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The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Moroccan Observatory on Extremism and Violence held a meeting to discuss a number of ideas and proposals related to the arrangements for organizing the Second International Conference on Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism, under the theme “Collective Intelligence in Combating Terrorism and Building Strategies to Combat Violent Extremism and Prevention”.

The meeting, held on Monday, April 25, 2022, at ICESCO headquarters, in Rabat, explored a number of ideas and proposals related to the preparation for the conference, to be held on 8-10 June 2022. The two sides agreed that ICESCO will host the conference at its headquarters.

The meeting brought together Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, ICESCO Deputy Director-General, Ambassador Khaled Fathrahman, Director of ICESCO Center of Civilizational Dialogue, and Mr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Director of the Department of Legal Affairs and International Standards at ICESCO, as well as Dr. Mostafa El-Rezrazi, President of the Moroccan Observatory on Extremism and Violence.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in partnership with the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in the Kingdom of Morocco, will launch today, Thursday, April 28th, 2022, the lecture series, “Cenacles of Gentle Exchanges”. Seeking to highlight the modern and ancient civilzational and historical aspects of Rabat, the series is part of the Celebration of Rabat as Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022.

The first lecture will kick off at 2:00 p.m UTC, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, which will be presented by Ms. Fouzia Ben Abbad, Head of the Department of Mosque-based Literacy at the Moroccan Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs. The lecture will discuss the topic of the role of mosques in women’s literacy.

The lecture series will span over the period of two months and aims to highlight the civilizational and cultural depository of Rabat and the glorious history of the Kingdom of Morocco. These include historical mosques, patterns in manuscripts, ashama’il books, Moroccan endowments in the Two Holy Mosques, Moroccan monarchs’ special attention to the Holy Quran and Sahih Al-Bukhari, and other issues that cast light in civilizational aspects of the Kingdom.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), announced the launching of the ICESCO Women Poets Forum in March 2022 during ICESCO’s International Celebration in observance of the World Poetry Day, held its first activities by presenting the experiences of three women poets from Syria and Iraq.

ICESCO Women Poets Forum, headed by Ms. Rawda Al-Hajj, aims to introduce women poets and their biographies and creative productions, connect the generations of women poets, shed light on various experiences, establish linkages and promote exchange between women poets from different Muslim countries. The Forum’s activities include the presentation of the experiences of three women poets. The first meeting, held via videoconference, featured the experiences of the poet Ibaa Al-Khatib and the poet Israa Abdel Karim, from the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as the poet Israa Akrawi, from the Republic of Iraq. The meeting was moderated by the poet Dr. Khadija Al-Saidi, from the Kingdom of Morocco.

The Forum, which is a new comprehensive and literary space for creativity, currently includes more than 200 women poets. It endeavors to attract the largest number of women poets from the Islamic world through membership forms. It is also preparing the first volume of its quarterly journal “Shawa’ir” and twenty poem collections. The first conference of the ICESCO Women Poets Forum, which will bear the name of one of the leading women poets, will be organized in one of the ICESCO Member States.

The launch of this Forum marked the close of ICESCO Year for Women 2021 stressing the Organization’s sustained support for women in all fields. ICESCO Year for Women witnessed the implementation of a large number of programmes, activities and competitions, including the ICESCO Prize for Women’s Poetry: “Poem of the Year of Women 2021,” which was awarded to three women poets from Egypt, The Sudan and Yemen, and the publication of a poetry collection that includes the most prominent poems participating in the competition under the title: “Women’s Poetry Shining in Darkness (Hina Asrajna adayajira shi’ran).”

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in the inaugural ceremony of the “Lahadat” Project, which is supervised by the National Organization for Urban Coordination in the Arab Republic of Egypt, under the patronage of Dr. Inès Abdel Daim, Egyptian Minister of Culture, as part of Celebration of Cairo, Culture Capital in the Islamic World, and in observance of the World Heritage Day.

“Lahadat” is the fourth project launched by the National Organization for Urban Coordination, headed by Eng. Mohamed Abu Saada, as part of the series on the city’s memory to define and document the Egyptian cities, within the framework of the initiative “Our heritage is our identity, let us safeguard it together.”

It documents the landmarks of heritage cities, the course of the Nile and the ponds that resulted from the river’s floods, and the impact of these ponds on the method of construction with hard stone and buildings in Egyptian architecture.
The ceremony screened a documentary on the architectural spaces of Al-Ratli Pond, which used to exist in the center of the current city of Cairo. Eng. Abu Saada explained that the National Organization for Urban Coordination launched this project as part of the activities of the Celebration of Cairo, Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022, noting that the project has a special website to introduce the history of this site and how it turned from a water pond to its current form.

