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A delegation from the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), held a meeting with a committee of high-level officials from several Gabonese ministries, in the capital Libreville, to discuss cooperation programs and projects developments between ICESCO and the Gabonese Republic.

During the meeting, held on Monday, March 7, 2022, the two parties discussed several proposed programs and projects for cooperation between ICESCO and Gabon, especially in the areas of strengthening capacities of women, youth, and vulnerable groups; civilized dialogue, and peacebuilding, ensuring the provision of inclusive quality education; and safeguarding heritage and local culture, as part of the efforts to contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.

At the close of the meeting, the participants agreed to continue cooperation and to develop executive plans for several activities, programs and projects, as well as to determine the appropriate schedules and to hold periodic meetings to follow up and evaluate implementation.

ICESCO’s delegation to Gabon consisted of Dr. Koumbou Boly Barry, Head of Education Sector, Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Head of Social and Human Sciences Sector, Ms. Safaa Zabakh, Expert at the sector, and Dr. Nami Salihi, Expert at ICESCO Culture and Communication Sector. The Gabonese committee included Mr. Marcel Kouka, Secretary-General of the Gabonese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, Mr. Serge Kratha, Director of the Office of the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Technology Transfer and National Education, and two representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) took part in a symposium held in observance of the International Women’s Day by the United Nations Development (UNDS) in the Kingdom of Morocco, in cooperation with the Moroccan Diplomatic Foundation, under the theme: “Promoting positive masculinities to accelerate the achievement of gender equality”.

The symposium took place on Monday, March 7, 2022, in Rabat, and saw the participation of Dr. Abdelilah Benarfa, ICESCO Deputy Director-General (DG), Mr. Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Ms. Aawatef Hayar, Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family, and the UNDS Resident Coordinator in Morocco, along with members of the diplomatic corps, civil society organizations and various media outlets.

International Women’s Day is celebrated globally every year on March 8, which is an occasion to confirm that the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) has declared the year 2021 as the Year of Women, under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and carried out dozens of activities for the benefit of Member States through high-level representation and participation. This anniversary coincides with the Organization’s preparation to hold the closing ceremony for ICESCO’s Year of Women on March 2022.

Women have demonstrated a great pioneering role during the COVID-19 crisis, especially in the field of education and health, as they have been on the frontline to counter the pandemic repercussions and alleviate family suffering.

The economic and social empowerment of women and the achievement of equality are among the key goals that Member States seek to achieve as well as the necessary measures to defend the rights of women and girls and to address the outstanding disparities, mainly the high rate of forced marriages in many countries of the world, as well as early marriages of girls, which is against children’s rights. In addition, some customs, which are inconsistent with human dignity as they entail violence against women, are still widespread in many societies.

Several Member States have made great efforts to improve the position of women and girls in public policies and have taken firm measures in this regard. However, more efforts to achieve human dignity and full equality in accordance with national and international legislations are still needed.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) holds a Workshop in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on new trends in educational planning, in cooperation with the Egyptian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, under the auspices of its Chairman, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Arab Republic of Egypt, for the benefit of several educational planners and planning officials at the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, Egyptian universities, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and the General Authority for Adult Education and Literacy.

Starting on March 7, 2022, the four-day workshop aims at developing competent national capacities in the field of educational planning, providing the necessary expertise and skills in this field, publicizing modern knowledge related to educational planning methodologies, processes, methods and techniques, fostering the culture of planning, as well as identifying new trends in educational planning methods and procedures to develop educational systems.

Mr. El-Sayyid El-Absi, Assistant Secretary-General of the Egyptian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, on behalf of Dr. Ghada Abdel Bari, Secretary-General of the Commission, attended the Workshop opening session and commended ICESCO’s role in developing educational systems and supporting its Member States. Dr. Ashour Al-Omari, President of the General Authority for Adult Education and Literacy, and Dr. Reem Derbala, Rapporteur of the Education Commission and the Fourth Goal of the Egyptian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture. also attended the opening session of the Workshop.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Zanfali, Program Manager at Education Sector, representing ICESCO at the Workshop, highlighted the importance of holding this Workshop, hoping that it would achieve its objectives in developing the capacities of educational planners and contributing effectively to educational development.

The workshop sessions touched upon the stages of educational planning, its procedures, methods, practical application mechanisms, new trends in educational planning methods and procedures and how to utilize them to improve the development of educational systems and ensure their quality, as well as the use of strategic planning in education, the requirements for the success of the educational planning process, education planning in times of crisis and sharing participants experiences in the practice of educational planning and the problems they face in reality.

The national training session on writing local African languages in standardized Arabic script, kicked off on Sunday, March 6, 2022. The training session is organized by ICESCO Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers, in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Yusuf Al-Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in Arabic Script at the International University of Africa (IUA) in Sudan and the Nyala University .

The three-week training session held at the Nyala University in Sudan aims at developing the skills of 35 participants in educational linguistics and language computing. Using the latest electronic applications, participants will learn the procedures and techniques used for writing and programming local oral languages and presenting research projects in standardized Arabic script.

At the opening of the training session, Professor Mukhtar Mohamed Al-Khatib, Director of the Language and Translation Center at Nyala University and the course coordinator, welcomed the guests and trainees in his speech. Then Dr. Abdel Nasser Bashir, Dean of the faculty of Education, and Dr. Saber Abdullah, Director of the Training Department at IUA delivered respective addresses. Professor Babiker Qadri Mari, Director of Yusuf Al-Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in Arabic letter at IUA , thanked ICESCO and its international initiatives in the field of the Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers. The Director-General (DG) of the Culture Sector in South Darfur, Mr. Muhammad Khairy Al-Khawlani, and the DG of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Faisal Madbo, also delivered addresses while the Director of the University of Nyala, Dr. Mahmoud Adam Daoud, concluded the opening session and thanked ICESCO for its efforts in promoting the Arabic language and enhancing its position in countries Members speaking other languages.

Following the opening of the training session, Dr. Youssef Ismaili, an expert at ICESCO’s Center of Arabic for non-Arabic Speakers, delivered an address in which he emphasized the need for further cooperation and coordinated efforts to revive African minority languages by writing them in Arabic script. The expert noted that ICESCO accords particular interest to this important project by devoting various programs to preparing handbooks on writing local African languages in Arabic script for the benefit of education staff.

The training session is part of the cooperation agreement between ICESCO, IsDB and IUA within ICESCO’s Action Plan for 2022. The session will be supervised by four Sudanese experts in education, computing and linguistics and is aimed at meeting the needs and priorities of Member States in preserving the local languages of African Muslim communities by writing them in Arabic script.