Category: News update

The General Directorate of ICESCO made a set of decisions to reaffirm, along with its employees, its solidarity with the victims of the devastating earthquake in Al Haouz. ICESCO Director-General, executives and employees will donate 10% of their monthly salary, to be deposited in a special bank account at Bank Al Maghrib, following the instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to receive the voluntary solidarity contributions.

ICESCO mobilized on Sunday 10 September 2023 in-kind aid including tents, blankets and essential foodstuffs to the regions most affected by the quake. In response to the call of the Director-General, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, the initiative was organized by ICESCO employees, accompanied by doctors, who volunteered to provide on-site assistance in disaster areas to the affected people. ICESCO will also organize a blood donation campaign to save the lives of the wounded.

The General Directorate reaffirms these aids are part of ICESCO’s endeavours to stand in solidarity with the Kingdom of Morocco in the face of the earthquake, and that further measures would be taken in the following days.

Following the Al Haouz earthquake, ICESCO issued a formal statement to offer its condolences to the King, government and people of the Kingdom as well as the families of victims who lost their lives. It also expressed its full readiness to cooperate with Moroccan competent authorities in the face of damage caused by the earthquake, especially in its areas of expertise; the restoration and conservation of historic monuments that were affected in some cities.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in cooperation with the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) in the Kingdom of Morocco, conducted a training session on Strategic Foresight as a Foundation for Decision-making for the benefit of 20 senior executives and experts at CESE to enhance their capacities in strategic foresight and introduce them to the most recent concepts and mechanisms of foresight.

Dr. Kais Hammami, Director of ICESCO Centre of Strategic Foresight and supervisor of the two-day training, which started on Wednesday, 6 September 2023 in Rabat, stressed the importance of foresight in building a better future, urged for leveraging it to determine and prepare for change factors, and outlined its multidisciplinary perspective consisting of economic, social and planning approaches.
Mounia Haoudi Marzak, Director of Projects and Strategic Partnerships at CESE, was pleased to note the considerable interest that CESE accords to its partnership with ICESCO.

The training held various workshops and practical sessions directed at enhancing the participants’ capacities in using foresight for problem-solving, change mechanism determination and scenario-making.

The Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers, affiliated with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), took part in the fourteenth International Scientific Forum for the Arabic Language, focusing on digitizing the Arabic language within the framework of focused language policy. This forum was organized and hosted by the Islamic University of Mataram on Lombok Island, Indonesia, from 6 to 8 September 2023, in collaboration with the Arabic Teachers Association of Indonesia, the League of Arabic Language Teaching Institutions for Non-Arabic Speakers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth.

Dr. Anas Hussam Saeed Al-Nuaimi, expert at the Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers, represented ICESCO in the forum. During the first scientific session, he emphasized in his presentation titled “Utilizing Digital Sources in Teaching Arabic Literature to Non-Arabic Speakers,” the importance of these sources and their role in enhancing the teaching of Arabic literature and providing new capabilities that the printed resources and methods could not provide, especially for non-Arabic-speaking students. He also presented key digital sources and provided examples of their effective use in the educational process.

The conference brought together over 300 university presidents, professors, researchers, and Arabic language experts from many countries. They engaged in discussions covering a range of scientific research topics centered on the significance of digitizing the Arabic language and keeping pace with technological advancements in the realms of education and scientific research.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, held on 8 September of each year, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is delighted to announce the winning institutions of its 2023 prize for girls and women’s literacy, which was previously launched on 6 September 2022 for the benefit of civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The prize aims to encourage pioneering initiatives and best practices in literacy and non-formal education designed for girls and women.

ICESCO set up a committee of experts to select among 439 files from 24 member states those that meet the requirements and criteria of the prize. The committee selected two winning institutions; Future Eve Association for Family Development and Environment from the Arab Republic of Egypt on its project named “Education as a Gateway to Empowerment: The Approach of Women and Life” and Obhizatrik Foundation from the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on its project “Empowering the Poorest Women.” The committee suspended the award for the French-speaking countries for failure to meet the eligibility criteria and requirements of the nominees.

Each prize amounts to USD 3,000, in addition to ten tablets and appreciation certificates that ICESCO will award to the three winners during its next session of the executive council in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The prize came as part of ICESCO’s vision, which accords special importance to education as a beacon of achieving sustainable development.

On International Literacy Day, and in a world with more than 750 million people, both youth and elderly, unable to read and write and another 250 million children, and mostly women and girls, failing to acquire basic literacy skills, ICESCO would reiterate the significance of harnessing synergy to fight illiteracy and guarantee equitable, inclusive and quality education for all in addition to promoting lifelong learning opportunities.

In the era of AI and modern technologies, ICESCO stresses the need for serious action aimed at bringing a fundamental change through the use of ICT by focusing on the most vulnerable population, especially girls and women, mobilizing necessary financial resources and leveraging investments allocated to this field, as well as providing more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) took part in a seminar organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on youth volunteering and social responsibility in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Sport. The seminar aimed to explore ways to engage young individuals in building their communities.

During the webinar held on Monday, September 4, 2023, Ambassador Tariq Ali Bakheet delivered a speech on behalf of Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He highlighted the importance of this opportunity for participants to understand the organization’s policies and programs for empowering youth, enhancing their capabilities, and exchanging views on the challenges they face, along with proposing sustainable solutions.

In the seminar, ICESCO was represented by Mr. Alioune Ndiaye and Mrs. Faiza Fahmida, experts in the field of humanities and social sciences, and Mr. Djifa Agbezoukin, member of ICESCO’s Young Professionals Program. They presented the Organization’s vision and working strategy, which aims to empower young individuals and women and help them become agents of change in their communities through various initiatives, programs, and projects.

It was also mentioned that this year the Organization celebrates ICESCO Year of Youth, under the esteemed patronage of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The official launch will take place in a grand ceremony in Cairo soon.

On the occasion of the Year of Youth, and with the rallying call “sowing the seeds of peace by mobilizing youth and women,” the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is delighted to announce the opening of applications for the 2023 Leadership Training for Peace and Security Programme (LTIPS) for the youth inside and outside the Islamic world. The candidates will receive, upon their selection and successful nomination, a training that will prepare them as ICESCO’s ambassadors for peace.‎

‎The new edition of this programme is part of the celebration of ICESCO’s Year of Youth, held under the High Patronage of His Excellency Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, President of Egypt. The official launch will soon be organized in Cairo in a major international celebration.

ICESCO encourages the youth to participate in this programme that aims to build their capacities and foster their leadership skills through 10 holistic training modules that adopt ICESCO’s 360o approach to peace while focusing on the different dimensions of peacebuilding and strengthening, interaction with cross-generational inspirational leaders from different countries and through Youth Peace Incubator sessions.

At the end of the training, ICESCO will award the Best Innovative Youth Projects for Peace. The 2023 winners will benefit from financial and technical support to implement their projects and will be appointed ICESCO’s peace ambassadors.
The applicants for Leadership Training for Peace and Security Programme should meet the following criteria:
• Be aged between 18 and 35 as of 31 December 2023;
• Have proven engagement in peace, security, leadership and women-youth empowerment issues either at the research level or at the level of associations and CSOs;
• Be proficient in one of ICESCO’s main languages (Arabic-English-French) to participate in all sessions.

Terms, information and form of application are available via https://icesco.org/en-ltips. Applications should be sent no later than 30 september 2023, at 23:59 (GMT). A special jury will review the applications, and nominees will receive the programme schedule.