Page 233 - United Nations Activities on Artificial Intelligence (AI) 2024

United Nations Activities on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Department/Division: Communication and Information
• Project Type/Output: Handbook/ Capacity Building
• Project Status: Ongoing
• Project End Year: 2023 UNESCO
• Project Update: This handbook has been used in several IPDC-funded projects, through
its annual call for proposals, to build AI literacy and strengthen journalistic practices
across diverse regions. In Tanzania, it helped boost AI awareness and usage among
300 journalists through capacity-building sessions, a national survey on AI adoption,
and stakeholder meetings with editors. Across Africa, the handbook was localized and
contextualized in partnership with the African Union to train journalists from 49 countries
on reporting not only on AI, but also on emerging technologies, disinformation, and
migration. In the Caribbean (Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago), it was
integrated into virtual training sessions to strengthen data journalism skills in the context
of disaster preparedness. The handbook also informed targeted initiatives such as:
supporting African women journalists' digital safety and AI awareness in Mauritania
and East Africa; empowering Palestinian journalists and academics to use AI ethically;
strengthening AI literacy among community and independent journalists in Paraguay;
advancing journalism curricula in South Asia; and promoting gender-responsive reporting
on technology-facilitated violence through a regional project in Africa. These efforts
demonstrate the handbook’s growing role as a practical, adaptable tool for building
journalist capacities worldwide in an AI-driven environment.
• Project Domain: Gender, Human Rights, Telecommunications, Communication and
Information, Medi, Education
• Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 4 – Quality Education; SDG
5 – Gender Equality; SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 9 – Industry,
Innovation and Infrastructure; SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality; SDG 16 – Peace, Justice, and
Strong Institutions
• Partnership(s)/Collaborator(s): World Journalism Education Council (WJEC), Çukurova
University, Utrecht University, Christ Nagar College Trivandrum, Saint Petersburg
University, Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of
Johannesburg, Media Convergency Catalyst, African Women in Media (AWiM), Media
Development Center – Birzeit University, Union des Femmes des Médias de Mauritanie
(UFMM), Digital Rights Nepal, Union of Journalists of Paraguay (SPP).
• Links and Multimedia: https:// unesdoc .unesco .org/ ark:/ 48223/ pf0000384551
• Contact information : Saorla McCabe (s.mccabe@ unesco .org), Misako Ito (m.ito@ unesco
.org)

Project 30: UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education 2024

The UNESCO Conference on Culture and Arts Education took place from 13-15 February 2024
in Abu Dhabi, UAE and resulted in the unanimous adoption of the first Global Framework for
Culture and Arts Education, strengthening the synergies between education and culture in
formal, non-formal, informal, lifelong and life wide education and learning, including TVET,
across the broad spectrum of cultural resources from cultural heritage to living expressions
and the creative economy. The Framework includes two specific references to AI among its
policy guidance and recommendations:

• (II. Objectives, point ii) “Harness contemporary advances and seize the opportunities
opened up by technology, while identifying, preventing and mitigating risks, notably
in digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI), in order to support and promote
reflection, creativity, initiatives, and ethical and responsible use in this domain, in particular
to the benefit of the educational, cultural and creative sectors.”

215