About ACCU
What is ACCU?
The Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) was established in 1971 through the cooperation of the Japanese government and private sectors, led by the publishing industry, upon request from the United Nations Educational, Cultural, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to establish a core center to promote cultural exchange in the Asia-Pacific region.
Since its establishment, ACCU has implemented activities based on the UNESCO principle, “Peace must be founded upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.” ACCU has cooperated with international organisations, government education agencies, industry and local communities to promote many activities reflecting local needs in educational cooperation, human resource development, and mutual understanding to contribute toward the realisation of a sustainable society.
ACCU’s Core Values
“We want to provide high quality books and learning materials to children in Asia” –ACCU hasimplemented activities under the “joint programme scheme” since its founding to collaborate with experts of various countries in book development.
In this scheme developed with experts in and outside Japan, participating countries collaborate on equal terms, and experts work together to plan and develop the book. The contents are provided by experts from participating countries, leading to mutual understanding of one another’s cultures in the production process.
The three effects created by the “joint programme scheme” – “shared awareness,” “reflection of actual situations,” and “mutual understanding of cultures” – are core values for ACCU, which connects people, countries and regions. ACCU’s core values are reflected in ACCU’s posture to “value localness,” “collaborate,” and “respect and understand one another’s cultures.”