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Doha Muslim Youth Forum echoes voices, concerns of a generation

By Shafeeq Alingal /Staff Reporter

The Doha Muslim Youth Forum turned out to be a venue for youth to contemplate, chalk out action plans to tackle challenges, become cognizant of the current Islamic world and share their experiences.

“The forum brings youth from different countries together and offers them the opportunity to chalk out plans to beat the challenges,” Mohamed Saleha, who represents Lebanon in the forum, told Gulf Times on the sidelines, yesterday.

“In fact, it showcases the cultural diversity of the Muslim world and gives the delegates a new insight about Muslims and their social and cultural identities,” he said.

Saleha, who hails from Mali, is glad to attend the forum for the first time.

He could represent Lebanon after he approached his Lebanese friend.  “I got support from Lebanese authorities and made my entry to the forum,” he said.

The forum, according to delegates here, has helped them dream of a better world where the youth play an important role. The forum witnessed discussions and workshops on good governance and transparency, youth and sustainable development and youth and social media.

“The sessions here have motivated all of us. Being youths, we feel elevated as they are a crucial part of development and welfare,” said Alzahraa Said al-Sawafi from Oman.

She added that the youth in her home country are actively taking up efforts for the overall development of Oman. 

“We have a good government which is keen to extend all support to youth,” she said.

Al-Sawafi, a graduate in Environmental Engineering, is presently active in social work in Oman. 

“I want the ideas to be implemented in my country after I reach home. The sessions have helped me take new lessons as a social worker,” she said.

Maha al-Ammari, who represented Qatar, says the forum reminded her of her duties as a youngster. 

“We have much to do and the forum has come as a wake-up call,” she said adding that she wants to make use of social media for the betterment of the society. 

“The potential of the social media can be tapped in order to find apt solutions for some of the issues being faced by the Islamic world,” the graduate from Qatar University said.

Al-Ammari who regularly volunteers for various initiatives has plans to develop social media as an ideal tool to make people aware of civic issues.

She believes campaigns will bring in changes if core issues like environmental challenges are raised through social media.

She added Qatari youth are getting due representation in all sectors.

The forum, according to Mohamed, also discussed tackling measures against the current challenges being faced by the Islamic world. 

“Spreading of Islamophobia and extremism need our intervention. It’s high time the youth join hands against all kinds of extremism and violence. The youth are the ones who are obliged to maintain peace,” he said.

Al-Sawafi said only active intervention can beat misconceptions about Islam and the Muslim world.

The delegates underscored the need to stay united, saying it will help the Islamic world become powerful in all sectors. 

“Unity can assure you more power. And the forum is heralding unity and equality,” she said.

The delegates praised Qatar’s hospitality and thanked the organizers for providing such an excellent venue like the Qatar National Convention Centre.

QNA

Doha: Doha Islamic Youth Forum discussed yesterday the issue of “Youth and Bet on Sustainable Development” as one of the main axes of the Forum which is held in the framework of the “Doha OIC Capital 2019” event, under the motto “Youth is the Power of the Nation”.

The Director of Environmental and Municipal Studies Institute of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Dr. Mohammed Saif Al Kuwari, highlighted the role of youth in achieving sustainable development as a global demand, noting that the United Nations has identified 17 goals for development that cover all aspects of life and that these goals address the global challenges, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and justice, decent work and economic growth.

Al Kuwari stressed that these goals will only be achieved through the role of promising young people, and the commitment of countries to work towards achieving these goals according to programmes and well-studied plans by 2030.

Meanwhile, Director of the Technical Office of the Permanent Population Committee in Qatar Abdul Hadi Al Shawi presented a paper entitled “Strengthening the Development Capacities of Youth in Qatar” in which he underlined that the State of Qatar works to motivate young people to participate actively in sustainable development as a process that enhances the capacities of young people, expand their choices and enable them to obtain more opportunities in a global system that is based on knowledge-based globalization.

