publishers from 15 countries are taking part in the programme, and 6 titles have been published, totalling (with reprints) 332,000 copies.

PHOTO : Over 8,000 titles have been published by Unesco or under its auspices in over 70 languages, since the founding of the Organization in 1946. Right, the latest edition of Index translationum, Unesco's annual guide to world translations.