Category: Culture and Communication

**Dr. AlMalik: ISESCO is keen to benefit from the potential of foresight thought in moving beyond time

**Dr. Sall: strategic foresight has become a survival imperative and not a luxury

The Open Meeting on “Social Transformations and Foresight”, held yesterday at the headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), witnessed great interaction from the audience and a rich debate on the importance of strategic foresight in modern times, which has become a survival imperative and not a luxury according to the guest of the meeting, Dr. Alioune Sall, Founder and CEO of the African Futures Institute (AFI) in South Africa.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General, gave a statement in which he reaffirmed that ISESCO’s new forward-looking vision and strategy requires the anticipation of the future with a scientific approach so as to largely benefit Member States, and added that this keenness is behind the establishment of the Centre of Strategic Anticipation in ISESCO.

In addition, Dr. AlMalik welcomed Dr. Sall, commended the theme of the lecture and stressed ISESCO’s keenness to benefit from the potential of foresight thought in moving beyond time and saving money and efforts through the proactive preparation for future scenarios, which are scientifically anticipated so as to allow the decision-makers to have alternative choices to avoid any uncalculated hasty decisions.  

Afterwards, Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the Centre of Strategic Anticipation in ISESCO stressed the importance of disseminating the proactive culture in the Islamic world.

Dr. Hammami also introduced the topic of the lecture. He highlighted the importance of strategic foresight amid the major social transformations in many countries and regions around the world, and stressed the need to distinguish between strategic foresight and expectation as foresight largely draws upon a calculated scientific method in analyzing the past, monitoring the present and anticipating the future.

Prior to his lecture, Dr. Sall stated that he had explained the theme of foresight and its importance for many times, but the connection between foresight and social transformations (theme of the meeting) was the major stimulus for attending and participating in this meeting as well as his belief in the importance of the role that ISESCO may play through interaction with Member States, which witness big social transformations.

In his lecture, Dr. Sall explained that “the foresight thought exists in the Arab and Islamic history and culture. Times change and many countries have developed. There is no historical inevitability. Only change is constant.”

Furthermore, Dr. Sall stressed the importance of anticipating the future, renewing the production of thought and sciences, and the need to grasp the past so as to understand the present and have the courage to develop conceptions about the future. “We live in the future more than in the present and we cannot live in the past. We need to understand the world where we will spend the rest of our lives,” He added.

Besides, Dr. Sall stressed the need to distinguish between foresight and expectation. “Foresight is based on data, figures and information. Its importance lies in looking far beyond the limits of expectation. Foresight experts and think thanks should help actors of change to develop and follow-up to their work to avoid taking hasty or wrong decisions.” He explained.

Dr. Sall further highlighted that “we should promote thinking capacity, develop minds, and invest in human capacities so as to understand the threats of the future. Such actions are necessary to survive and put an end to dependence.”

In addition, Dr. Sall clarified that there is a disparity, major deficiency and a large gap between countries of the North and the South. “Africa produces 3% of knowledge and accounts for 10% of world population. Knowledge production should be increased. We should have the ambition, promote ethics and assume the responsibility toward the present and the future.”

Dr. Sall also called upon migrant brains to provide their knowledge and expertise to their home countries and invited countries to encourage such contributions, join efforts and work in harmony, stating that Burundi is a successful example in benefiting from its migrant citizens.

Moreover, Dr. Sall talked about the problems of demographic distribution and growth, migrations, unemployment and the multiple foresight scenarios, and stressed the need to identify the needs of societies before initiating any foresight process.

On her part, Dr. Rahmata Almamy Mbaye, Director of Human and Social Sciences at ISESCO, stated that the Organization established the Centre of Strategic Anticipation to propose ideas likely to serve the Islamic world and promote the partnership in building coherent strategies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr. Rahmata also highlighted ISESCO’s interest in analyzing social variables and providing opportunities for young people to live in their countries away from the life-threatening risk of immigration.

Afterwards, the guest received and answered the questions of the audience, and admired the discussion.

During the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC), held at ISESCO headquarters in Rabat, participants engaged in deep discussions on cultural heritage in Islamic countries, its preservation, conservation and restoration of its damaged elements. To this effect, the IWHC issued important decisions, namely the inscription of 120 historic sites on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL), including three sites on the List of Heritage in Danger.

