The Secretariat of UNESCO is placed under the General Conference (held biennially) and the Executive Board (meets biannually). It is divided into 5 sectors specializing in the respective fields of Education, Natural Science, Human and Social Science, Culture and ICT. They often work together in an interdisciplinary way.

General Conference

 General Conference is the supreme decision-making body and held every two years. It decides policy of UNESCO activity, approves programme and budget, and appoints Director-General.

 Please visit General Conference at UNESCO Headquarters for more information.

©UNESCO et UNESCO/Andrew Wheeler

Executive Board

 The Executive Board consists of delegations from 58 countries and its meetings are held biannually. Japan has continuously been a member of the Executive Board since its entry in 1951.

 Please visit Executive Board at UNESCO Headquarters for more information.

©UNESCO/Michel Ravassard et UNESCO/Andrew Wheeler

The Secretariat

 The Secretariat consists of the Director-General and the Staff appointed by him. There are about 2,300 civil servants from some 170 countries, who are divided into the Professional and General Service categories. Under the recent decentralization policy, more than 680 staff members now work in UNESCO’s 58 field offices around the world.

 The Director-General draws up the Programme and Budget, and the Secretariat is responsible for implementing these programmes in the respective 5 sectors: Education, Natural Science, Human & Social Science, Culture and ICT.

©UNESCO, UNESCO/Franck Dunouau et UNESCO/Alexis N. Vorontzoff

Please visit The Organization at UNESCO Headquarters for more details.