He noted that the State’s attention to young people has emerged through the integration of the youth dimension into the First National Development Strategy (2011-2016) and the Second (2018-2022) in many development sectors, and in the Population Policy (2017-2022), stressing that the Population Policy of Qatar aims to expand participation opportunities of the youth of both s genders in the society and in public life. 

The Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Youth Union Commission Arif Abdedjalil presented a paper entitled “Youth Is the Real Wealth of the Nation” which dealt with the role of young people in various activities and in all fields, especially in areas related to the fight against extremism and violence and maintaining world peace and security.

QNA
Doha
THE Doha Islamic Youth Forum discussed on Monday the topic ‘Youth and Bet on Sustainable Development’. The forum is held within the framework of ‘Doha OIC Capital 2019’ event, under the motto ‘Youth is the Power of the Nation’.
Addressing the first session, Director of Environmental and Municipal Studies Institute of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Dr Mohammed Saif al Kuwari highlighted the role of youth in achieving sustainable development.
He noted that the United Nations has identified 17 goals for development that cover all aspects of life and address the global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
Kuwari stressed that these goals can only be achieved with active involvement of the promising youth.
The Director of the Technical Office of the Permanent Population Committee in Qatar Abdul Hadi al Shawi presented a paper entitled ‘Strengthening the Development Capacities of Youth in Qatar’, in which he underlined Qatar’s efforts to motivate young people to participate actively in sustainable development of the country.
He noted integration of youth dimension into the first and second National Development Strategy and in the population policy for 2017-2022.
Shawi said that a number of achievements have been made in the field of youth empowerment, but added that the changes in the reality of youth require formation of a central body for coordination on youth issues and formulation of a new national youth development policy. 
This policy shall include cross-sectoral youth development programmes and a comprehensive and integrated policy framework that ensures roles for the youth in all aspects of social life.
For his part, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Youth Union Commission Arif Abdedjalil presented a paper entitled ‘Youth Is the Real Wealth of the Nation’ which dealt with the role of young people in various activities and in all fields, especially in areas related to the fight against extremism and violence and maintaining world peace and security.

QNA

Doha: Doha Muslim Youth Forum kicked off yesterday under the motto “Youth is the power of the nation”, with the participation of youth delegations from 56 countries of Islamic world, including 20 young people from Qatar.

The Forum, which comes in the framework of the “Doha OIC Capital 2019” event, is held in cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF), under the supervision and organization of Qatar Center for Cultural and Heritage Events.

The five-day event addresses a number of important topics including youth and bet on sustainable development; youth and the safe use of social media; diplomatic simulation; and good governance and transparency among young people, aiming at creating a space for young people to express themselves and their views on a number of issues that capture their attention.

The events of the Forum began with a general workshop on entitled “Good Governance and Transparency among Young People”. The participants included Director of Supervision and Development Department of the Transparency Authority Amal Al Kuwari, expert at the Planning and Quality Department at the Ministry of Culture and Sports Hussein Ibrahim Al Haj Masoud, and Acting Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Culture and Sports Hussein Mahmoud Hassan.

The workshop discussed the concepts of good governance and transparency in general, and the most important ideas presented by the Forum to address the challenges of youth at the level of the Islamic nation, as well as the international agreements that ensure transparency among countries.

The speakers called for awareness-raising, law enforcement and youth empowerment, as young people are the most affected by corruption which resulted in the loss of education or jobs due to corruption and nepotism.

They emphasized that Qatar has a clear anti-corruption strategy in line with international best practices in terms of transparency as well as enhancing staff competencies.

Three other workshops and debate sessions for participants were held following the opening workshop.

