THE DESIGNATION OF UNESCO GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOR TEACHER EDUCATION IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

Address by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO,

on the occasion of the designation of Mrs Christine Hakim

as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for teacher education in South East Asia

Bali, Indonesia, 11 March 2008

Mr Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia,

Madam Kalla,

Mr Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia,

Mrs Christine Hakim,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to a very special occasion: the designation ceremony of Mrs Christine Hakim as the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for teacher education in South East Asia.

Today�s designation ceremony was planned to coincide with the seventh E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting on Education for All, which focuses this year on the �Improvement of teacher education and training as a focus of educational system reform.

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Indonesian government for their offer to host this important event in Bali, which reflects their strong commitment to achieving EFA.

I would particularly like to thank Mr Jusuf Kalla, Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia, and his wife, as well as Mr Bambang Soedibyo, Minister of National Education and Chairperson of the Indonesian National Commission to UNESCO,

for their presence at today�s ceremony.

Let me now turn to our honoured guest.

Mrs Christine Hakim is one of the most well known and respected filmmakers and actresses in Asia. She is six-time winner of the Piala Citra award for best actress, the highest accolade in the Indonesian film community. She has also on five

occasions been the winner of the best actress award at the Asia Pacific International Film Festival, including, in 1998, for her heart-breaking portrayal of Asih in �Daun Di Atas Bantal� (�Leaf on a Pillow�), a film she also produced.

Throughout her distinguished career, Mrs Hakim has played an active role in raising public awareness on crucial societal issues such as poverty, discrimination, oppression and, of course, education. In 1999, the Christine Hakim Foundation was created to further consolidate her work, and to engage in fund-raising and advocacy events, such as the �Hello

Selamat pagi campaign�, which was initiated to assist underprivileged Indonesian children and extend financial assistance to local teachers in remote regions.

The most recent focus of the Foundation is to support non-formal education in Indonesian villages. In 2006, Mrs Hakim provided more than 5,000 books to a local childrens� center in Aceh. Among the challenges the world faces in achieving EFA by 2015, that of training enough teachers, and training them well, is particularly crucial. UNESCO estimates that 18 million teachers will be required worldwide to address the current shortage and the new demands of increased enrolment. Southeast Asia alone will need to train 3.5 million more teachers to achieve universal primary education.

Not only must there be a larger number of teachers, but they must also be well qualified, and professionally motivated to carry out their role effectively. Unfortunately, the key role that teachers play is often not sufficiently recognized by governments and public development partners. This leads to a low status of the teaching profession, which is reflected in inadequate training and poor salaries.

It is therefore particularly important that there are champions of teachers, such as Mrs Hakim, who can use their talents and skills to raise awareness of their vital role. Mrs Hakim�s appointment as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador both recognizes her longstanding advocacy for the cause of teachers and gives her a new platform to pursue her important work.

In this role, Mrs Christine Hakim will join other distinguished personalities � such as Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, Japanese painter Mr Ikuo Hirayama, and Her Royal Highness Princess Firyal of Jordan � in

using her notoriety and skills to promote the ideals of UNESCO.

Mrs Christine Hakim, I have the pleasure and honour to bestow this diploma on you and designate you officially as the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for teacher education in Southeast Asia.

I wish you every success in your new mission and congratulate you on having joined forces with UNESCO to serve the international community.

Thank you.

PRESS RELEASE

Indonesian actress and producer Christine Hakim to be named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Paris, 03 March - The Indonesian actress and producer, Christine Hakim, will be named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador by the Organization's Director-General, Ko�chiro Matsuura, at a ceremony in Bali (Indonesia) on March 11, which will be held as part of the seventh Ministerial meeting of the nine most populous countries (E9) on Education for All.

Christine Hakim has been nominated in recognition of "her efforts to raise public awareness about education and the plight of teachers in Indonesia, as well as her contribution to spreading UNESCO's message of peace and tolerance, and her commitment to the ideals and objectives of the Organization".

Christine Hakim has appeared in more than thirty films. She won the Citra Award for Best Actress - one of the Indonesian film industry's most prestigious awards - six times and the Asia Pacific Film Festival's Best Actress award four times. She also produced the feature-length film, "Daun Di Atas Bantal" (Leaf on a Pillow), which received the Special Jury Prize at the 1998 Tokyo International Film Festival, and Best Film Award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival. In 2001, she produced another feature-length film, "Pasir Berbisik" (Whispering Sands), which won the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival.

A member of the jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Christine Hakim recently received a lifetime achievement award from Manila's Cinemanila Film Festival and was nominated Asian Heroine by Time Magazine Asia in 1999. She has given her name to the foundation she established to provide milk for undernourished children on the island of Java and the region of Aceh. This charitable organization also offers scholarships for Indonesian children and young directors.

As a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Christine Hakim will lend her support to UNESCO's activities aimed at reducing the shortage of teachers, improving their working conditions and promoting quality education, particularly in South-East Asia. She will be particularly involved with the Organization's programme to help these countries coordinate their policies regarding the training and status of teachers.

Other UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors include His Excellency Nelson Mandela, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the actress Claudia Cardinale, her Royal Highness Princess Firyal of Jordan, the diplomat Madanjeet Singh, and philanthropist Lily Marinho. UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors are a group of celebrity advocates who spread the ideals and actions of UNESCO through their name and fame.

The full list of Goodwill Ambassadors is available at: www.unesco.org/goodwill