The date of establishment: The Vision 1441 H for Science and Technology (Vision 1441 H), adopted in 2003 and 2005 both by Tenth Islamic Summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia, and the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Makkah Al-Mukarramah within the Latter’s Ten Year Programme of Action (TYPOA) respectively, placed a special emphasis on Science and Technology. These two landmark documents, together with other resolutions and decisions of the Islamic Summit Conferences, Council of Foreign Ministers, and of the OIC Standing Committee on Science and Technology (COMSTECH), not only spelled out specific targets, actions and programmes in the area of Science and Technology (S&T), to be pursued by OIC Member States, General Secretariat, Subsidiary Organs, along with Specialized and Affiliated Institutions, but also resulted in establishment of a full-fledged Department of Science & Technology (Department of S&T) within the OIC General Secretariat.

 

The vision: To provide every assistance to the OIC Member States in achieving scientific and technological advancement and reviving intellectual heritage of the Muslim world, historically known for its pursuit of knowledge and fertility in innovation.

 

The mission: To promote and facilitate intra-OIC cooperation in the domains of Science, Technology and Innovation; Higher Education; Environment; and Water management.

 

Sub-Departments: (I) Science and Technology; (II) Health; (III) Higher Education; (IV) Water management; (V) Environment and Climate Change.

 

Department of Science & Technology Activities:

The Department covers five following areas: Science, Technology and Innovation, Higher Education, Health, Water and Environment:

 

Science, Technology and Innovation:

Development of science, technology and innovation area is vital for socio-economic progress and well-being of people. The basic idea here is to promote cooperation among the OIC Member States in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation and to encourage them to make exactly this cooperation idea quite visible in their respective national planning frameworks.

The maiden OIC Summit on Science & Technology, held in Astana (Kazakhstan) in 2017, adopted the so-called OIC STI Agenda 2026, which covers a number of urgent interstate cooperation areas, ranging from building a culture of science and innovation among the young, making people employable, ensuring water safety, food and the environment; ensuring healthy lives for all citizens, and improving the quality of higher education and research among others.

The Second OIC Summit on S&T, held virtually in June 2021 in UAE, provided a tangible impetus to this cooperation, when adopted Abu Dhabi Declaration, that in turn outlined a Plan of Action, which envisages strengthening scientific and technological capabilities of the OIC Member States

 

Higher Education:

Making the OIC Member States higher education systems to be run effectively and scientific research friendly is among top priorities for the OIC General Secretariat.

OIC is highly focused on higher education matters to urge constantly its Member States to improve comprehensively their educational institutions and curricula and to keep striving for high-quality and globally competitive education.

Thus, the OIC General Secretariat is involved in a wide range of Higher Education activities, including the one of OIC Educational Exchange Programme, which is aimed at taking practical steps towards strengthening the bonds of Islamic solidarity and ensuring its renaissance. The OIC General Secretariat has put in place a framework for greater cooperation and linkages in academia i.e. learning, teaching and research. The OIC Educational Exchange Programme provides a platform for exchanging students, meeting faculty staff deficit issue, distance learning, joint research projects, training facilities, vocational and specialized courses to cater for specific requirements of any OIC Member State interested.

The OIC has subsidiary Islamic university which is the Islamic University of Technology (IUT) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and affiliated universities which are: the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), Islamic University of Niger (IUN), the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and King’s Faisal University in Chad.

OIC Secretary General is the Chancellor of the Islamic University of Technology in Dhaka and Board of Governors’ member of the affiliated universities: IUIU, IUN and IIUM.

 

Health:

Healthcare domain is indeed the crucial one for cooperation to make joint Islamic action sound. Well-functioning healthcare service is of critical importance in ensuring overall human development, socio-economic progress and poverty alleviation in the OIC Member States.

OIC in cooperation with its institutions and international partners well succeeded to develop a 10-years-long framework, known as the OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action (SHPA) 2014-2023, which is about enhancing multilateral cooperation in healthcare-related areas, such as health systems development; disease prevention and control, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition, medicines, vaccines and medical technology, emergency health response and intervention, and information, research, education and advocacy.

The OIC General Secretariat has carried out a number of activities within the framework of SHPA implementation, and those activities were about joining global efforts in polio eradication through establishment of the Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication (IAG) – a consortium of four institutions namely the OIC General Secretariat, Islamic Development Bank Group, Al-Azhar Al-sharif and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy.

