Debate Kicks-Off Rota Conference

 

All 6 of the wonderful debaters!

ROTA  & QATARDEBATE TOGETHER ENLIGHTEN YOUTH IN EMPOWER ‘09

QatarDebate sponsored a televised inter-school debate, as part of Empower ’09, which was organized by Reach Out to Asia Qatar (ROTAQ) on 7^th May, Thursday between 7pm-9pm at the Qatar Foundation, HQ atrium. Empower ’09 was the first annual youth conference to mark the launch of ROTA’s new youth development program in Qatar.

The debating session was facilitated by QatarDebate and the 2 participating teams were

Doha Independent Secondary School for Boys (Mohammed K. Al-Sabbagh, Mohab K. Shado, Peter E. Antoun) and Park House (Ahmed Al Dweik, Dana Al-Ansari, Magellan Ezedien). The team from Park House School won the debate. The motion for the enlightening debate was This house believes that Qatarisation is the best way to ensure active citizenship for Qatar’s youths. Around 150 delegates had attended this event.

Dr. Hayat Maarafi, Executive Director of QatarDebate, says that QD took such an initiative to provide platform for young minds today to make use of their analytical and intellectual skills, by thinking radically on world critical issues and developing an attitude of acceptance, understanding and appreciation of each other’s intelligence, all of these qualities which are important to be good debaters today and great leaders tomorrow. EMOPOWER is primarily aimed at mobilizing and inspiring leadership and civic responsibility among Qatar’s youth, through service learning

Ms. Alberta Stevens, Head of ROTAQ, strongly believes in youth empowerment and was ecstatic about the success of the program as she felt the debate between an international and an independent school itself, reinforced their belief about the youth of Qatar, who she believes are definitely powerful catalysts for positive change.

The Director of ROTA, Ms. Omnia Nour, expressed much enthusiasm about this successful and unique opportunity, as she felt that by ROTAQ and QatarDebate working together, this event has dispelled existing myths and stereotypes. This success story sends out a powerful message to other Qatar Foundation centres about how 2 centres together can create scalable efforts and greater impact in terms of both leveraging of resources and maximizing effect. In her words, “Without QatarDebate, it would have been impossible to train the facilitators, moderators and the debaters to be leaders of this conference. The youth in Qatar have a true and real privilege to have their voices heard, through which they will affect national policies and gradually even international policies. We are proud to say that this successful collaboration between ROTAQ and QatarDebate echoes this belief and also aligns with the vision that Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Misned carries for Qatar.”

QatarDebate is very keen on future projects associated with ROTAQ as this successful and enriching debate session was only the beginning of such harmonious and rewarding collaborations.