In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the training course on “Labour Cost” at the National Directorate of Statistics and Informatics (INSTAT) of Mali on 28-30 December 2015. The course was conducted by Mr. Koffi Edmond Yao, Head of Centralization of Social Statistics Department at National Institute of Statistics of Cote d’Ivoire, with the participation of relevant officials of the INSTAT of Mali.

Carried out under the support of COMCEC PCM Programme and coordinated by SESRIC, the project titled “Improving Statistical Capacities of OIC Member Countries in Poverty Statistics” aims at building statistical capacity in poverty statistics and overall contributing to the National Statistical Systems of the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) through capacity building programs including short-term trainings.

SESRIC organised a training course on “Cotton Biotechnology: Advance Crop Management Technologies” at Cotton Development Board of Bangladesh on 22-24 December 2015, within the framework of the OIC Cotton Training Programme (OIC-CTP). The course was conducted by Ms. Özlem Yıldırancan, Expert at Nazilli Cotton Research Institute with participation of Cotton Development Board of Bangladesh and relevant institutions. Below topics were covered in the three day course:

SESRIC organised a training course on “Rural Development Projects Impact Assessment” on 21-23 December 2015 in Islamabad, Pakistan, in collaboration with the NGO World Foundation. The course was designed for NGOs working in development areas in Islamabad with a view to building their capacity in the field of project impact analysis. The course was facilitated by Mr. Mozharul Islam, an expert on impact analysis and a Ph.D. researcher at Hacettepe University, Turkey, with the participation of officials from NGOs, as well as researchers.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organized the training course on ‘Professional Skills for Official Statisticians: Effective Written Communication Techniques’ at the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics on 21-22 December 2015, within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was conducted by Mr. Nijat Akhmedov, Expert at DemirBank of Azerbaijan with participation of relevant officials.

SESRIC organised a five day Water Capacity Building training course in collaboration with the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI), Turkey and Turkish Water Institute (SUEN) on 21-25 December 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey. The course was attended by four participants each from the Department of Environment (DoE), Bangladesh and the National Water And Electricity Co.Ltd (NAWEC), Gambia.

The 9^th Session of Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) was held on 21-23 December 2015 in Niamey, Niger. The Ministers of Tourism of OIC Member Countries and all OIC Institutions pursuant to the resolution of the 8th Session of ICTM attended the meeting.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on ‘Module 2: Population and Housing Censuses; Registers of Population; Dwellings and Buildings’ at the Directorate of Statistics under the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation of Somalia (STATSOM) on 20-25 December 2015, within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was conducted by Mr. Abdellaziz Ben Hadj Abdullatif, Expert at African Development Bank (ADB) with participation of relevant officials.

The Director General of SESRIC, Amb. Musa Kulaklikaya, paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dr. Joan Clos on 15 December 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between SESRIC and UN-Habitat in 2014 to enhance cooperation in the area of research and capacity building in sustainable urban development.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organized the training course on ‘Classifications’ at Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) on 15-17 December 2015, within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was conducted by Mrs. Asmaa Abdelrasoul Mohamed, Expert at Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAMPAS) of Egypt with participation of relevant officials of CSB.

To encourage more young statisticians to take an active interest in official statistics, the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) – an association under the International Statistical Institute (ISI) – has announced its next annual competition for the best paper in the field of official statistics written by a young statistician. In addition to the monetary prizes, the first place winner will receive travel funds to present the paper at one of the sessions of the next IAOS Conference to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 6-8 December 2016.

SESRIC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Turkey organised a technical training on “Occupational Hygiene and Safety” in Ankara, Turkey on 14-18 December 2015.

TURKSAT in collaboration with Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) organized the Satellite, Space and Technology Days on 11-12 December 2015 in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey. SESRIC conducted several sessions on “Sharing experiences on e-government applications” jointly with TURKSAT and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in the sidelines of this Conference. Senior officials from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Jordan and Palestine participated in these sessions.

H.E. Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General of SESRIC, addressed the OIC Forum on Global Unified Halal Food Standards which was held at OIC General Secretariat, Jeddah on 9-10 December 2015. In his address H.E. Amb. Kulaklikaya highlighted the fact that with a strong consumer base of over 1.7 billion Muslims and increasing consumption of Halal products by the general public all over the world, the Halal food market represents the appearance of a new economic paradigm that is on the tipping point of becoming a global movement. In fact, many OIC Member Countries especially in South East Asia have already recognized that Halal has the potential to be a real engine of growth for their local economies and all began a variety of government-led initiatives to use Halal as an effective engine of growth for their economies, he added. Furthermore, he also briefed the participants about SESRIC’s continued involvement in various activities which are closely related to the development of unified Halal standards and procedures and promotion of Halal food industry in OIC countries and elsewhere. He concluded his address by expressing readiness of SESRIC to strengthen cooperation with all stakeholders to introduce innovative approaches to develop and implement unified Halal food standards and procedures in OIC Member Countries.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on “Seed Development: Biotechnology Studies” at the Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Azerbaijan on 9-10 December 2015, within the framework of the OIC Agriculture Capacity Building Programme (OIC-AgriCaB). The course was conducted by Dr. Cuma KARAOĞLU and Ms. Hülya Özcan expert at Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Republic of Turkey with the participation of experts from Ministry of Agriculture and relevant Agricultural Institutions, Republic of Azerbaijan.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on ‘Professional Skills for Official Statisticians: Effective Written Communication Techniques’ at the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of Republic of Sudan on 7-9 December 2015, within the framework of the Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme. The course was conducted by Mrs. Hagar Ali, Expert at Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAMPAS) of Egypt with participation of relevant officials of CBS.

In accordance with its 2015 Annual Work Plan, SESRIC organised the training course on “Water Management: Using Modern Irrigation Facilities” at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 6-7 December 2015, within the framework of the OIC Agriculture Capacity Building Programme (OIC-AgriCaB). The course was conducted by Mr. Ali Çağlar ÇELİKCAN, Ms. Aylin ÇELİK and Mr. Korkut Gokhan Kurtar expert at Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Republic of Turkey with the participation of experts from Ministry of Agriculture and relevant Agricultural Institutions, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Below topics were covered in the two day course:

In line with the decision of the Fourth Islamic Conference of Health Ministers held in Jakarta, Indonesia in October 2013, SESRIC and UNFPA Arab States Regional Office launched the First Expert Meeting of the OIC Network on Population and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born and Child Health which took place at SESRIC Headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, on 2-4 December 2015. The meeting was participated by a group of interdisciplinary experts in this area from OIC region who engage in collective efforts to share information and knowledge in an endeavour to improve OIC RMNCH Net.

SESRIC and UNFPA jointly organized the First Expert Meeting of the OIC Network on Population and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born and Child Health (OIC RMNCH Network) which took place at SESRIC Headquarter in Ankara, Turkey, on 2-4 December 2015.

The Workshop on ‘Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (MPM)’ was organised by SESRIC in collaboration with the OIC Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) on 30 November – 6 December 2015 in Dakar, Republic of Senegal.