From the Secretary-General.

• Position: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

My many years of service with the world Organization have convinced me that the first ingredient of political stability is an informed citizen. The first ingredient of economic progress is a skilled worker. And the first ingredient of social justice is an enlightened society. Education is, thus, the key to global peace and well-being.

You are probably familiar with the proverb: "Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. But teach the man to fish and he will never go hungry." Fair enough - but what does he do once he has eaten? We have to look beyond the traditional concern with subsistence if we are to prepare people to participate in the globalized economy of the twenty-first century.

The world has changed. It is increasingly interdependent. More and more, the problems we face require cooperation across national boundaries, and solidarity beyond individual differences.

Cultures, religions and peoples are collaborating and colliding with ever greater frequency and in ever more complex situations. I am not one of those who foresees an inevitable clash of civilizations. Rather, working at the United Nations has convinced me that values such as tolerance and acceptance of diversity are vital to the future of humanity - that we must cooperate across the distinctions of race, language and creed. We have long since passed the point at which a leader, politician or business person can afford to think in only local terms or assume that there is only one way of doing things.

But with such dramatic transformations - in the workplace, at home and at all levels of government - the way we educate the youth and leaders of tomorrow must also change. Young people need more help than ever in interpreting and understanding the civil, political and economic environments in which they live, and in preparing themselves to assume their roles as responsible adults and citizens. This is true of developed and developing countries alike.

Fortunately, trends such as democratization and economic liberalization have opened up new perspectives for education. An increasing number of nations - including many which have experienced ethnic conflict and civil strife - are searching for educational content and methods that will help them reach a number of interrelated goals: strengthening respect for human rights and the practice of democracy; defeating poverty; protecting the environment; and improving the prospects for international peace and understanding.

This may seem...