Words of Farewell

Last part of intervention of Victor Ordonez, Director, PROAP, at Regional Conference of UNESCO National Commissions, Tashkent Ubekistan 14 July 2000.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, please allow me, on an important and very personal note, to offer one final word. It is a word of thanks.

Over this week, many of you have already heard that I will be leaving PROAP and UNESCO soon. Allow me to express to all of you my deepest gratitude for the opportunity of having served you over the past five years as Director of PROAP.

I thank my headquarters colleagues for their understanding and patience with me as I constantly badgered them with requests for staff and budget in the light of our having to do more and more wit less and less.

I thank my colleagues in the other field offices, who have always show me the fullest support, cooperation, and camaraderie of true partnership.

I thank more especially, even if they are not here, my PROAP colleagues. They have consistently shown me a dedication, respect loyalty, and support in everything we have done together, and I could not have asked for more. If in fact our office has succeeded in being more effective, dynamic responsive, and visible, it is because of the team effort exerted by our office; truly you will not find a better team in all of UNESCO.

I thank the government of Thailand and its National Commission for serving such accommodating hosts to our Office and our staff. Most National Commissions strive to benefit from a UNESCO presence; in this case, for agreeing to be the launching pad for region-wide UNESCO efforts, whether benefiting Thailand or not, they have always been cooperative and generous partners, selflessly benefiting others more that themselves.

Most of all I would like to thank you, the National Commission of this region and through you the Member States. Those of you who know my work or who received me in your countries know that I have given my utmost to my job and responsibilities, sacrificing time, effort, weekends, and even sadly, my health, to always do the best I can. But though I have indeed given much, upon reflection I recognize that what I have received in return from you is much much more.

When I have visited you, I have been overwhelmed by your generous hospitality and warm welcome, forming over the course of the years, some treasured lifelong friendships. You have shown me your countries, your cultures, the vibrancy of your national spirits, so different from each other, and yet each one a precious gem in its own right. You have shared with me your problems and challenges, and often the innovative ways in which you have struggled to meet these challenges and overcome them. Most importantly, you have allowed me to see, in the eyes and smiling faces of the teachers in your classrooms, the literacy and culture workers in the villages, the social scientists in their cubicles, their day-to-day perseverance at their tasks, their dedication and commitment against all odds.

These more than anything else has served to inspire me and to fuel my resolve to match their dedication with mine. In addition, they have given me very specific gifts, insights, real world experiences, lessons on how to deal with specific problems or manage breakthroughs in education, science or culture. You will be glad to know that I have not hoarded and kept these gifts for myself as a repository, but have instead passed them o and shared them with other others as channel, as is UNESCO's function.

Thus, very few know that what I learned from my participation in the education reform efforts in Kazakstan, I was able to use to guide the Presidential Commission on Education Reform in the Philippines . The lessons from poverty alleviation through more relevant primary schooling from my visits to Jilin and Gansu in China (and even from Chile ) found themselves in projects proposals from Cambodia and Vietnam . The community efforts and literacy efforts in Rajastan India and as far away as Ethiopia have helped refine our community learning center models in Bangladesh and Uzbekistan . The list goes on, It is my hope that this ability to cross-fertilize throughout the region, and even across regions, will not be lost in the new cluster decentralization mechanisms.

Mr. Chairman, it is with great reluctance that I have to accept that I can no longer remain in the Organization. I realize this is a crucial time for UNESCO. We are entering a new millennium; we have new leadership and soon a new leadership team in headquarters, a decentralized system of cluster offices, and even more strengthened National Commissions. The potential is enormous and exciting. But the time has come for me to pass on the torch, and to hope that you all join hands in bringing UNESCO to its golden age - where it can truly be a blazing light ad force for peace and development in this world through its area competence. I can only wish your great success; I will be applauding from the sidelines.