Key among the decisions is also the creation of the Exclusive List of Sacred Islamic Sites in the Islamic World, covering Al-Kaa’bah Al-Musharafa, Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

This is the full text of the Final Report of the Meeting:

Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC)

ISESCO headquarters, Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco

02-03 December 2019

Final Report

As part of the efforts exerted by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) to preserve Islamic civilizational heritage in the Islamic world, in a bid to promote efforts aiming at safeguarding and documenting elements of tangible heritage in Member States, and within the framework of implementing the Organization’s new relevant vision, ISESCO held an extraordinary meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC), at its permanent headquarters in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, on 02-03 December 2019. The meeting saw the participation of the following Member States’ representatives in the Committee: State of Kuwait, Republic of Iraq, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Federal Republic of Nigeria, in addition to the representatives of the Scientific Commission in the Committee (from the Kingdom of Morocco), while the representatives of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Uzbekistan were not able to attend.

During the opening session, Mr. Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture at ISESCO, gave an address wherein he first welcomed the Committee’s members, thanked them for attending the meeting, and conveyed the greetings of H.E. Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General and his best wishes for the success of this meeting. Mr. Rhiati also underlined the key role the IWHC plays in safeguarding the historic, civilizational and natural landmarks in the Islamic world, while highlighting the new vision followed and challenges addressed by the Organization in this field.

Then, Dr. Waleed Alsaif, the Committee Chair, extended his thanks to ISESCO and to the Committee’s General Secretariat for holding this extraordinary meeting in the best conditions, and commended the Organization’s keenness to inscribe one hundred (100) new heritage site on the “Islamic World Heritage List”.

Moreover, the Committee listened to the presentation by Dr. Ezzedin Al-Asbahi, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen, the Meeting’s guest of honor, on “Heritage and Reserves in the Republic of Yemen: Reality and Challenges”. In his presentation, Mr. Al-Asbahi talked about the situation of tangible heritage and natural reserves in Yemen and the destruction, vandalization and pillage to which is subject since many years. He also commended ISESCO’s efforts to save and preserve this heritage and called on the IWHC to take all the necessary measures to protect cultural heritage in the Republic of Yemen.

H.E. Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General, attended the first working session and stressed, in his address to the participants, the importance of boosting the IWHC’s action and exerting further efforts to preserve the Islamic world’s heritage in Member States.

The meeting, held over the course of two days, examined the items listed on its agenda. Among these items, there is the issue of industrial heritage which was the topic explored by Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Hussein, Head of the Industrial Heritage Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in a presentation on the experience of Saudi Arabia in the field, while reaffirming the importance of inscribing such sites on the IWHL.    

After deliberations, the Committee adopted the following:

• Setting up an exclusive list for sacred sites in the Islamic world, covering Al-Kaa’bah Al-Musharafa, Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds Al-Sharif. 
• Inscribing 43 new heritage sites on the Final Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL), and urging competent parties to submit more nomination files to inscribe their sites on this list during the Committee’s 9^th Meeting to be held in the first quarter of 2020;
• Inscribing 59 new heritage sites on the Tentative List of the Islamic World Heritage, and urging the competent parties in the countries concerned to provide ISESCO with technical files and fill in the relevant inscription form;
• Creating a list for cultural and natural heritage in danger in the Islamic world;
• Inscribing 3 sites in the Republic of Yemen as a cultural and natural heritage in danger and calling for joined efforts to place back these sites on the Final List of World Heritage List.
• Adopting the form of the inscription of the elements of intangible heritage on the IWHL and called on ISESCO General Directorate to communicate the list to all Member States and urged it to prepare relevant inscription files;
• Adopting the proposal of “Islamic World Museums Week” in coincidence with 25 September of every year (Islamic World Heritage Day) which marks the birthday of the OIC; and calling on competent parties to give an exhaustive list of Islamic arts museums, public or private, in their respective countries and provide ISESCO with relevant information.
• Welcoming the proposal of the Ministry of Culture and Handicrafts Industries in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to inscribe the Mahdara (traditional Quranic school) on the IWHL, and invited ISESCO General Directorate to coordinate efforts with the relevant competent parties.

