Category: News update

As part of its commitment to support the efforts exerted by the Members States to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) launched a project to provide technical and financial support to set up small units and train members of the local communities on the production of low-cost sanitizer.

The project aims at raising awareness of the importance of hygiene in reducing the risk of contracting the virus.  It is also geared towards promoting the local cottage industry using new and advanced technologies, in return create job opportunities for several communities. This project falls within ICESCO’s efforts to consolidate local capacities to manufacture products proven to help curb the spread of the virus.

At the initial phase of the project, ICESCO works with the competent authorities and partner industry in the Republic of Mali.  This will later be replicated in other member state countries to widen the reach and scope of the project based on the needs of the communities.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) will continue to closely monitor all developments related to COVID-19 spread in all Member States. The Organization will further provide the most effective means of support complementing each country’s requirements to overcome this crisis and alleviate its social and economic impact.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) has launched the “Distance Culture” initiative as part of the “ICESCO Digital Home” program in support of the efforts of the Member States and the international community in mitigating the effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19).  This initiative is aimed at finding alternative solutions to sustainable educational, scientific and cultural undertakings, that includes building capacities, encouraging creative and artistic talents, and allocating ICESCO Creativity Prizes.

This new initiative includes distance training and capacity building for the benefit of professionals working in heritage fields. Accordingly, the Organization will prepare several videos containing training programs in the fields of tangible and intangible heritage, which will be uploaded on its website, www.icesco.org, starting from 15 April 2020. The videos will cover the following themes:

1.Documentation of cultural heritage through AI applications;

2.Management of risks, crises, and disasters at heritage sites and museums;

3.Techniques of an inscription of heritage sites and landmarks on the Islamic World   Heritage List and World Heritage List;

4.Rehabilitation of endangered handicrafts;

5.Promotion of the general principles of museum management in the Islamic world;

6.Knowledge of the general principles of the documentation of elements of intangible heritage and national inventories;

7.Protection of underwater cultural heritage.

Moreover, the “Distance Culture” initiative is an opportunity for students to enrich their cultural knowledge during the period of lockdown. It also includes awarding three prizes in the following cultural fields:

1.Short story writing (5 to 10 pages);

2.Making a painting;

3.Musical composition or creative work.

The value of the prizes stands at USD 6,000, USD 4,000, and USD 2,000, respectively. Winners will also be handed certificates of appreciation.

National Commissions and competent authorities in the Member States will be in charge of contacting educational institutions to invite students to participate in these contests. They will also be in charge of selecting three works from each category and sending them to ICESCO before the end of June 2020. ICESCO will set up an international jury to select the best three works from each category, out of the recommendations sent by the National Commissions and competent authorities.

Additionally, the initiative provides e-reading opportunities through digital libraries available on ICESCO’s website and other websites.  It also invites publishers to adopt electronic publishing alongside paperback publishing and launch a web platform for publishing youth’s literary materials. It further enjoins Member States to exhibit their museum collections in virtual portals. Member States’ National Commissions and competent parties are encouraged to contact publishers and curators of libraries, museums, and exhibitions, urging them to engage in these initiatives for the greater student benefits.

As part of its initiative, the “ICESCO Digital Home” supports the effort to address the repercussions of Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) on the educational, scientific and cultural fields. Furthermore, in anticipation of the future transformation in these given fields, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) launched a digital interactive platform with diverse contents falling under its fields of competence.

Following the signing of Cooperation Agreement in February 2020 between ICESCO and the Mohammadia League of Scholars in the Kingdom of Morocco, ICESCO’s digital platform will allow, through the Organization’s website www.icesco.org, access to all the contents of the League, including:

1.Raed Platform for the dissemination of safe religious knowledge;

2.Books of the deconstruction of extremist discourse;

3.Museum of Science and Civilization;

4.Museum of Science History;

5.Portal of Mohammadia League of Scholars.

These contents provide digital scholarly discourses on Islamic sciences aimed at instilling the value of moderation in Islam among its readers. They also contain the books of the deconstruction of extremist materials on the Internet and provide an enlightened model using modern technologies and knowledge-based tools and concepts.

Moreover, the contents include the digital Museum of Science and Civilization which exhibits the cultural and civilization heritage sites in some Muslim countries; the Museum of Science History designed to showcase the contributions of Muslim scholars to exact sciences; and a hyperlink to the digital video libraries on the ways and means to fight Covid-19, including research papers, studies, journals, scholarly publications and video clips on various religious and linguistic sciences.

ICESCO calls on all Member States and institutions to propagate its platform with digital contents relevant to education, culture, science, and communication, showcasing their countries’ contributions along these fields of interests.

The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis limiting human activity and communal interactions within societies. As physical separation becomes a byword among people in countries severely affected by the virus, it is important, under these circumstances, to counteract the deleterious effect of social distancing through the realms of technology such as the internet and electronic communications.    

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is intensifying its efforts to support the Islamic world countries struggling to find ways to stem the spread of the virus and overcome this pandemic. Along this line, considering partial and total lockdowns enforced in most of its Member States, ICESCO calls upon telecommunication companies and internet services providers in these countries to contribute to these efforts, as follows:

1. Provide free internet services in Member States to allow access to the digital teaching platforms;
2. Upgrade the digital infrastructure in rural and remote areas in the needy countries, ensuring accessibility of electronic services to its citizens.
3. Provide free digital teaching services for the benefit of refugees and displaced migrants in cooperation with the local competent authorities.