Forum to provide an interactive platform for young people to exchange ideas and discuss different issues

The Doha Muslim Youth Forum kicks off Sunday at QNCC, under the theme “Youth is the power of the nation”, which is part of the activities of Doha, Capital of Islamic Youth 2019.
Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the forum will continue until July 11, hosting about 90 young people representing 56 countries of the Islamic world, including 20 Qatari youth.
The forum is organised in co-operation between the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Islamic Youth Cooperation Forum, the youth wing of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), and under the supervision and organisation of the Qatar Center for Cultural and Heritage Events.
Issues related to youth including good governance and transparency, importance of sustainable development, youth and social media, and diplomatic simulations are among the major topics on the agenda. 
These discussions are accompanied by three workshops.
HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem al-Ali described the Doha Forum for Islamic Youth as “a unique event” at this particular time when the Islamic nations are facing many challenges.
The forum will contribute to the promotion of cultural exchange among young Muslims providing an interactive platform for youth coming from different Islamic countries to learn from and about each other.
“This forum is an opportunity to empower young people by expanding their participation and initiative, building capacities and promoting cultural diversity as a value on which to build joint ventures and to connect young people from other countries and cultures,” he said.
The minister added: “It is not possible to achieve sustainability without the availability of these elements and our bet on our youth is a basic value bet, emphasising the central role of youth”.
The motto “Youth is the power of the nation”, will be the theme of Doha, the Islamic Youth Capital 2019 throughout the year.
Dr Issa al-Hur, Chairman of the Technical Committee for the Doha Youth Capital 2019, said the forum will be a great opportunity for young people to exchange ideas and discuss different issues.
He said the youth participating in the forum will discuss various issues that will be presented at the forum, in addition to the workshops where the “young people will discuss the problem and develop solutions to these problems by themselves”.
After these discussions, Dr al-Hur said the youth will be trained on the model of the Islamic Co-operation Organisation summit. This will help young people to gain leadership skills, identify the nature of the problems, and how to address them by finding appropriate solutions.
Aisha al-Mahmoud, Director of Public Relations and Communication at the Ministry of Culture and Sports, said that all necessary preparations for the forum have been completed.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports has provided all the necessary resources to ensure success of this forum.
Muayed al-Qahtani, Head of Public Relations at Qatar Center for Cultural and Heritage Events, said that the centre is keen to provide all the necessary supports and resources including various forms of logistical support and accommodations for the participants.

Amal Ahmed al-Kuwari. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Joseph Varghese

Qatar has been at the forefront of equipping youth with noble values such as integrity and good governance and the Doha Islamic Youth Forum is one such initiative, a Qatari official has stressed.

“Qatar knows the role of the youth and their power. They are the future for any country. Therefore, we are inculcating in them some values of good governance such as integrity and transparency, among other qualities, during this forum. We are aiming to promote these values in the youth so that they can act in accordance with these values in their own countries,” Amal Ahmed al-Kuwari, head of the Control and Development Department at the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, told Gulf Times Sunday. 
Al-Kuwari was speaking on the sidelines of the Doha Islamic Youth Forum that got under way at the Qatar National Convention Centre Sunday.
“Qatar is focusing on the youth in a big way. This is not the first time that the country has taken such an initiative for the youth. The Doha Declaration of 2015 was a great step by Qatar to find their voices. It is being followed by several programmes and the present forum is another opportunity for the youth,” al-Kuwari explained. 
“The forum is for Islamic youth and it aims to educate the youth on several topics such as good governance, integrity, transparency as well as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, among others. This will help the participants understand the components of good governance and sustainable development,” she added. 
The official stressed that the forum would enable the participants to get clear ideas about good governance as well as avoiding and combating corruption. 
“This is one of the main ideas of the forum. We expect the youth to take advantage of the training and workshops during the forum and benefit immensely. It is expected that the participants will deliberate on several topics and come up with some recommendations on how to implement all these values by the end of the forum. We hope they will be instrumental in implementing them in their countries as they are the ambassadors of these values in their respective countries,” al-Kuwari noted. 
“Doha is the Capital for Islamic Youth 2019. This forum is not just one meeting for a week or so. It is a year-long programme and there will be many more activities in this regard all through the year. Some of these participants will come back later for other activities,” she added.