Likewise, the Committee called on ISESCO General Directorate to:

• Dispatch experts to the competent parties in the Republic of Yemen to assist them in rehabilitating endangered heritage and natural reserves and inscribing more Yemeni historic landmarks on the IWHL;
• Gear a number of executive programmes for the benefit of Member States in order to inscribe industrial heritage sites on the World Heritage List and Islamic World Heritage List;
• Hold intensive training sessions for Member States’ staff to enable them to prepare nomination files for heritage sites and elements of intangible heritage for inscription on the IWHL;
• Hold an expert meeting to revise and define the criteria of inscription on the IWHL;
• Urge competent parties in Member States to prepare exclusive lists of elements of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and provide the necessary data thereon to be uploaded on the “Web Portal for Historic and Archeological Sites and Landmarks in the Islamic World”, established by ISESCO to showcase Member States’ abundance of  historic and archeological sites and landmarks that bear human and civilizational significance; and set up a bibliographic, digital and interactive database for the various elements of the architectural and urban heritage in the Islamic world;
• Coordinate with Member States’ competent parties to oversee the joint inscription on the IWHL of a number of model historic and civilizational routes (routes of Hajj, trade, scholars; students, manuscripts, etc.) and bolster the role of the Assisting Scientific Committee of the IWHC to give suggestions thereon.

At the end of the Meeting, the Committee extended its heartfelt thanks to Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General, his sustained efforts to boost the programmes of the Organization relevant to the protection of cultural and natural heritage in the Islamic world; training of specialized staff and the inscription of heritage sites and elements of cultural heritage on the IWHL according to a new vision; and his keenness to improve the IWHC’s performance and action, and maintain the periodicity of its meetings.

Today at the headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee closed with approving the inscription of 120 heritage sites in the Islamic world, of which 117 sites on the Islamic World Heritage List and 3 sites on the newly created List of Islamic World Heritage in Danger.  

This meeting was held as part of ISESCO’s efforts to conserve civilizational heritage in the Islamic world and promote its efforts aiming to safeguard and document the elements of tangible heritage in Member States in implementation of its new vision on heritage and culture.

The meeting brought together the representatives of the Member States of the Committee, namely the State of Kuwait, Republic of Iraq, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as two representatives of the Assisting Scientific Commission from the Kingdom of Morocco. Nevertheless, the representatives of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Uzbekistan could not attend.

The meeting, convened on 2-3 December 2019, examined the items placed on the agenda. After due deliberations, Mr. Najib Ghiati, Director of Culture at ISESCO, announced that the Committee approved the inscription of 117 sites on ISESCO’s Islamic World Heritage List, of which 49 new sites on the Final List and 5 new sites and 53 sites on the Tentative List inscribed on UNESCO Tentative List as well.

Mr. Ghiati stated that the Committee inscribed 3 sites in Yemen on the List Islamic World Heritage in Danger while 7 other sites were deferred.

The Committee agreed to create an exclusive list of the holy sites in the Islamic world covering Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and examine the proposal of establishing the Islamic World Museums Week.

Moreover, the Committee urged ISESCO General Directorate to dispatch a technical committee of experts to the Republic of Yemen for assistance in rehabilitating cultural heritage and natural reserves in danger; inscribing further monuments on the Islamic World Heritage List, in coordination with the relevant competent parties in Yemen; allocating a number of executive programmes for Member States to inscribe industrial heritage sites on WHL and IWHL. The Committee is also tasked with organizing intensive training sessions for Member States’ staff so as to be able to prepare application files of heritage sites and intangible heritage elements for inscription on the IWHL.

In the same vein, the Committee reaffirmed the importance of urging Member States’ competent parties to prepare exclusive lists for the elements of tangible and intangible heritage, provide relevant necessary information to be published on the “Web Portal for Historical Monuments and Archeological Sites and Sites in the Islamic World”, created by ISESCO to list the historic landmmarks and heritage sites of civilizational and human significance in its Member States; and set up an interactive online bibliographic database for the elements of architectural and urban heritage in the Islamic world.

The Committee requested that Members States’ culture ministers be invited, through the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers (Tunis, 17-18 December 2019), to contribute to the implementation of further programmes of cultural heritage preservation and submission of more application files for inscription on the IWHL.

At the close of the meeting, the Committee thanked H.E. Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General, and the General Directorate for the good hospitality, their sustained efforts to protect cultural and natural heritage in the Islamic world and their keenness to improve the performance of the IWHC and maintain the periodicity of its meetings.

