Leading UNESCO activities in the field of lifelong learning.

Contemporary society is looking for solutions that will respond to the challenges and requirements of civilization. With the development of new technologies and the Internet it is necessary to acquire appropriate competences to be able to navigate the network and virtual world. The article presents selected activities of the international organization of UNESCO in the field of lifelong learning and media education. UNESCO has a rich tradition of reflections and actions for continuing education and media education. The subject of lifelong learning education appeared in the first years of the organization’s activity and continues to be one of the main challenges it faces. Education of the 21st century needs constant modifications that will be improved along with technological development. In the article, the Conferences in Montreal and Nairobi were compared, the views of J. Kidd and P. Lengrand, the Faure report and the Delaros report.

Cultural diplomacy has always been an important tool in Italian foreign policy. Culture represented a significant resource already in the liberal period and was also widely used by Fascism. During the inter-war period, cultural promotion abroad aimed at spreading the regime’s political-social organizational model. In the second post-war period, cultural resources played a fundamental role in Italian international relations. The democratic government carried out a transition from an essentially propagandistic action, which Fascism implemented especially in the second half of 1930’s, to a cultural diplomacy more attentive to the issues of dialogue and cooperation. The soft power of culture grew in importance. Lacking effective diplomatic tools of a political and economic nature, the new ruling class promoted the nation’s cultural tradition. Although with means and personnel widely used already during the Fascist period, democratic Italy adopted an innovative cultural diplomacy with regard to premises and goals. This policy was apparently low-key and devoid of political themes, but in reality it was aimed at acquiring, in the long run, the friendship and the sympathy of the elites of other countries, so as to bolster political and economic relations. In the framework of a broader course of action, aimed at supporting multilateral diplomacy, the new leaders of post-Fascist Italy also promoted an international cultural cooperation which reversed the previous power politics and the unilateral assertion of Italian culture, but was still careful to defend the nation’s interests. This cooperative dimension was realized above all with the participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).