The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the International Organization of the Francophonie (IOF) have announced the opening of nominations for the 14th Ibn Khaldoun-Senghor Translation Prize.
The prize is awarded for a literary work and/or work in the humanities and social sciences translated from Arabic into French or from French into Arabic.
For more information on the Prize, its procedures, terms of nomination, and the deadline for the submission of nominations, please consult the following link below:
In a bid to
strengthen partnership and cooperation with the National Commissions as part of
the participatory and consultative approach that the Islamic World Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) pursues, the General Secretariat
of National Commissions and Conferences of ICESCO continues to hold a series of
bilateral virtual meetings with the National Commissions for Education, Science
and Culture in the Member States.
Talks during
the meetings revolve around several topics, namely:
The priorities, activities, and
achievements of the National Commissions.
The challenges that National Commissions
face, and their opinions and future visions.
Proposals to enhance cooperation and
partnership between National Commissions and ICESCO.
Proposals to develop educational, cultural,
and scientific systems post-Covid 19.
Proposals specific to the ICESCO Year of
Women 2021, the empowerment of women, and the preservation of their
educational, cultural, scientific and technological rights.
The meetings
provide an opportunity for joint reflection, extensive discussion, and exchange
of knowledge, expertise, and successful experiences in the Organization’s areas
of competence. They also offer a platform for exploring the challenges facing National
Commissions and ways to address them and bolstering the roles of the
Commissions in the advancement of educational, cultural, and scientific systems
in Member States.
The meetings
are also an opportunity to enable ICESCO to define the needs and aspirations of
its Member States in the Organization’s action areas, taking into account the
national, regional, and international issues affecting the sectors of
education, science, and culture.
To promote
the meetings, the General Secretariat of the National Commissions and
Conferences will prepare comprehensive reports that include proposals,
recommendations, and concrete outputs for the benefit of the National Commissions
and the sectors and centers of the Organization.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), the Arab League Educational, Cultural and
Scientific Organization (ALECSO), and the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf
States (ABEGS), held yesterday, April 22, 2021, a videoconference meeting to
explore the mechanism for promoting cooperation in laying the basic foundations
of a unified forward-looking vision of the educational policies and identifying
the priorities for supporting them in the Arab region, particularly in the
fields of educational technologies and Artificial Intelligence.
The meeting brought together Dr. Salim M. AlMalik,
ICESCO Director-General (DG), Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, ALECSO DG, and Dr.
Abdulrahman Al-Assimi, ABEGS DG, with the participation of some directors and
advisors at ICESCO.
In his statement, Dr. AlMalik stressed the
importance of cooperation between the three organizations to achieve the
strategic objectives of their civilization mission. He also called for
strengthening coordination, experience-sharing of future plans, and the
development of their partnership mechanisms to promote joint action and
implement field programmes and projects to support the sector of education in the
Member States.
For his part, Dr. Ould Amar stressed the
necessity of adapting the working mechanisms to the current situation and ensuring
coordination between the three organizations to facilitate the implementation
of projects, rationalize resources, develop programmes with a forward-looking vision,
and share the findings of the studies and the recommendations of ICESCO Center
for Strategic Foresight. He also called for joining the efforts of the three
organizations at the meetings of UNESCO.
Dr. Al-Assimi pointed out “there is no
competition between the three organizations. They rather complement each other.
Besides, ABEGS is willing to cooperate with ICESCO and ALECSO in the field of
strategic foresight and develop joint programmes that serve education in the Member
States.”
Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of ICESCO Center
for Strategic Foresight, reviewed the objectives of establishing the center as
well as its major activities and initiatives since its inception in 2019.
At the close of the meeting, the
participants agreed on developing a unified statistics form on the field of
education, scientific research and innovation in Arab countries. The Technical
Committee will determine the date of the meeting of the National Commissions at
their earliest convenience.
The Islamic
World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) took part on
April 20, 2021, in a virtual meeting held as part of the preparation of the
annual plan specific to the “Clean Beaches” programme of the Mohammed VI
Foundation for Environment Protection. The meeting brought together 100
partners, experts, teacher-researchers, businessmen, company managers,
representatives of youth and civil society, and jury members of the Lalla
Hasnaa Prize for Sustainable Coasts.
