December 28 deadline for Volunteer Awards application

The Volunteer Awards, first launched in 1999, was officially announced in 2004. Since then, SDC has regularly held the awards ceremony to honour the individuals, groups and institutions in Qatar for their volunteer work and
humanitarian efforts.

The Volunteer Awards also aims to raise awareness around the valuable role of volunteerism in the modern society and encourage the involvement in volunteer work; starting from the involvement of school students to major institutions in Qatar.

The award consists of four categories. The first is the Honorary Volunteer Award, nominated by members from the executive committee and includes a number of the finest representatives of volunteers in the local community.

The Individuals Volunteer Award is applicable for all citizens and residents of Qatar who are leading figures in volunteer work. The Project Award for Institutions especially acknowledges all volunteering projects from different institutions in Qatar. The Research Category is addressed to students in secondary and university level and applicants are required to submit their work on a specifically chosen topic to be considered for the award.

Manar Rashid al-Dossari, marketing and public relations manager at the SDC, described the Volunteer Awards as an annual celebration to honour individuals and institutions for all the time and effort they put into their voluntary work to serve their community and nation as a whole.

“So far, SDC has honoured a large number of active individual and institutional volunteers, and we look forward to receiving nominations for creative and unique initiatives that have brought about a positive change in our community and have the potential to achieve more success in the future.”

During 2014, SDC has participated in many events, exhibitions and various educational institutions, which helped spread the word about SDC and the Volunteer Awards. Recently, SDC’s Kafu campaign, another initiative promoting volunteer work, took part in Qatar Community Expo held by College of the North Atlantic - Qatar, presenting samples of past applications and responding to inquiries on applying for the Volunteer Awards.

The event also included a joint presentation on the Volunteer Awards by SDC and the Centre of Volunteerism and Civil responsibility at Qatar University. In addition, SDC participated in Hamad Medical Corporation’s Healthcare Exhibition at Qatar University, aiming to promote the Kafu campaign and the Volunteer Awards as well as recruiting
new volunteers at SDC.