ICESCO extends special thanks to all institutions that have readily responded to this call and were proactive in taking such measures, while urging other concerned parties to follow suit.

“ICESCO Digital Home”, a new initiative launched by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization through which the Organization continues the series of practical initiatives and guidance it has launched in several Member States since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak (COVID -19).

Through this initiative, ICESCO aims to support the efforts deployed by the Member States and the international community as a whole to counter this pandemic by proposing the best solutions to address the current and emergency circumstances. It provides for the most efficient and flexible state of the art technologies that can work under the lockdown situations and address its repercussions on areas of education, science and culture.

“ICESCO Digital Home” initiative includes a variety of integrated measures of immediate field support, through modern technological means, to include workable communication tools and comprehensive digital contents, as follows:

1-Setting up number of open knowledge tools consisting of the latest software applications needed by students in schools, higher education institutions and universities, as well as by researchers, teachers and digital learning contents developers. These tools also include pedagogical guides for all levels, multidisciplinary interactive learning contents for the benefit of students of different age categories, in addition to general knowledge, cultural industries and intellectual contents.

2-Providing “ICESCO Digital Home” visitors with an interactive platform for communicating and exchanging creative and innovative products. This platform includes attractive contents for raising awareness about the protection against the coronavirus, drawing on the instructions and guidelines as advised by specialists. This platform caters to all its visitors of different age groups and various specialities.

3-Launching a digital channel providing educational, cultural,  scientific and technological contents that  aim to qualify parents and enhance their pedagogical skills in promoting their roles in the family educate children on positive and constructive values.

 4-Providing smart equipments enhanced by various digital contents to be sent to several Member States through their National Commissions for education, science and culture. These comprehensive contents will be available on ICESCO website (www.icesco.org).

In launching this new digital initiative, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, provides integrated tools, resources and contents, with easy accessibility on its website, as it reiterates its call upon all competent parties in Member States to benefit from them.  Additionally, it aims for the unhampered learning process through alternative means that are consistent with the needs of each country to mitigate the effect of the covid-19 pandemic. The Organization further pledges to pursue efforts to promote this strategic initiative, and harness all its potentials for the benefit of all.

As part of an initiative to show solidarity with the Kingdom of Morocco in its efforts to face the risk of the spread of Covid-19, the staff members of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), belonging to over 20 nationalities, decided to donate 10% of their salaries of March for the benefit of the private fund, entitled Management Fund of Covid-19, established by the Moroccan government in implementation of the royal instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.

Through this initiative, ICESCO’s staff members expressed their deep thanks and great appreciation to the King, people and government of the Kingdom of Morocco (Seat Country), for their warm hospitality and good cooperation in the Organization’s action and activities as well as their day-to-day life.

It is worth mentioning that ICESCO, in several statements, has reaffirmed its firm commitment to support the efforts geared toward confronting Covid-19, and implemented a number of mechanisms to ensure emergency response to the current emergency situations and the continuity of the educational and training process, including the provision of prompt logistic support to needy Member States so as to enable them to have the necessary digital equipment, establish technical units to record the digital educational materials, provide them to students at various educational levels, and launch an initiative for the benefit of vulnerable groups in rural and remote areas in order to promote the national capacities and health systems on ways to prevent and confront emergency situations and risks of pandemics by distributing educational and health bags for prevention and awareness-raising in the field of the fight against the spread of Covid-19 and all other pandemics.

ICESCO also stressed the need to promote the values of solidarity and unity among Member States and with other countries and peoples, and called for the prevalence of the general human interest in such dire circumstances while reaffirming that the Organization will follow up the implications of Covid-19 on the educational, scientific and cultural fields in Member States, and will provide them with the most efficient ways to support their efforts according to the latest developments.

As part of its commitment to support efforts to combat Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) started producing video clips and infographics to contribute to raising public awareness about the importance and ways to face this global pandemic and continue working and learning under these circumstances.

The first video contains a definition of the virus and shows how it differs from the seasonal flu and provides necessary protection measures against the pandemic. As for the infographics, the first lists the most famous free and open source software for editing instructional videos while the second gives tips on basic preventive behaviors to limit the spread of Coronavirus.

The Organization will continue producing multimedia-based materials to propose accessible alternatives for distance learning. In this regard, it reiterates its call to the competent authorities in Member States to make use of the available alternatives the Organization adopted, namely shifts and telecommuting.

In giving effect to the orientations to support and help Member States’ competent authorities, ICESCO decided to develop emergency response mechanisms to the urgent situations and ensure the continuity of education and training, as announced in its yesterday’s statement.

In this context, the Organization underscores the primacy of the values of solidarity and unity among Member States and with all the world’s nations and peoples and calls for prioritizing humanity’s interest in these trying circumstances.

ICESCO will constantly follow the repercussions of the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the educational, scientific and cultural conditions in Member States. To this end, the Organization will provide Member States with the most efficient ways likely to support their efforts as may be required by future developments, while reiterating its confidence in the ability of the countries of the world to overcome this crisis and curb its social, economic and humanitarian consequences.