Category: News update

     The Science and Technology Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held a meeting with the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG Africa) and other partners to develop a joint action plan to implement the recommendations of the symposium that the Organization held on 3-4 June 2021, on smart, sustainable and resilient cities.

The videoconference meeting held on Thursday, September 9, 2021, brought together officials from the Smart City and Community Innovation Center at Bandung Technology Institute, in Indonesia, the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization, Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, Katara Cultural Village, in Qatar, in addition to several academics and experts in the field of smart cities.

The participants considered the possibility of implementing awareness-raising activities on the importance of smart and flexible cities to achieve sustainable development and preserve the environment by providing a digital course on the topic to introduce the best practices for establishing such cities in the Islamic world.

The participants agreed on developing a joint action plan to promote smart cities and expand this concept to include rural areas. The partners expressed their interest in cooperating with ICESCO to design activities and programs in the field of smart, sustainable and resilient cities, within the framework of strengthening south-south and south-north partnerships to benefit from civil society organizations, contribute to the international effort to raise awareness, preserve the environment and ensure a better future for next generations.

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, in Marrakech, the training session on “Future Literacy Labs” that the Strategic Foresight Center of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), organized in cooperation with UNESCO and Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco, concluded its work which lasted three days and benefited 60 students from the said university. The training aimed to promote the culture of foresight and highlight its importance in the decision-making process.

In his address at the opening of the training session, Dr. Moulay Lhassan Hbid, President of Cadi Ayyad University, emphasized that the training introduces a new educational model and provides students with several innovative mechanisms to anticipate and plan for the future. He also indicated that it is necessary to train young people to acquire the skills of tomorrow’s professions and teach them to adapt to future changes.

For his part, Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of the ICESCO Strategic Foresight Center emphasized the importance of developing strategic thinking in the Islamic world to plan for various future changes. He added that it is important to organize such training and conduct strategic studies on skills and professions, especially in the context of the challenges facing the countries of the Islamic world.

Dr. Hammami pointed out that ICESCO has established the Strategic Foresight Center to promote the culture of foresight in its Member States to achieve sustainable development, encourage foresight studies, strengthen strategic diplomacy through the establishment of partnerships with scientific research centers around the world, and set up monitoring and review mechanisms.

Dr. Riel Miller, Chief of Futures Literacy Program at UNESCO, emphasized the importance of knowledge and expertise exchange, given the lack of foresight studies. He added that the development of the ecological, economic, and cultural fields depends on how people envision the future.

This training session is part of a program launched by the Strategic Foresight Center to organize similar trainings for universities, companies, and civil society stakeholders in the ICESCO Member States, aimed at strengthening the foresight culture and the skills of individuals and institutions in anticipating the future.

      The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in Saint Petersburg International Religious Dialogue Forum, held on September 7, 2021, under the theme “Religious field: Spiritual activity in managing the pandemic”, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, aimed at strengthening the foundations of scientific and religious dialogue, and highlighting the true religious teachings, which call for peace, coexistence and mutual respect, especially in light of the current global health crisis.

Ambassador Khalid Fathalrahman, Director of ICESCO Center for Civilizational Dialogue, who represented the Organization at this event, gave an address wherein he stressed that the Forum is a great opportunity to find new and innovative mechanisms to deal with the tension and doubts that the pandemic casts regarding the future, based on interfaith dialogue and cooperation between the institutions concerned.

Ambassador Fathalrahman stated that the importance of religion in people’s daily life has been stressed during the Covid-19 pandemic despite the various attempts to exclude it from the cultural and economic environment. He noted that religious teachings have encouraged individuals and societies to adopt the values ​​of sacrifice, altruism, and self-denial while highlighting religion’s flexibility towards transformations despite the constant teachings and the exclusivity of worship and calling for drawing on these experiences to enhance the religious system.

Ambassador Fathalrahman reviewed ICESCO’s relevant efforts, particularly the organization of the International Virtual Forum of Religious Leaderships, which stressed the need to preserve human dignity by ensuring the right to faith and respect for religions, and the International Conference on Civilizational Values ​​in the Prophet’s Seerah, which highlighted the ability of divine messages to spread the spirit of peace worldwide. ICESCO also contributed to the publication of the first volume of the encyclopedia on “Deconstructing the Discourse of Extremism,” which provides a basic material that helps trace the relevant concepts and develop ways to counter the phenomenon of terrorism.

At the close of his address, Ambassador Fathalrahman stressed that the Organization’s efforts aim to establish the foundations of solidarity to consolidate international peace and security, reject hatred, spread tolerance, encourage creative work and support literature, arts and sciences.

