In a compelling keynote address, Ms Shafika Isaacs, Interim Director of UNESCO IITE and Chief of Section for Technology and AI in Education, challenged global leaders to re-examine the “AI talent ecosystem. Her message was clear: as AI infrastructure expands at breakneck speed, we need renewed and urgent commitment to invest in human capacity and human agency".

News of UN agencies and organizations for the period from September to December 2025 is available in the third issue of the “UN in Russia” Bulletin.

The 2025 Youth Innovation: Collaborating to Improve and Protect our Planet (CIPP) campaign has officially concluded, marking a year of unprecedented global engagement. This year, the campaign reached new heights, receiving 30,953 submissions from 36 countries. We are honored to have connected with more than 32,000 students and over 7,300 teachers, creating a truly international dialogue on sustainability and art.

The roundtable discussion focused on ethical, regulatory, and methodological approaches to using AI in education, practices for implementing new technologies in teaching and learning, and AI competencies of teachers.

On January 19, 2026, UNESCO IITE participated in the expert discussion “Educator in the AI Era: International Trends and Kazakhstan's Experience” organized by the National Center for Professional Development “Orleu”.

In alignment with the UN’s call for meaningful youth engagement, UNESCO has released the *Meaningful youth engagement handbook: Empowering schools to foster active participation and leadership*. This 48-page resource provides teachers and school leaders with evidence-based strategies, reflection tools, and case studies to embed youth voice into school governance and pedagogy. To scale the impact of this handbook and train educators globally, UNESCO is seeking to develop a short, self-paced online course to translate the handbook’s philosophy – that student engagement is not an “add-on” but a core element of quality education – into actionable learning.

The Global Competition on Design for Futures (GCD4F), initiated by Beijing Normal University (BNU) in 2018 and co-organized with UNESCO IITE, is an annual flagship event of the World Digital Education Alliance. Formerly focused on education, this year's competition expands its scope to harness the power of design and artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).