Catch ’em young is the strategy of TYC as it rolls out a massive
awareness campaign on World Environment Day. By Anand Holla
Youth is wasted on the young, George Bernard Shaw once said. But what if a game-changing campaign taps into their potential, compels them to think, inspires them to care, and makes their youthfulness really count?
The Youth Company (TYC), a Qatar-based non-profitable social enterprise, has taken up the difficult issue of environmental care that today’s youth may not be as concerned about as they should be. And it is to spark genuine interest among the youth as well as the bigger players, that TYC is launching the Environment and Sustainability Forum, under the patronage of HE the Minister of Environment Ahmed Amer Mohamed al-Humaidi. The #TalkDirty event aspires to be a vehicle to address Qatar’s environmental concerns.
A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report ranked Doha the 12th most polluted city in the world (Qatar is the only Arab country to figure in WHO’s list of top 20 most polluted cities), with reference to the concentration of fine particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less (PM 2.5). Themed ‘Building a Sustainable Country’, the forum will bring eight important speakers together to discuss various environment-related issues and policy developments today – World Environment Day – at the HBKU Student Center, Education City, Qatar Foundation, from 6pm to 9pm.
To lend perspective from all angles, the list of speakers features Aurora M Castilla from the Ministry of Environment and Qatar Foundation, Yvette Eechoud, the Dutch ambassador to Qatar, chief guest Ahmad al-Sada, Ministry of Environment, and Mohamed Ayoub, Research Programme Manager at Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute, among others.
TYC says that the Environment and Sustainability Forum is in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030. Many organisations have partnered with TYC for the forum including Engineers Without Borders, Society of Women Engineers, Red Apple Events, W Hotels, Al–Abdulla Group Enterprise, iloveqatar.net, Campus magazine, Qatar Today and BEX.
Community had a quick chat with the Chairman of The Youth Company International, Mohamed Farid, on the idea behind this promising initiative.
How has it been to plan the event, with a focus on involving the youth?
For the last three and a half years, TYC has engaged the community by creating various educational, career-oriented, volunteering, consulting and rewarding programmes. With this initiative, we have tried to get the youth involved and interested in environment and sustainability – topics that are tough to discuss with the young. We want them to understand its importance so that they care for the environment, and thereby be part of conserving it.
Even the “Talk Dirty” tag was devised to catch the youth’s attention by speaking their lingo, while the “Environment and Sustainibility Forum” is essentially an appeal for everybody – government officials, non-profit organisations, corporates – to come together under one roof and discuss solutions to Qatar’s environmental problems.
Is the initiative’s larger plan to set off action from every quarter in the long run?
Of course. This is just one conference, and it’s a mere launch of the many such initiatives that we must take up in the years to come. Our first step is to organise discussion, the second would be to mobilise the right minds. Our attempt now is to have a nationwide movement, a sort of raising an alarm, to organise everybody concerned about the environment to come together and find lasting solutions. The agenda is also to inspire the youth. This is not about us folks at TYE; it’s about involving the people of Qatar. Besides, we are pragmatic. We say what we do and we are committed to what we believe in. We will serve as a mere platform to empower the young, bring all great ideas together and take this initiative forward.