UNESCO Southern Africa family in times of COVID-19: ROSA hosts Regional Tripartite Consultations

The UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA), Permeant Delegates to UNESCO and National Commissions for UNESCO from Southern Africa met virtually on 27 January 2021 to review past achievements and plan for the future in a Tripartite Consultation webinar.

Held under the theme, “UNESCO Southern Africa Family in times of COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities”, the meeting reviewed progress of work in the year 2020 and discussed strategies and plans for collaboration in 2021 (and beyond) in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Delegates, Botswana’s Ambassador, H.E. Mustaq Moorad, emphasised the importance of collective actions for the region to address challenges posed by COVID-19. He said COVID-19 has exposed glaring inequalities in our countries and the world at large. Inequalities between nations have been exposed through issues such as vaccine nationalisation while in most of the southern African countries there is huge digital inequalities especially between the rural and the urban populations.

The Ambassador called for digital transformation to address some the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the glaring inequalities.