This evaluation of UNESCO human rights education materials for use in the formal sector. The materials were published between 1997 and 2001 and include five volumes commissioned by UNESCO headquarters; material produced by the Associated Schools Project (ASPnet); an extensive citizenship education kit and four books on human rights and democracy produced in Southern Africa for use in the region. The evaluation reviewed the publications against an analytical grid; reported on users’ and officers’ perceptions of their impact; and assessed the number of copies disseminated. The report includes a checklist for the evaluation of future HRE publications and recommendations for such publications. The analysis suggests that the UNESCO materials had relatively good coverage of a range of UNESCO themes including non-violent conflict resolution, tolerance, democracy, human rights, religious intolerance sustainable development and cultural diversity. Other themes, such as anti-racism and terrorism are inadequately covered in the materials. Gender equality receives some coverage, but none of the publications evaluated gives it very full coverage. Users generally perceived the resources to be ‘very useful’ and ‘useful’ in terms of coverage of UNESCO priorities and themes but more so in their coverage of ‘human rights’ and ‘tolerance’. All respondents thought that UNESCO should continue to commission and publish materials on human rights education, noting that there is a need for good classroom materials on human rights education and few materials available to teachers in comparison with conventional subjects. Several respondents thought that materials from UNESCO should be more widely disseminated.
