Young people’s mental health and well-being at the heart of ICESCO’s thinking and priority actions

The Islamic Organization for Science, Education and Culture (ICESCO) organized a major seminar on mental health and well-being for young people on May 15, 2025 at ISESCO headquarters in Rabat, Morocco. The seminar was organized in partnership with the African Union, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Conference of Ministers of Education of the States and Governments of the Francophonie (CONFEMEN), the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) and the College of Social Scission of the International University of Rabat. 

The inaugural session was marked by speeches from ICESCO’s Director General, H.E. Dr. Salim Almalik, represented by the Deputy Director General, who stressed the need to consider the mental health and well-being of young people and women as priorities in public education and health policies. For this reason, ICESCO has published a guide to psychological first aid (PFA) for inclusive health for all, “encompassing mental health, physical health, nutritional health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). 

Senegal’s Minister of National Education, H.E. Mr. Moustapha Mamba Guirassy, stressed the importance of moving away from an education system approach towards the creation of a learning society in which all players are involved in the training and education of the younger generation, including in the symbolic universe represented by culture, the arts and the creative industries. 

During Panel 1 on mental health and well-being in public policy, moderated by Ms Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Director of the Human and Social Sciences Sector, ICESCO, the panellists stressed the need to consider first and foremost the human dimension of the issue of mental health and well-being for young people and women, particularly for migrant populations who have suffered trauma and often lack attentiveness or even consideration for their human dignity. 

Emphasis was placed on the concrete experience of these stigmatizations, which manifest themselves above all at the level of the territories where the populations live. Hence the urgent need to give local authorities a greater role in implementing public policies in this area. This should be reflected in the inclusion of mental health and wellbeing in basic education programs. Hence the need to approach the issue of mental health from the perspective of the cultural contexts in which the populations concerned live, and to ensure that its management takes into account the potential offered by local cultural values. 

Panel 2 on mental health and well-being in national policies, moderated by Professor Farid El Asri, Dean of the College of Human Sciences at the International University of Rabat, was introduced by the inaugural lecture of the Director of the Arab Planning Institute, Kuwait, Dr. Abdullah Fahad Al Shami, who recalled the role of taking into account the mental health and well-being of young people in the planning of national education and health policies. The panellists stressed the need to move on from petitions of principle enunciated at conferences to concrete action on the ground, notably by actually addressing the causes of trauma and stigmatization. 

It was pointed out that girls and women are particularly vulnerable in this respect, and deserve specific resources to protect them and their rights. The issue of mental health and well-being needs to be approached from a broad perspective, with preschool and sport playing a vital role in the prevention, detection and treatment of behavioral disorders in very young children. 

Panel 3 on the urgency of adopting a holistic approach to mental health in development, moderated by Mr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Director of ICESCO’s Legal Affairs and International Standards Department, discussed innovative ways of caring for patients through listening groups, the use of the arts (visual arts, music therapy, etc.) or support in specialized facilities, but with an approach that intimately connects life in these establishments with local societies and communities.  

The use of information technologies opens up the possibility of making specialist services available to as many people as possible through telemedicine. Intergenerational management of mental health was highlighted as an approach that reconciles modern therapies with the original practices of African societies, and holds the promise of promising innovation.