     In celebration of the International Literacy Day, on September 8 of every year, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) reaffirms the pivotal role of education in empowering people and shaping the future and stresses the need to ensure the right to education for all and the importance of literacy as an essential pillar of lifelong learning. As part of its new vision, ICESCO attaches greater attention to literacy as it significantly contributes to promoting sustainable development, improving living and health conditions, and ensuring human welfare, social cohesion, and peaceful coexistence.

Illiteracy would remain a challenge as long as the aspired literacy level is achieved. Globally, 773 million young people and adults lack basic literacy skills, while 617 million children and youth do not have minimum skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Inequalities in access to literacy programs are persistent and multidimensional, in addition to the weak participation of vulnerable groups.

The celebration of International Literacy Day this year comes in light of the continuing repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing closure of formal and informal educational institutions, which threaten the achievements made in the field of literacy during the past decades and exacerbate inequalities in access to literacy opportunities.

Believing that illiteracy is more costly than education, and being aware of the urgent need to build illiteracy-free societies, ICESCO reiterates its call to ensure the right to education for all and eradicate illiteracy, particularly among girls and women, who are at the heart of ICESCO’s interest given its proclamation of 2021 as the Year of Women.

To achieve a real development in the field of literacy from the perspective of lifelong learning in today’s digital world, ICESCO calls for a real revolution in formulas, curricula, and methods of literacy, and expanding the scope of literacy to include digital, living and professional skills, continuous learning skills, creativity, and sound citizenship. ICESCO also calls for maximizing the use of information and communication technology as a major effective tool in combating illiteracy and spreading digital skills.

In recognition of the successful experiences in this field, ICESCO announces three prizes to be granted to the pilot initiatives of NGOs and civil society organizations in the field of literacy among girls and women, in the Organization’s three working languages ​​(Arabic, English, and French).

With the participation of a group of officials, trainers, experts, and a large number of young people, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, held the 8^th session of its program “Leadership Training in Peace and Security” (LTIPS). The event was in partnership with UNESCO Maghreb Office, the Conference of Education Ministers of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN), and the Conference of Ministers of Youth and Sports of French-speaking Countries (CONFEJES), which aims to train and qualify young people on leadership given their key role in change for peace and building the societies we want.

At the outset of the training, held via videoconference, under the theme “Unpacking the Peacebuilders’ Toolbox,” Ms. Aziza Laghzal, a member of the 2021 LTIPS cohort, from Morocco, gave an address wherein she expressed her happiness to participate in the program that provides the opportunity to learn about peace-building mechanisms.

Mr. Danyal Hayat, a member of the 2021 LTIPS cohort from Pakistan, expressed his pride for having participated in the program’s first cohort, stressing the importance of the youth’s contribution to shaping a future of peace and security.

Ms. Ramata Almami Mbaye, head of the Social and Human Sciences Sector, expressed her pride in the participants in the program, which tackles many issues related to peace and security, and provides an opportunity for young people to reconsider traditional mechanisms for building peace and ensuring security.

Ms. Branka Panic, Founder of AI for Peace, gave a presentation on the uses of artificial intelligence in building peace, noting that the decline in peace indicators over the past years is pushing us to find new ways to contribute to establishing security by bringing experts and political decision-makers together.

Dr. Ndioro Ndiaye, former Minister of Social Development of Senegal, called for strengthening the participation of women in building peace and ensuring security as their ideas and proposals will contribute to building more sustainable peace.

During the second session, Ms. Roukiatou Hampaté, Amadou Hampathe Foundation BA, gave a presentation on revisiting endogenous peacebuilding mechanisms, wherein she reviewed the most prominent of these mechanisms and ways to adapt them to reality and enable them to keep pace with modernity.

Dr. Saumava Mitra, Assistant Professor at the Dublin City University, gave a presentation on the role and importance of communication and media in achieving peace, calling for media to build peace and security.

Dr. Ahmed Said Bah, Advisor to ICESCO Director-General for Partnerships and International Cooperation, gave a presentation on “international cooperation as a tool for achieving peace,” in which he explained that the exchange of experiences between countries is an effective mechanism that enables progress in sustainably building peace and security.

In her presentation, the representative of CONFEJES highlighted the important role that sport can play as a tool for establishing comprehensive peace and achieving social harmony.

Ms. Regine Guevara, the founder of Asian Youth Peace Network, stressed the need to engage young people, enable them to acquire the skills needed to build peace, and allow them to shape their future.