To celebrate International Literacy Day, held on 8 September of each year, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is delighted to announce the winning institutions of its 2023 prize for girls and women’s literacy, which was previously launched on 6 September 2022 for the benefit of civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The prize aims to encourage pioneering initiatives and best practices in literacy and non-formal education designed for girls and women.

ICESCO set up a committee of experts to select among 439 files from 24 member states those that meet the requirements and criteria of the prize. The committee selected two winning institutions; Future Eve Association for Family Development and Environment from the Arab Republic of Egypt on its project named “Education as a Gateway to Empowerment: The Approach of Women and Life” and Obhizatrik Foundation from the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on its project “Empowering the Poorest Women.” The committee suspended the award for the French-speaking countries for failure to meet the eligibility criteria and requirements of the nominees.

Each prize amounts to USD 3,000, in addition to ten tablets and appreciation certificates that ICESCO will award to the three winners during its next session of the executive council in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The prize came as part of ICESCO’s vision, which accords special importance to education as a beacon of achieving sustainable development.

On International Literacy Day, and in a world with more than 750 million people, both youth and elderly, unable to read and write and another 250 million children, and mostly women and girls, failing to acquire basic literacy skills, ICESCO would reiterate the significance of harnessing synergy to fight illiteracy and guarantee equitable, inclusive and quality education for all in addition to promoting lifelong learning opportunities.

In the era of AI and modern technologies, ICESCO stresses the need for serious action aimed at bringing a fundamental change through the use of ICT by focusing on the most vulnerable population, especially girls and women, mobilizing necessary financial resources and leveraging investments allocated to this field, as well as providing more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).