United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) was established in London, United Kingdom on 16 November 1945. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, Sciences and Culture. UNESCO’s programmes contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in Agenda 2030, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. As of 16 June 1958, Malaysia had become a member of UNESCO.

 

According to Article VII-Constitution of UNESCO, each Member State shall make such arrangements as suit its particular conditions for the purpose of associating its principal bodies preferably by the formation of a National Commission who shall act in an advisory capacity as well as agency of liaison in all matter relating to UNESCO. Therefore, Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO (MNCU) was established on 7 July 1966 under the purview of Ministry of Education Malaysia.

 

Geran Sumbangan SKUM (GSS) or MNCU Contribution Grant is an annual program in which MNCU supports implementation of various programme pertaining to UNESCO’s key competencies and/or national priorities related to the former competencies at the national level. These include promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 (http://en.unesco.org/sdgs) where UNESCO is involved in implementing SDGs related to education, science, social science, culture, communication and information.

 

MNCU had started to provide seed fund for projects related to UNESCO competencies through GSS since 2008 and had supported approximately 350 projects since then. The application is open to government and civil society organizations subject to the terms and conditions such as availability of funds and consideration by GSS Evaluation Committee.