National Commissions for UNESCO are established in accordance with Article 7 of the Organization’s Constitution, which provides: “Each Member State shall make such arrangements as suit its particular conditions for the purpose of associating its principal bodies interested in educational, scientific and cultural matters with the work of the Organization, preferably by the formation of a National Commission broadly representative of the government and such bodies”.
The South African National Commission for UNESCO was established in 1998, after South Africa re-joined UNESCO in 1994. The Commission was established to effectively integrate and coordinate UNESCO activities in South Africa, through cooperation with government departments, institutions, and civil society organisations. Its work covers the UNESCO thematic areas, namely; Education, Natural Science, Culture, Communication and Information, and Social and Human Science.