The
programme is part of the “Seas and Oceans” Strategy of the Mohammed VI
Foundation for Environment Protection which capitalizes on youth and digital
tools in its endeavors to protect the beach environment and through it the
marine environment. The Foundation is a founding member and a sponsor of the Global
Ocean Alliance 2020-2030 in cooperation with UNESCO and the UN Agency in charge
of coordinating the Alliance.
The meeting
featured the evaluation of the previous edition of the “Clean Beaches” campaign,
which set the challenge of collecting 700 tons of plastic materials from oceans
through mobilizing more than one million young people during summer. The
participants also explored cooperation with partners on the procedural sides
for the 2021 edition which seeks, among other things, to recycle collected
plastic waste to achieve the desired socio-economic and environmental impact. Dr.
Abdelmajid Tribak, the Environment programmes expert at the Sector of Science
and Technology, represented ICESCO in the meeting.
The Islamic
World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and King Saud
University (KSU) in Saudi Arabia, signed yesterday, a service contract for
cooperation in implementing the project of professional certificates in
teaching for the benefit of teachers and educational specialists in the ICESCO Member
States.
During a
ceremony held via videoconference, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General
(DG), and Dr. Badran bin Abdulrahman Al-Omar, President of KSU signed the
agreement with the participation of several directors and officials at ICESCO,
and Dr. Abdullah Al-Thabet, Dean of King Abdullah Institute for Research and
Consulting Studies (KAI-RCS).
In his address
at the signing ceremony, Dr. Al-Malik expressed his satisfaction with the signing
of the contract, which heralds great progress for the educational system in the
Islamic world countries. The contract also aims to strengthen the education and
training sectors with high professional certificates to incentivize teachers
and educational specialists in the Member States for productivity, creativity,
and development.
The DG also praised
the fruitful efforts that the joint working team exerted which led to the
institutionalization of the partnership between ICESCO and KSU and the design
of the financial offer and marketing plan for the project. He then expressed ICESCO’s
keenness to harness all its energies and expertise to ensure the success of the
project.
For his
part, Dr. Al-Omar stressed that KSU’s contribution stems from its desire to achieve
global leadership and excellence in advancing science and knowledge and
creating a stimulating environment for learning.
Dr. Al-Omar
also stated that the project seeks to improve the quality of education and the
level of teachers and adopts a new model of professional development through
the professional certification model and expressed his optimism that it will be
implemented in compliance with the highest quality standards.
Dr.
Al-Thabet, Dean of KAI-RCS, reaffirmed KSU’s keenness on transferring knowledge
to all institutions and expressed his pride in choosing KAI-RCS as its
representative in the project.
The service
contract between ICESCO and KSU provides for cooperation in building a
comprehensive system for professional certificates in education and subprogrammes
aimed at providing teachers and educational specialists with the necessary
competencies in their various fields of specialization to achieve and develop
the objectives set out in curricula.
At its
initial stage, the project focuses on the specializations most in need in the ICESCO
Member States, educational fields (forensic sciences, Arabic for non-Arabic
speakers, science, mathematics, instructional computer, social sciences, early
childhood, literacy,) and advanced specializations in the educational field
such as evaluation, design, and development.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science, and Culture have signed an agreement to launch the “Project of the Fight against COVID-19 through Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth” in Sudan, as part of the ICESCO-Alwaleed Philanthropies partnership to support the efforts of 10 African countries to counter the adverse repercussions of the pandemic.
The virtual signing ceremony was held Wednesday, April 21, 2021, with the participation of Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), and Ms. Mariam Assadiq Al Mahdi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sudan. Dr. Tamader Al-Tarifi Awad Al-Karim, Deputy Minister of in Education in Sudan, and several directors of sectors and advisors at ICESCO also attended the signing.
In his address at the ceremony, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik reaffirmed ICESCO’s sustained efforts to support its Member States in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the Organization’s new vision, that adopts promoting communication mechanisms with the Member States and identifying their respective needs and priorities.