At the end of the ceremony, the National Organization for Urban Coordination honored three heritage figures for the year 2022, namely Dr. Muhammad Al-Kahlawi, Professor of Archeology and Islamic Architecture at Cairo University, President of the Union of Arab Archaeologists; Dr. Alaa Al-Habashi, Professor of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, Founder of Bait Yakun for the Preservation of Architectural and Urban Heritage in Historic Cairo and Heritage Crafts; and Dr. Jamal Al Shaer, Writer and Media Figure interested in heritage affairs.

Dr. Sally Mabrouk, Head of the Office of ICESCO Director-General, represented the Organization in this ceremony, which brought together several officials, architects, university architecture students and those interested in urban heritage in Egypt.

The workshop on “Training Women in Income-generating Activities: Processing Agricultural Products and Forest Fruits,” held by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in partnership with Togolese National Commission for ICESCO, concluded its activities. The aim of the training workshop is to involve women in the field of entrepreneurship and environmental preservation.

During the last day of the four-day workshop, the participants visited processing units of grain and fruit in Lome to learn about the importance of quality control of raw material before storage, the conditions for storing products, the need to respect the stages of the product processing chain and to comply with hygiene and sanitation standards throughout the transformation process, as well as regular cleaning of materials and equipment, packaging of products, gaining customer loyalty and developing marketing strategy through relying on means of communication and technology.

The workshop beneficiaries commended ICESCO’s efforts in promoting human development in the Islamic world and providing opportunities for women and young people in the field of entrepreneurship, capacity-building and environmental preservation. The participants also called for joining efforts to increase the number of programmes and training sessions in this field.

Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Deputy Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), and Mr. Najib Ghiati, Cultural Adviser to ICESCO Director-General and General Coordinator of the Celebration of Rabat, Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022, made a working visit to the Royal Archives in Rabat, where they met Dr. Bahija Simo, Director-General of the Royal Archives. The two parties discussed the Archives’ contribution to the general programme of the Celebration of Rabat, Culture Capital in the Islamic world, which being held under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah protect him.

During the meeting, held on Thursday (April 21, 2022), Dr. Bahija Simo stressed the willingness of the Royal Archives to contribute to Rabat Celebration by organizing an exhibition on “Masterpieces of Moroccan Writing through Rare and Unpublished Manuscripts”, at ICESCO headquarters, in October 2022, and a lecture on “Historical Examples of Texts of Allegiance to the Commandment of the Faithful in Morocco: From Moulay Idris to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah protect him”, on June 9, 2022, at ICESCO headquarters, as part of its program “Assemblies of Mubasatat” which includes a series of lectures on civilizational and cultural history of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Every year on April 21st, the world celebrates the Creativity and Innovation Day to raise awareness about the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development. On the occasion of this day, the Islamic World Educational Scientific and Cultural (ICESCO) raises awareness about the importance of coming up with creative and innovative ideas in all aspects of human development and highlights the efforts of those inventors who are bringing innovation and change in the field of science and technology.

ICESCO calls, on the occasion of this day, for the adopting the idea of innovation as essential in harnessing the economic potential of nations. Innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship can all provide a new momentum to economic growth and job creation. It can also create opportunities for all, including women and youth, and provide solutions to pressing problems such as eradicating poverty and ending hunger, therefore, achieve sustainable development.

In this regard, ICESCO has launched an ambition program for training youth in creating and developing their own projects in the field of technology and innovation. The program intends to train young people on how to create and develop small projects in the field of technology and innovation.

ICESCO also believes that awards to promote creativity and innovation capacities of non-formal learning and especially highlighting youth’s work can enhance the creative and innovative capacities of young people in ways that are relevant to employability. In this vein, ICESCO has sponsored a number of awards in the fields of sciences, culture, and education and supported youth innovation.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), took part in the official inauguration ceremony of the Heritage Month 2022 in the Kingdom of Morocco, which was organized by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and headed by its Minister, Mr. Mohammed Mahdi Bensaid. The ceremony saw the signing of a decision to label the “Moroccan Heritage”, which aims to safeguard and preserve Moroccan cultural, as well as the introduction “Empires Routes”, an application that allows for virtual visits to a number of historical sites in Morocco.

The ceremony, which was held yesterday, April 18, 2022, at the Botanical Garden in Rabat, saw the participation of Dr. Ghita Mezouar, Minister Delegate of Digital Transition and Administration Reform; a host of Moroccan Government Officials and Parliament Representatives; and Ms. Helene Le Gal, French Ambassador to Morocco.

The Heritage Month in the Kingdom of Morocco kicks off on 18 April, concurrently with the celebration of the International Day for Monuments and Sites, and concludes its activities on May 18, 2022, which coincides with International Museum Day. The Heritage Month will feature a variety of activities, including 18 workshops for students, 11 art activities, the screening of 29 videos highlighting the Moroccan heritage inside and outside the Kingdom, and several face-to-face and virtual conferences and workshops.