Closing the registration for participation in Doha Muslim Youth Forum

Initiated and organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports within the Activities of Doha – OIC Youth Capital 2019

The forum is to be inaugurated on the 7^th of July with a significant contribution of the youth from all over the Islamic world

 The Organizing Committee of the Doha – OIC Youth Capital 2019, has closed the registration to participate in the Doha Muslim Youth Forum organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports as from the 7^th to the 11^th of July.

It is noteworthy that, the formation of the evaluation team is expected to be on the 30^th of June, after which the forum shall be set for inauguration on due time under the motto: “The Nation with its Youth”, which is the elected theme of the events.

The forum shall see light due to a notable cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum – ICYF, the youth driver of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

While, the Forum shall be organized by the Qatar Center for Cultural and Heritage Events.

The screening committee shall elect 90 participants of both genders from the participating countries pursuant to  impartial criteria, which  shall be concerned with attaining and realizing remarkable and extraordinary contributions in youth activities, as well as contributing activity in the social media, and holding supreme capabilities and capacities to accomplish the foremost roles in the event.

It is worth mentioning that, the number of participants from OIC member countries, reached 57, from: Oman, Kuwait, the countries of  Maghreb Region, as well as Indonesia, Malaysia and many others.

While, the participants from the non-member countries were 58 countries, along with, a remarkable number of the received applications for registration that reached 9200 participants of all the countries.

Moreover, more than 1700 inquiries, feedbacks and explanations from the youth of the world were received until the conclusion of registration, the thing which clearly demonstrates the keenness and eagerness of youth to partake in the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum

The organization of the forum came in line with the numerous events planned by the State of Qatar within the activities of Doha – OIC Youth Capital 2019, in compliance with the fact that the Nations have always counted on their youth to construct and shape their future and attain the sustainable development and cultural thrive and advancement for their societies,  the thing which grants the Youth a leading edge and a capacity to propose and realize unparalleled achievements.

They can at the same time contribute to the discussion on the development issues, and partake in the formulation of their projects and accomplishments. Definitely, the nation’s forte and main asset lies in its youth, “the Nation with its Youth” which the slogan and the main theme adopted for the activities. 

The themes of the forum are about the sage governance and transparency among youth, and youth and the bet on sustainable development, youth and social media, as well as the diplomatic simulations.

The forum shall comprise three workshops that shall thoroughly deliberate the role of the youth in consolidating a culture of sage governance, sound management of the human and financial resources in youth institutions, as well as the integrity and promoting and nurturing a culture of rejecting corruption.

The second theme shall tackle the youth and the bet on sustainable development, through three workshops dealing with the role of youth initiatives in realizing the sustainable development, as well as enabling and empowering the youth in the domains of education, training, sustainable development and the youth challenges.

While the third theme shall shed light on the youth and social media, and comprising of three workshops on the influence of the social networking on the cultural practices of youth, besides, the role of social media in the social responsibility, youth and the safe usage of social networking sites.

In parallel with the Forum activities, a training course shall be held on the model adopted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the directions and procedures of the model of Islamic cooperation.

Moreover, the Forum shall initiate four mock sessions; the first three sessions shall tackle with the issue of good governance and transparency among youth, youth and the bet on sustainable development, youth and social media, while the fourth mock session shall comprise drafting the resolutions and approvals.

Besides, the Forum shall present two simulation sessions to the Islamic Summit, the first of which shall adopt the draft resolutions, and the second shall be restricted to the adoption and declaration of these resolutions.

Finally, field visits shall be organized for the participants in order to get to know the marvel State of Qatar and its remarkable lushness in countless fields,  and to get a firsthand opportunity to discover the reach culture of the State of Qatar, and the major empowerment bestowed upon its youth, and their dynamic and significant presence at all levels.