The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945. 

UNESCO has 195 Members and eight Associate Members of which the British Virgin Islands has been associated since 1983. UNESCO is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, implements the decisions of these two bodies. The Organization has more than 50 field offices around the world. Its headquarters are located at Place de Fontenoy in Paris, France, in in an outstanding, Modernist building inaugurated in 1958 and recently renovated.

Vision

Mission

The BVI National Commission for UNESCO has the mission of serving the Virgin Islands community by promoting international co-operation among the organization locally and throughout the World. UNESCO is an agency under the United Nations and, we recognize all UN Days. UNESCO aims to foster partnerships in the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through Education, the Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information.

Core Values

The BVI National Commission for UNESCO reaffirms the founding principles of UNESCO and enhances its role:

• In a globalized world with interconnected societies, intercultural dialogue is vital if we are to live together while acknowledging our diversity
• In an uncertain world, the future of nations depends not only on their economic capital or natural resources, but on their collective ability to understand and anticipate changes in the environment - through education, scientific research and the sharing of knowledge
• In an unstable world - marked by fledgling democratic movements, the emergence of new economic powers and societies weakened by multiple stress factors – the educational, scientific and cultural fabric of societies – along with respect for fundamental rights - guarantees their resilience and stability
• In a connected world - with the emergence of the creative economy and knowledge societies, along with the dominance of the Internet, the full participation of everyone in the new global public space is a prerequisite for peace and development
   

UNESCO is known as the "intellectual" agency of the United Nations. At a time when the world is looking for new ways to build peace and sustainable development, people must rely on the power of intelligence to innovate, expand their horizons and sustain the hope of a new humanism. UNESCO exists to bring this creative intelligence to life; for it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace and the conditions for sustainable development must be built.