4 August 2022:  The SEAMEO Secretariat and UNESCO Bangkok convened the 8th SEAMEO-UNESCO Coordination Meeting on 4 August 2022, at Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building, Bangkok, Thailand. The annual meeting was conducted in a hybrid format chaired by Dr Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, and co-chaired by Mr Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education (UNESCO Bangkok). The meeting was attended by 40 core staff of the SEAMEO Secretariat and the UNESCO Bangkok Office.

This Coordination Meeting was held under the joint SEAMEO and UNESCO mechanism to strengthen regional cooperation between the two organisations, particularly in education, science, and culture. In addition, the Meeting also provided a platform for updating their respective priorities and activities, and for discussing potential new SEAMEO-UNESCO joint initiatives.

Mr Shigeru Aoyagi
Director of UNESCO Bangkok

Dr Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela
Director of SEAMEO Secretariat

UNESCO Bangkok shared its updated programmes in culture and education, in particular its Safeguarding World Heritage Programme; SDG4 Education 2030 Regional Coordination; Early Childhood Care Education; Inclusive Education; Gender Education; Health Education and Well-being; Inclusive Quality Education; Education Planning and Management; Teachers Programmes, Higher Education; Lifelong Learning; and Together for Peace initiative.

The SEAMEO Secretariat updated participants of the meeting on the current status of the SEAMEO Strategic Plan 2020-2030, and presented several priority programmes, namely SEAMEO-UNESCO-GPE DTeEM: Online Course for Teachers of Learners with Disabilities; Report on the Virtual Workshop: National Policies on Lifelong Learning toward Sustainability in Southeast Asia as part of CONFINTEA VII Conference; Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2021-2025; Proposed Research Collaboration on SEAMEO-Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 on Technology and Education; Inclusive Education Project on Border School Programme; Early Childhood Care and Education Teacher Competency Framework; and SEAMEO-TVET Student Virtual Exchange Programme.

At the end of the meeting, UNESCO and SEAMEO agreed to collaborate on the upcoming events in 2022, among them:

1. The Thematic Solutions Forum on SDG-4 in South-East Asia in the Global South-South Development Expo, co-organised with ASEAN and UNICEF EAPRO, 12 September 2022;
2. UNESCO-SEAMEO Webinar on World Teachers’ Day, 5 October 2022;
3. International Conference on Equitable Education and the 5th Equitable Education Alliance (EEA) Meeting, 19-21 October 2022;
4. SEAMEO Higher Education Summit, 26-27 October 2022.

SEAMEO Secretariat and UNESCO Bangkok initiated this annual Coordination Meeting in 2008. The Meeting has served as a platform to strengthen cooperation between the two organisations; to establish linkages between UNESCO and SEAMEO entities; to collaborate on specific issues and activities of both parties; to facilitate networking, and to exchange/share best practices and lessons learned between SEAMEO and UNESCO.