The TAMAM project, jointly developed by the Arab Thought Foundation and the American University in Beirut, was one of the laureates of the 2022 UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development.

TAMAM won for its contribution to “enhancing the role of teachers to transform education in their communities and beyond." Dr. Rima Karami, TAMAM director, attended the award ceremony and received the prize at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

The “TAMAM Project for School-Based Educational Reform” is a research-based programme that benefited 1,000 education practitioners directly. It allows university researchers to work closely with educational practitioners in view of generating strategies grounded in the sociocultural contexts of the Arab region. Platforms are provided for teachers to network, learn, and create with educators from different schools. TAMAM operates in 70 schools in 9 countries in the Middle East: Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Palestine, and Kuwait. Thanks to TAMAM, 100 school improvement projects were initiated at the local level over the past 15 years.

UAE’s Arabic e-learning platform “Madrasa”, accessible to more than 60 million students for free, has been awarded the UNESCO-King Sejong Literacy Prize within the framework of the 2022 International Literacy Day celebration. The award was granted in recognition of Madrasa’s global efforts to provide free of charge digital educational content in Arabic and to its contribution to the development of mother-tongue literacy.

During the award ceremony organised by UNESCO in Abidjan, the prize was presented to Dr. Waleed Al Ali, Advisor at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) and Director of Madrasa, and Farah Al Azab, Senior projects manager for MBRGI.

On the occasion, Secretary-General of MBRGI Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi said "Providing educational opportunities for all, in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, is a fruitful Emirati model that empowers future generations. It also contributes to establishing a culture of continued learning, and cultural and knowledge diversity, which accelerates the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and bring glory back to the region as a key contributor to humanity."

This is a reminder that the applications for the UNESCO-Al Fozan International Prize for the Promotion of Young Scientists in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) should be submitted by 15 November 2022 (midnight UTC+) by Member States, through their National Commissions to UNESCO, or by non-governmental organizations in official partnership with UNESCO and active in fields covered by the Prize. The prize, to be awarded on March 2023, consists of a monetary award of USD$50,000 for each of the five talented laureates as well as a medal and a diploma, and will give recognition to the achievements of young people that are conducive to socio-economic transformation and development on a global scale while also increase the interest of young people, particularly girls and women, in science so as to promote gender equality, scientific literacy and the choice of a scientific career. Applications are submitted online via the following link: unescoalforzanprice.org