UNESCO Bangkok

UNESCO Bangkok was established in 1961 with the aim of promoting peace and human development through education, sciences, culture, communication and information.

UNESCO Bangkok has a dual role as both the Regional Bureau for Education and a Cluster Office.  As the Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, UNESCO Bangkok provides policy advice, technical assistance and capacity development support to Member States and other UNESCCO field offices in the region and facilitates knowledge, partnership and networking in the area of education.  As a Cluster Office, UNESCO Bangkok is responsible for the implementation of all UNESCO programmes in the Mekong countries – Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Singapore, and UNESCO Bangkok is also responsible for collaboration with UNESCO country offices in Hanoi (Viet Nam) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).  In the spirit of One UN and as part of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Thailand, UNESCO Bangkok works in synergy with the United Nations Sister Agencies to achieve the SDG4 in Asia-Pacific.

As the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education, UNESCO’s work encompasses educational development from preschool through higher education, including technical and vocational education and training, non-formal education and literacy.

During the period 2015-2019, UNESCO’s Lifelong Learning and Literacy team’s actions in the field of education was strengthened along the follow four main areas:

  1. Research
  2. Regional policy advocacy
  3. Regional capacity developing
  4. Service delivery

To achieve the goal of developing education systems that promote quality and inclusive learning opportunities, especially for OOSC, UNESCO Bangkok has implemented various approaches and projects at both regional and country levels. At the regional level, UNESCO Bangkok works with the ASEAN Secretariat to implement the ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth”, which was adopted by all ASEAN Member States (AMS) in 2016.  Since then, UNESCO Bangkok has been working closely with AMS, the ASEAN Secretariat and UNICEF to develop regional projects, establish a Working Group and advocate for OOSC-related issues in education.  At the country level, UNESCO Bangkok is supporting Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand in implementing and expanding non-formal basic education equivalency programmes (EPs).  EPs in these countries aim to provide OOSC aged 10 to 18 with alternative learning pathways equivalent to primary and/or lower secondary education.  

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