Category: Front Page

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in partnership with the Jordanian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, held a national workshop to strengthen the capacities of Jordanian municipal employees in the field of education for sustainable development, on 16 September 2026. The workshop was conducted in person in the Jordanian capital, Amman, and via videoconference, with the aim of exchanging expertise and best practices among Jordanian municipalities.

In his address during the opening session, Dr. Ahmed Albanyan, Head of the Education Sector, Supervisor of the Translation and Publishing Center, stressed that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires transforming national policies into tangible local practices whose impact citizens can feel in their cities, municipalities, and daily surroundings. He highlighted the pivotal role of municipalities in raising community awareness and implementing the SDGs, particularly Goal 4 on ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Furthermore, Dr. Albanyan outlined a number of practical approaches that municipalities can adopt, including integrating sustainable development concepts into municipal plans, strengthening cooperation with schools, universities, and civil society institutions, and transforming municipal facilities, libraries, parks, and community centers into learning spaces. He also emphasized the importance of using local data and indicators to measure the impact of programs and enhance their effectiveness.

Dr. Albanyan noted that climate change has become a reality affecting water resources, food security, public health, infrastructure, and lifestyles. He reviewed ICESCO’s efforts through its educational programs and initiatives, foremost among them the Global Dashboard for Monitoring Progress in Green Education, to support its Member States in developing policies and programs that strengthen the capacity of educational systems and communities to address environmental and climate challenges.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), announced the “10K Leaders Training Program,” on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, in partnership with the International Center for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE). The announcement was made during the fourth edition of the UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

The program aims to train 10,000 leaders in the field of AI over two years across ICESCO’s 53 Member States. It targets two categories. The first comprises institutional and strategic leaders, including ministers, senior officials, diplomats, parliamentarians, and heads of national institutions and bodies. The second includes professionals, academics, technical experts, private-sector decision-makers, researchers, educators, students, young professionals, and entrepreneurs.

At the program’s launch, Dr. AlMalik stated that AI governance has become closely linked to countries’ capability to manage their affairs and determine their own choices. He warned that societies lacking this ability would be subject to decisions made elsewhere and guided by priorities they had no role in shaping. He noted that only two countries from the Islamic world rank among the top 20 in the Government AI Readiness Index, describing this as a gap that must be addressed.

ICESCO Director-General explained that the Organization prioritizes investment in people, convinced that leadership development and technology transfer are key to utilizing AI to enable societies to navigate ongoing transformations.

Dr. AlMalik stated that the training program is structured around four tracks: AI fundamentals, advanced AI applications, AI ethics and governance, and the role of AI in strategic decision-making. The content will be tailored to the responsibilities of beneficiaries and their countries’ national priorities.

He added that the program places particular emphasis on women and young people and is grounded in the ethical principles and values outlined in the “Riyadh Charter for Artificial Intelligence in the Islamic World”. The program also focuses on sustaining the impact of training, supporting national strategies, and providing a platform for continuous learning and networks connecting governments, academia, and industry.

Dr. AlMalik concluded by inviting universities, partner institutions, and the private sector to join the program and contribute to building an Islamic world prepared for the AI era.
Afterwards, ICAIRE held a ceremony attended by Dr. AlMalik and Dr. Majid AlShehry, Acting Director-General of ICAIRE, to celebrate the program’s first cohort of graduates.

The International Scientific and Practical Conference titled “Sheikh Seyid Yahya Bakuvi in the Cultural Heritage of the Islamic World: Moderate Values and Contemporary Challenges” concluded on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) co-organized the Conference in cooperation with the Caucasus Muslims Office, Organization of Turkic States, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), and Muslim Council of Elders in Abu Dhabi. The Conference aimed to commemorate the scholar and thinker Sheikh Sayyid Yahya Bakuvi Shirvani and raise awareness of his scholarly and intellectual contributions.

ICESCO was represented at the three-day conference, held as part of the proceedings of the 7th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Muslim Religious Boards of the Organization of Turkic States, by Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of the Partnerships and International Cooperation Sector, and Ambassador Khalid Fathalrahman, Head of the Center for Civilizational Dialogue. The Conference brought together around 200 prominent participants, including religious scholars and heads of organizations and institutions, from 40 countries and 18 international organizations.

In his address during the opening session, Mr. Karimov highlighted Sheikh Bakuvi’s role in advancing intellectual enlightenment and promoting the values of tolerance, human solidarity, cultural dialogue and peaceful coexistence in the Islamic world.

For his part, Ambassador Fathalrahman, during a panel discussion at the Conference, underscored the profound civilizational impact of Bakuvi’s contributions to Islamic philosophy, Sufism, classical Islamic studies and civilizational values in the Islamic world.

The Education Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in a specialized regional workshop titled “Best Practices in Addressing Large-Scale International Studies,” organized by the UNESCO Regional Centre for Quality and Excellence in Education, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of the State of Qatar and the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, on 13 and 14 September 2026.

Representing the Education Sector at the workshop, held via videoconference, was Dr. Ahmed Albanyan, Head of the Education Sector and Director of the Translation and Publishing Center at ICESCO. He discussed ways to transform the outputs of international studies, including data, indicators and reports, into development policies and programs that generate tangible impact in schools and classrooms.

He also emphasized that the true value of international studies is measured by the ability of education systems to interpret their findings and translate them into decisions, policies and programs that can be implemented, measured and reviewed. He noted that international studies provide countries with an opportunity to identify gaps among learners, schools and regions, as well as assess the impact of environmental and social challenges, educational resources, teacher preparation and curricula.

Furthermore, Dr. Albanyan outlined an integrated framework for leveraging the findings of international studies through six interconnected processes: reading and interpreting the findings, setting priorities, designing and implementing programs, and then evaluating their impact. He also called for the development of clear, evidence-based implementation programs, specifying target groups, responsible entities, budgets, timelines and measurable indicators, while adopting a systematic piloting approach for programs before scaling up their implementation.

In conclusion, Dr. Albanyan proposed establishing a permanent national mechanism for leveraging the findings of international studies, bringing together representatives from the sectors of assessment, measurement, planning, curricula, teacher training, and funding, alongside universities and research centers. He also proposed launching a regional initiative titled “From International Study Findings to Classroom Impact,” including a practical guide for translating findings into policies through the development of a standard model for national response plans.

The Science and Environment Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in the international forum “Space Days Kazakhstan 2026,” organized by Kazakhstan’s space agency and hosted by Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 7 and 8 September 2026. The event was attended by high-level officials, led by Mr. Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In his remarks during the opening session, Dr. Muhammad Sharif, Advisor at the Science and Environment Sector, highlighted the importance of harnessing artificial intelligence technologies, Earth observation, small satellites and lunar exploration to accelerate the pace of sustainable development. He emphasized the need to narrow the gaps between countries of the Islamic world and other countries around the world in the areas of capacity building and ensuring equal opportunities.

The event program featured high-level sessions and technical workshops on satellite technologies, artificial intelligence, Earth observation, space sciences and the importance of international cooperation. The second day of the event also included a session titled “International Space Sciences: The Space Science Community, Capacity Building and International Cooperation,” moderated by Dr. Sharif. During the session, participating experts and specialists discussed ways and mechanisms for developing programs and projects in the fields of space science and technology and professional capacity building.

On the sidelines of the event, the ICESCO representative held a meeting with officials from Ghalam and Freedom to discuss ways and mechanisms for cooperation on the launch of the ICESCO satellite.