The 40^th session of the Executive Council of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), being held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, adopted the new ICESCO Organizational Structure, submitted by the Organization’s General Directorate to the Council, in order to meet the requirements of ICESCO’s new vision and future action plan. The current session of the Executive Council enjoys the powers of the General Conference.

The Structure was adopted, taking into consideration the observations of ICESCO Executive Council members during deliberations, following the presentation made by the General Directorate on the reasons behind changing the old structure, including the interplay between the functions of some directorates, the inadequate status of some directorates in comparison with the roles they play. The new structure also aims to meticulously identify the responsibilities in a way that guarantees optimal performance at the Organization in light of its vision that adopts openness and more communication with Member States, the world, and regional and international organizations in the fields of education, science and culture.

In this regard, the General Directorate stated that the Organization sought the services of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to examine ICESCO’s Organizational Structure and submit a draft new structure based in the working requirements of the Organization in the next period. To this end, a consultative team was formed consisting of the IPA training faculty members specializing in relevant fields. The team reviewed the old Structure and separately met with all ICESCO directors and officials to identify the work nature of each directorate and center, then proposed the new structure which was fine-tuned based on the observations of ICESCO staff.

Key elements in the new Structure  include the creation of the two new positions, namely, the Deputy Director General and the Assistant Director General. The Deputy Director General shall be in charge of ICESCO’s main action sectors (Education, Culture and Communication, Social and Human Sciences, Science and Technology), whereas the Assistant Director General shall be in charge of the common services including the Directorates of Support Services, Information Technology and Printing and Publishing, in addition to the Center of Translation. Other directorates report directly to the Director General, including the Office of the Director General, the Directorate of Legal Affairs, the General Secretariat  and Conferences, the Financial Controller, the Directorate of Institutional Information and Communication, the Directorate of Public Relations and Protocol, the Directorate of Prizes, Scholarships and Excellence Initiatives, and the Office of Goodwill Ambassadors.