Today, the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC) kicked off at the headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat, and will convene over the course of two days.

In the ISESCO address he gave at the opening session, Mr. Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture at ISESCO, warned that the List of World Heritage in Danger includes 37 sites in the Islamic world, out of the List’s 54 sites, accounting for about 70% of the sites in danger. “Our mission today is to build a new system capable of building capacities to safeguard and rehabilitate our cultural and civilizational heritage to contribute more strongly in our countries’ respective socio-economic development”, the ISESCO official noted.

Likewise, Mr. Rhiati reaffirmed that ISESCO’s new vision directs greater attention to promoting the efforts exerted in safeguarding, rehabilitating and investing in cultural heritage by focusing on programmes and activities that aim to give heritage its due importance and promote its role in consolidating cultural identity and achieving socio-economic development.

These goals are in harmony with the contents of the recommendations issued by the IWHC Eighth Meeting, which stressed the need to direct more attention to safeguarding this heritage, and create contracts between the governmental sectors in charge of heritage, specialized international bodies, and the organizations of civil society operating in this field to draw a participatory roadmap with complementary roles. The Committee also recommended the inscription of more cultural heritage sites on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL), the creation of ISESCO’s Web Portal for Historic Landmarks and Archeological Sites in the Islamic World, and the proclamation of a museum week in the Islamic world.

On another note, during the opening session, Dr. Waleed Alsaif, the IWHC Chair, welcomed the meeting’s participants and extended his thanks to ISESCO and its General Directorate for holding this extraordinary meeting in the best conditions, and commended the Organization’s intention to inscribe one hundred (100) new heritage site on the Islamic World Heritage List.

Afterwards, Dr. Ezzedin Al-Asbahi, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen, gave a presentation on “heritage and reserves in the Republic of Yemen: reality and challenges”.

A group photo of the participants was taken prior to proceeding to the meeting’s working sessions.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will host an open meeting with Dr. Alioune Sall, Founder, Executive Director of the African Futures Institute in South Africa, at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday 4 December 2019, to discuss Social transformations and strategic anticipation.

The meeting will discuss anticipatory culture and simplify the notion of strategic anticipation and its interaction with social transformations, with the participation of Dr. Kais Hammami, Expert, Director of the Center of Strategic Anticipation; Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Director of Human and Social Sciences.

The event will be held as part of ISESCO’s new vision through which it seeks to turn into a beacon of global outreach by promoting wider openness to the world, cooperation with international organizations sharing the same fields of action. It also aims to support civil society, protect children, give refugees and the displaced access to education and promote the new roles of artificial intelligence (AI) and future education models.

The meeting is open to the interested public for attendance and contribution to the open debate.

the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, yesterday in Tunis, held the meeting of the Joint Preparatory Committee of the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers and the closing ceremony of Tunis as Capital of Islamic Culture for 2019, due to be held on 17-18 December 2019. The meeting was presided over by Dr. Mohamed Zine El Abidine, Tunisian Minister of Cultural Affairs, and attended by Mr. Mohamed Ghemari, Director of the Executive Council, General Conference and the Specialized Ministerial Conferences of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).

In addition to officials of the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the meeting brought together the representatives of the Tunisian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Local Affairs and Environment, Tourism and Handicrafts, Equipment, Housing and Territorial Planning, and the Tunisian Customs as well as Tunis’ Municipality and Governorate.

During this meeting, Dr. Zine El Abidine stressed the need to provide adequate logistic and technical organization and media coverage for this Conference to reflect the event’s value and Tunisia’s position in the Islamic world. He also lauded the efforts exerted throughout a whole year to ensure the success of this event, give the Conference due attention in both Tunisia and the Islamic world, and upgrade the Islamic culture’s presence in the Tunisian cultural identity.

On his side, Mr. Ghemari commended the cooperation between ISESCO and the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the other official bodies concerned with the event to ensure its success and highlight the position of Tunisia.

Moreover, the meeting reviewed the overall cultural activities and events organized throughout a whole year in Tunis as the Capital of Islamic Culture, and the participation of some of Tunisian internal parties with Islamic civilizational dimension and national and Islamic significance. The participants also explored the necessary measures and arrangements, and the final preparations for the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers and the closing ceremony of Tunis as the Capital of Islamic Culture on 17-18 December 2019.