The OIC General Secretariat, IDB and IAEA signed in May 2016 Practical Arrangements Agreement (PAA) with the aim of exercising joint projects in support of the OIC Member States, particularly those in Africa, to tackle cancer. One of these joint projects is designed to assist Djibouti, Senegal, Mauritania, and Niger in development and enhancement of their Cancer Registry, and getting them better equipped with radiotherapy facilities, and more effective in cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, palliative care.

Through creation of the OIC Vaccine Manufacturers Group and National Medicine Regulatory Agencies (NMRAs) Forum OIC got also involved in promotion among its Member States of self-reliance, when it comes to production and supply of safe and affordable medicines.

The OIC General Secretariat has developed international partnership network for preventing and combating diseases. Close collaboration has been established with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the MoU of cooperation of 1982 between two Organizations is going to be updated. Furthermore, the OIC General Secretariat well interacts with the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), both sides signed in 2009. The General Secretariat has also agreed on a Joint Work Plan with the Stop TB Partnership.

The Islamic Conference of Health Ministers (ICHM) is the top health-related Conference of the OIC, held biennially. It brings together Healthcare Ministers of Member States and other global actors, including representatives of relevant OIC institutions, international partners, health workforce, scientists and practitioners. The 7th session of ICHM, sloganeered as «Quality of life», was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE from 15-17 December 2019.

 

Water Resources Management:

Water scarcity is a serious concern in one-third of the OIC Member States, located in arid and semi-arid regions. Most of the OIC countries have average precipitation of less than 500 mm per year. There are also OIC Member States, which face varying degrees of other water related challenges, such as floods and land sliding, and this sort of challenges are expected to get exacerbated by climate change.

Efforts are being made to increase the volume of intra-OIC cooperation in water-related issues, including the ones in the field of resolving trans-boundary water matters. Proper implementation of the OIC Water Vision, adopted in 2012, necessitated establishment in May 2016 of Water Council, comprised of the OIC Member States, Institutions and International Organizations.

The Islamic Conference of Ministers in charge of Water (ICWM) is the highest policymaking forum in the sector.

The First Islamic Conference of Ministers responsible for Water (ICMW) held in March 2009 in Türkiye recommended developing an OIC Water Vision as strategy framework for joint actions to overcome the Water related issues.

The Second ICMW held in Türkiye in 2012 adopted the OIC Water Vision document outlining a framework for cooperation in the field of water. The OIC Water Vision calls for increased intra-OIC cooperation in sharing information, encouraging innovation, networking institutions, and increasing investment for the development of infrastructure.

The Third ICMW held in Istanbul from 17-19 May 2016, approved the establishment of an OIC Water Council and adopted its Terms of Reference. The purpose of the Water Council is to promote activities recommended by the OIC Water Vision, capacity building and exchange of experience through collaboration among OIC stakeholders, elaborate on a potential financial mechanism and demonstrate success for future consideration of greater cooperation among OIC Member states.

The 4th session of ICWM held in Cairo, Egypt in 2018, adopted a number of important decisions and recommendations, including the generous offer by Egypt to arrange training courses for water management experts from the OIC Member States.

The OIC celebrates the World Water Day annually on 22 March.

 

Environment:

Environmental degradation and climate change challenges are assuming increasing significance for the OIC Member States.

The OIC Summits, CFMs and relevant Sectoral Ministerial Conference underscore the need for robust global cooperation, which is to include adequate financing, technology transfer, capacity support from developed to developing countries under the UN Convention on Climate Change. This cooperation is of critical need for countries, known to be vulnerable to adverse consequences of climate change.

In cooperation with relevant OIC institutions, the OIC General Secretariat has stepped-up some programmes and activities, aimed at fostering closer cooperation among Member States for addressing environmental challenges they face.

The Islamic Conference of Environment Ministers is the key environment-related Conference of the OIC, held biennially. It brings together Ministers of Environment of Member States and other global actors including representatives of relevant OIC institutions, international partners, scientists and practitioners.

 

OIC-Africa Programme: This year Programme on OIC-Africa cooperation and its implementation plan has entered into its final stage. The OIC-Africa Programme is designed to ensure human resource development across the OIC African Member States through intensification of cooperation in following top-five areas: (I) Promoting Education and skills at all levels; (II) Ensuring Health; (III) Security of Water, Food and Agriculture; (IV) Women Empowerment; and (V) Entrepreneurship.