Centres under UNESCO Club management

Each ERC is managed by a UNESCO Club, which operates according to the principles retained for civil UNESCO Clubs within the framework of the country’s National Federation (generally recognised by the Government as a Non Governmental Organisation), the African Confederation of UNESCO Centres, Clubs and Associations (ACUCA) to which this National Federation is affiliated and the World Federation of UNESCO Centres, Clubs and Associations (WFUCA).

The National Federation of UNESCO Clubs thus constitues the institutional and legal framework for each ERC.

The term " UNESCO Club " refers to two notions. First, that of "Club", i.e. a group of people of all ages and from all socio-professional horizons, formed to carry out a free and disinterested activity. In this group, members are familiarised with the functioning of a miniature version of democracy, they acquire the taste for initiative-taking and the sense of responsibility, they learn to overcome their egocentric tendencies, to work with others, to manage common property, to be tolerant, to reject all forms of discrimination based on sex, age, race, religion, political opinions, social background… But there is nothing restrictive about this notion of “Club” : Clubs are necessarily open to the world. One should at all costs avoid turning them into closed communities.

On the other hand, the name “UNESCO Club” refers to the notion of “UNESCO”. By adopting this name, the Clubs undertake to subscribe to the general principles which inspire the Organisation in its action. However, this name does not in any way institute an official link between UNESCO and the Clubs.

Autonomous and self-financed Centers

Each ERC is an autonomous entity, functioning within the institutional and legal framework of the National Federation of UNESCO Clubs and endowed with its own internal operating regulations.

It is required to find its own sources of funding for the implementation of its programme of activities, the maintenance of its infrastructure and equipment, renewing the stock of teaching and learning materials, school supplies as well as the running costs of its own programme of activities.

The resources are generated through the subscription of members, renting the training room to local partners, organising socio-cultural activities, donations, bequests and local government contributions, subsidies from governmental, non-governmental, national and/or international organisations.

Centres organised into a national network

There are several ERC in the country, but the UNESCO Clubs in charge of managing the ERC, while remaining autonomous, may organise themselves into an ERC network.

The network’s mission is to promote the internal development of the ERC members, the effectiveness and efficiency of ERC by harmonising interventions in the field as well as the ERC activities with national and sub-regional partners.

To that effect, it will seek to :

• stimulate and support exchanges between ERC members;
• coordinate and organise activities that are common to ERC members;
• assist member CRE in the search for human, logistic and financial resources from development partners;
• encourage partners and other national structures and ERC networks in the sub-region to exchange experiences ;
• inform the general public about ERC activities through press articles, leaflets, etc .

Centres backed by a national ad hoc tripartite structure

In principle, each country has an ad-hoc tripartite structure comprising Government representatives (ex. Ministry of Education), those of Non Governmental Organisations (ex. Federation of UNESCO Clubs) and Inter-Governmental Organisations (ex. an agency of the United Nations System).

The structure which can be extended to all partners interested in this process, essentially aims at facilitating contacts with national and international partners (local and international NGOs, agencies of the United Nations system, bilateral partners…) with a view to gratifying the ERC with the human, material and/or financial resources required to execute their programme of activities. The other missions entrusted to it include ensuring the relevance and quality of services offered by the ERC and guaranteeing that their commitments to the Federation, Government and other support partners are respected.