The DG expressed his sincere thanks and deep appreciation to ICESCO’s permanent partner, Alwaleed Philanthropies, whose Board of Directors is chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, for its generous support to ICESCO’s humanitarian and social initiatives to assist 10 African countries, including Sudan.
Ms. Mariam Assadiq Al Mahdi commended ICESCO’s excellent work, in particular the initiatives, programs, and activities the Organization launched and implemented during the COVID-19 health crisis, aimed at strengthening the efforts of Member States to address the negative impacts of the pandemic. Ms. Assadiq Al Mahdi also appreciated Alwaleed Philanthropies’ assistance to Sudan through its partnership with ICESCO.
At the end of the ceremony, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the implementation of the project. The aim is to develop a sense of innovation and entrepreneurship among women and youth in Sudan and support the private sector, entrepreneurs, and small enterprises.
Alwaleed Philanthropies collaborates with a range of philanthropic, governmental, and educational organizations to combat poverty, empower women and youth, develop communities, provide disaster relief, and create cultural understanding.
For four decades, Alwaleed Philanthropies has supported and spent more than 15 billion Saudi Riyals (SAR) and carried out more than 1000 projects in over 189 countries that 10 Saudi female members manage, reaching out to more than 1 billion beneficiaries around the world, regardless of gender, race, or religion.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) mourned the passing of President of Chad,
His Excellency Idriss Deby, may Allah rest his soul, today, April 20, 2021.
ICESCO commended the role of the late President
in developing his country and supporting culture and literature, and his
keenness on cooperation with the Organization in its fields of action, as well
as his distinguished participation in the high-level international virtual
forum that ICESCO held on July 21, 2020, in cooperation with the Islamic World
League and the World Council of Muslim Communities, under the theme “Role of
Religious Leaderships in the Face of Crises.”
On his part, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General,
on behalf of all the Organization’s staff, expressed his deep condolences to
the family of the deceased and the people and government of Chad, on the death
of H.E. President Idriss Deby, may Allah rest his soul, stating that he learned
of his death with great sorrow beseeching Allah Almighty to have mercy on him and
grant him the highest paradise.
Since its establishment on April 18th, 1982 on the proposal of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the celebration of the International Day for Monuments and Sites is an opportunity to highlight the richness, diversity, and originality of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the Islamic world countries. The celebration is also an occasion for the general public to discover the richness and diversity that characterize world heritage and the archaeological sites whose features have been defined in all parts of the globe, highlighting the relentless efforts made, as part of international agreements and declarations related to the protection of cultural and natural heritage, in order to maintain, preserve and promote heritage.
In this context, it should be recalled that ICESCO today attaches great importance to preserving cultural heritage, raising awareness of its role, and alerting to the threats of vandalism against heritage during crises, on top of which is the current global health crisis. This was evident in several achievements and many reference documents, all of which pinpoint the need for urgent action and the establishment of a contract between public sectors, international and regional organizations, and civil society institutions to develop a joint roadmap to protect cultural heritage.
Since 2019, ICESCO has also deployed a strategy based on a more comprehensive and realistic vision for preserving cultural heritage in the Islamic world. To this end, it has provided the necessary means of action, foremost of which is the approval of the establishment of the Islamic World Heritage Center, the development of the work mechanisms, the expansion of the functions, and enhancement of the roles of the Islamic World Heritage Committee, especially about inscribing heritage sites on the Islamic World Heritage List. Moreover, ICESCO set up an observatory for heritage protection to monitor the situation of heritage in the Islamic world and threats thereto and formed the Heritage Projects Fund, which will help provide the necessary support to the parties in charge of heritage protection in the Member States.
The celebration of this day in 2021 comes in very exceptional circumstances in light of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced more than half of the world’s population to stay in their homes and caused the closure of most archaeological sites, historical monuments, and museums, which were previously open to visitors. ICESCO has introduced several comprehensive initiatives in the cultural field to provide alternatives to in-person programs. These include the “Distance Culture” initiative; the necessary support for damaged heritage sites and museums that have been affected by the closure since the beginning of the crisis in several Member States. Also, through its civilization project “Roads to the Future” and “ICESCO Creativity” programme, ICESCO has allocated several programmes and activities within a comprehensive and balanced vision for the future of the heritage of the Islamic world by 2030.
