Three cities of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Baku, Ganja and Gabala have become members of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.   

On September 23, 2020, Azerbaijani cities were among the members announced by the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities for the first time. This year, a total of 55 cities from 27 countries have joined the Global Network. As regards this, on September 23, video conferences were held to announce the new members of the Network.

The process of our cities' membership in the network was initiated and organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO, with the support of the Ministry of Education, with the participation of the Permanent Delegation of Azerbaijan to UNESCO and relevant executive authorities.     

It should be noted that the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities is considered one of the most important projects in lifelong learning. The mission of this Network of UNESCO is to support and accelerate the practice of lifelong learning in the world’s communities by promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities, forging links, fostering partnerships, building capacities and developing instruments to encourage and recognize progress in building learning cities. Currently, 230 cities from 64 countries are members of the Network. The Global Network of Learning Cities is coordinated by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany.