IAC representative to UNESCO

STÉPHANIE LE FOLLIC-HADIDA

  • Doctorate in art history, exhibition curator specialized in contemporary ceramics.
  • IAC member since 2013
  • Elected IAC representative to UNESCO in 2014.
  • Member of the IAC Council since September 2016.
  • Vice-President of the IAC Council 2018/2024
Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida correspondante AIC auprès de l'UNESCO depuis 2014

Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida, IAC respresentative to UNESCO since 2014


The IAC has been an official NGO partner of UNESCO since 1958 (consultative status). Only 373 international NGOs hold this status of official partner. It is a privilege and a commitment that requires constant engagement.

Our role with UNESCO is regularly evaluated. It is important that the IAC can maintain this strong bond. The IAC strives to make its members and interlocutors aware of UNESCO’s values ​​and missions, and develops in its own name or together with other NGOs a certain number of initiatives in line with UNESCO’s programs as formulated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG 2030), including :

“Education for Global Citizenship and Peace”, “Fostering Creativity”, “Diversity of Cultural Expressions”, “Intercultural Dialogue”, “The Fight Against Climate Change”…

Our asset is our universality: the universality of a material that is at the foundation of cultures, and the universality of our members (880 members in 2020, from 74 countries and 5 continents). This value of internationality should enable us to develop concrete, pragmatic and unifying projects with our members and with other NGO members of UNESCO.


The tenth international forum of NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO, held in Moscow in November 2018.

FORUMS

Every two years, on the occasion of the International Conference of NGOs, NGOs elect their representatives who meet in what is called the Liaison Committee. The latter’s mission is to promote exchanges between NGOs and the UNESCO Secretariat as well as with Member States.

 

On the occasion of this very same International Conference of NGOs, NGOs vote for the implementation of Forums and Days which reflect UNESCO’s objectives and, more generally, major social issues. The following list of Forums and Days demonstrate the IAC’s involvement in concrete terms over the past three years:

Shlomit Bauman, Head Curator at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, IAC affiliate member (left), with Natalia Khlebtsevich, IAC individual member, at the forum in Moscow in 2018


Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida giving a presentation at the tenth international forum of NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO in Moscow in 2018.

 

– Forum “Youth and their Social Impact”, May 3-4, 2017 / Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jacques Kaufmann (President at the time) and Charlyne Kolly (Office Coordinator) represented the IAC.

– Forum “Another Perspective on Migration”, September 26-27, 2018 / Tunis, Tunisia. The IAC took part in the preparatory meetings.

– Forum “Science as common good of humankind: Science in our minds, Science for our times”, November 26-27, 2018 / Moscow, Russian Federation. Shlomit Bauman (Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, affiliate member), Natalia Khlebtsevich (individual member) and Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida (Vice President and representative of the IAC to UNESCO) had 30 minutes to present the scientific virtues of clay (construction in raw earth, the chemistry of enamels, 3D printing) and to raise awareness of the Clay for Peace / Clay without Borders project developed by the IAC in a sub-section entitled “Art & Sciences in the service of peace”.
In parallel, the IAC participated in the debates and the organization of the Drones and Robots for Peace Day for the purpose of the International Day of Peace (September 21, 2020), scheduled to be held in Tolosa (Spanish Basque Country) but postponed due to the pandemic.


NEWS

Over the course of 2020 (with no presence at  UNESCO’s venue in Paris between March and December due to the pandemic), the IAC followed and participated in a number of online platforms organized by various sectors of UNESCO, in particular :

– The RESILIART program; artists and creativity beyond the crisis (culture sector). In this spirit, and subsequent to the tragic succession of events in Lebanon, an interview was held online with Samar Mogharbel (individual member). This same interview was sent to the culture sector of UNESCO.

– A series of Regional Expert Consultations against Racism and Discrimination (human sciences sector).

The IAC, through its representative, also responded to the various surveys submitted to it by UNESCO, relating in particular to the draft medium-term strategy (2022-2029) and to cooperation between partner NGOs and UNESCO.

 

 

As was the case at the Barcelona Congress in 2015, the IAC had programmed a “UNESCO Evening” on the theme of diversity and the rapprochement of cultures, and on the protection and enhancement of cultural minorities. The latter benefited from the official support of the Liaison Committee of UNESCO’s NGO partners. This Congress having been postponed due to the context; the planned evening did not take place. The presence of the President of the Liaison Committee of UNESCO’s partner NGOs, Ms. Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré, and King Houndekpinkou, Janet de Boos, and Suku Park (individual members) had already been confirmed.

Finally, the IAC has acted as a whistleblower twice in the past two years:

– The international NGO openly positioned itself in favour of keeping the ceramics school Escuela de Bulnes in its historic location at Calle Bulnes 45 in Buenos-Aires, Argentina, for the sake of social equity.

– In August 2020, it protested against the decision taken by local authorities to destroy a work by our colleague Enrique Mestre, Manises, Spain.


PROJECTS

Furthermore, since its launch in 2010, the IAC has been involved with the Culture & Diversity Foundation, a UNESCO partner, in a program entitled “Traveling to learn crafts” aimed at young French and international students from priority education. Loul Combres (member) acts locally on behalf of the IAC so that the pottery site of St Jean-de-Fos (Hérault, France) can annually welcome a new candidate for the improvement of ceramic techniques in the workshops of a few volunteer ceramicists. Thus, in 2018, Tejal Mehendale, an Indian student (Indian Institute of Crafts) and in 2019, Maria Elena Papuico Navarro, a Peruvian student (Pontificia Universidad del Peru in Lima), were able to benefit from this program to develop their ceramic skills.

For the past two years, the IAC has also offered the Culture & Diversity Foundation two possibilities of a host residency in China for a French student from priority education (one in Jingdezhen and the other in Longquan).

In 2019, the IAC also joined a group of six NGOs working on the follow-up to the Forum on “Access to water for all” which was held in Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast) in 2014. The NGOs worked with the Intersectoral Committee for UNESCO’s participation program to train hydrological technicians in issues such as access to drinking water, wastewater disposal, the construction of latrines for young girls…

 

In 2019, the IAC, in conjunction with a local NGO, SOS FEVVF (led by Ms. Mariama Moussa), enabled four female interns from Niger to follow a three-week training course at the 2IE Training Center located in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso. The IAC continues to work within this group. With a horizon date of 2022, it is working in close collaboration with two Beninese NGOs and will enable 4 male trainees to be trained.

The Clay for Peace / Clay without Border project, built from the ground up by the IAC and conceived and initiated by Jacques Kaufmann, President Emeritus, aims to show how much clay – be it raw or baked earth, old or very contemporary – can, through art, become a leaven for the rapprochement of peoples and for peace. This project is being developed primarily with the countries of the Middle East. The first stage of its organisation took place in July 2019 in Turkey and a follow-up was scheduled for the Posio-Rovaniemi Congress in July 2020, but as everyone knows, it was postponed due to the pandemic. We are currently working on the organization of an event (exhibition, round table…) in conjunction with the ‘UNESCO Evening’ of the Geneva Congress in 2022.

By its primordiality, clay is an element of dialogue and peace between peoples. It is around this idea that all AIC projects revolve and this is what makes it an NGO official partner of UNESCO.

 

 

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