To implement the recommendation of the Islamic World Heritage Committee issued at its meeting on December 10th, 2020, that call for the adoption of an initiative to celebrate the Heritage Month in the Islamic World annually, during the period from April 18 (International Day for Monuments and Sites) to May 18 (International Museum Day), ICESCO intends to observe it this year under the slogan “United for Art and Heritage” and prepared an integrated project that features many international seminars and training courses over a whole month.
In light of these urgent and dangerous circumstances, ICESCO calls on the whole world and international and regional organizations to take measures to limit the negative repercussions of the pandemic and rationalize the promotion and management of the Islamic world heritage, by publicizing and maintaining it and harnessing the virtual display mechanisms and artificial intelligence to highlight its richness and diversity and raise public awareness of the importance of its preservation and incorporation in the desired sustainable development programmes.
The Islamic
World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and Leibniz
Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) in Germany, signed today, April 16, a framework
agreement on joint implementation of practical programmes and activities to
promote scientific research and develop technology and innovation toward
achieving sustainable development.
During a
videoconference meeting, the agreement was signed by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik,
ICESCO Director-General (DG), and Prof. Matthias Beller, Executive Director of
LIKAT, in the presence of the head and experts of the Sector of Science and
Technology at ICESCO and the Advisor to the DG for Partnerships and
International Cooperation.
In his
address at the signing ceremony, Dr. AlMalik reaffirmed the importance of ICESCO-LIKAT
cooperation in fostering capacity-building and youth rehabilitation in ICESCO
Member States through science and technology, providing the necessary platforms
for the development of their skills, and acquiring and disseminating scientific
knowledge in the Islamic world to achieve sustainable development.
ICESCO DG
expressed his hope that the agreement would serve as a model and a prelude to
more agreements and partnerships between ICESCO and LIKAT-affiliated
institutes.
For his
part, Prof. Beller expressed his satisfaction with the signing of the agreement
that will enhance ties between ICESCO and LIKAT and support cooperation and
knowledge sharing in the fields of science and technology. He added that this
cooperation was a success in that it allowed for organizing a joint celebration
in observance of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science under the
theme “Narrowing the Gender Gap Starts with Science.”
The
framework agreement provides for cooperation in organizing joint conferences,
forums, and workshops on the continuation of higher education in the ICESCO
Member States, cooperation in doctoral research in the field of “chemistry,
catalysis, and sustainable technology” and joint support for a project on
innovation in advanced technology.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (ICESCO) and the National Commission for Education, Science, and
Culture of Azerbaijan held a meeting to outline the framework and explore the
executive plans and the schedule of the programs and activities that the two
parties will implement in the upcoming period in the fields of science,
technology, and innovation, as part of the partnership relations between ICESCO
and Azerbaijan.
Dr. Raheel Qamar, Head of the Sector of Science and Technology at
ICESCO, Dr. Muhammad Sharif, Adviser at the Sector, and Dr. Foued El-Ayni,
Expert at the Sector, represented ICESCO in the meeting. Mr. Vasif Eyvazzade,
Secretary-General of the Azerbaijani National Commission for Education,
Science, and Culture, and Dr. Leyla Taghizade, a member of the Commission,
represented the Azerbaijani side.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed the organization of a
training workshop in reverse engineering in Baku addressing the basics of
devices and developing small tools, medical and biological equipment, and
cutting-edge diagnostic devices, in terms of the fundamentals and designs.
The two parties also discussed the proposal for the implementation
of a training program in Baku in July 2021, consisting of a three-day boot camp
to train young people on ways to set up and develop small businesses in the
field of technology and innovation. The program will also feature an
accelerated six-week course where the beneficiaries will apply their training
in starting up their own projects. The program will start in Azerbaijan in
cooperation with the Azerbaijani Ministries of Agriculture, and Transport,
Communication and Modern technology, to be later implemented in 10 other
countries.
The two parties also discussed the symposium that the Sector of
Science and Technology will hold in Agadir, Morocco in June on Sustainable and
Smart Cities.
