Mercy Corps, a global aid agency, is currently holding the Global Citizen Corps International Youth Gathering for activists and organisers from around the world at Georgetown University – Qatar, in partnership with Reach Out To Asia.
Left to Right: Moamer Qazafi, director of communications - Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar; Essa al-Mannai,chairman of Reach Out To Asia; Sarah Warren, director of the Global Citizen Corps - Mercy Corps; Andrea Koppel, vice-president of Global Engagement and Policy - Mercy Corps
Around 20 youth leaders, aged 16 to 25, from several countries, including Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Palestine, the US, and the UK, will take part in activities designed to stimulate learning and cross-cultural sharing.
Participants will engage in dialogue on five key issues that are central to the Global Citizen Corps curriculum: environment and climate change, education, food security and hunger, health, and peace and conflict. The participants will talk about how these issues are present at a global level, how they affect their communities and what is being done to tackle these challenges.
A highlight of the week will be a “Town Hall” event featuring Sheikh Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a renowned columnist and commentator from the United Arab Emirates who was recently ranked by Forbes Middle East as the top “Tweeter” in the region, with more than 70,000 followers on the popular social networking site Twitter.
Sheikh Sultan will be joined on stage by Shadi Hamid, director of Research at Brookings Doha Centre and a fellow at the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. The discussion will be moderated by Andrea Koppel, a longtime journalist and media professional who recently joined Mercy Corps as vice-president of Global Engagement and Policy. Audiences in Washington DC, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Portland, Oregon will join the conversation via videoconference.
In addition, participants will strengthen their skills in areas such as the use of film and photography to support self-expression and community work, and the use of advocacy and social media to promote positive community change. Participants will visit important cultural sites in Doha and take part in service activities that give back to the local communities.
Speaking at the opening of the gathering, Sarah Warren, director of the Global Citizen Corps at Mercy Corps, said: “Normally we work with these youth in their own home countries and then we connect them with each other using online dialogue and video conferencing, and every now and then we’re lucky enough to be able to bring together a small number of them in person, and that’s what this gathering is. This is a particularly good time to do it as this is the International Year of Youth, as recognised by the United Nations, so this is a celebration of that year and young people’s contribution and leadership. Also, obviously, because of the events that have been happening in the region, it’s a nice time to be able to stop and explore and reflect on young people’s leadership.”
She gave an example of the kind of work that these youth activists do in countries around the world, as one group has already successfully completed a water shortage assessment in Iraq. The activists gathered experts and brought recommendations to the government to build a dam and solve the problem.
Firdha Ussy Nurul, an Indonesian student who will begin university this fall, said that in her home country she worked to highlight the gap between urban dwellers in Jakarta and rural populations, as many people continue to “live under hostilities”.
She also participated in environmental and economic development training sessions for residents of undeveloped islands, providing them with skills to improve their economic status. The project also helped build connections between urban and island youth allowing them to exchange cultural knowledge. She hopes the conference will provide her with valuable experience to help her with future projects in Indonesia, in an exchange of ideas from other activists, while learning new skills in the training and education sessions.
