The Reach out to Asia (Rota), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), has completed its second Training of Trainers programme (ToT) for more than 120 volunteers.
Under the initiative 250 low-income workers were given classes as part of Rota’s Adult English Literacy Programme (RAEL) on January 30 and 31.
Sponsored by the Qatar Petroleum (QP), the RAEL programme provides both an educational opportunity for workers who may have had limited schooling in their own countries, and a valuable learning opportunity for the students and volunteers who gain new teaching skills, along with an understanding of different communities and their needs.
The training course covered a variety of topics supporting the student volunteers in becoming full-fledged literacy trainers. The topics covered in the training included teaching and learning, communication and understanding the overall context of global migration.
The RAEL started last year over a 16-week period, split into two terms: the first in September and the second in February 2015. In the first term, 120 volunteers from the Qatar Foundation’s branch campus universities, Ashghal and Rota were entrusted with the task of helping low-income workers improve their English language skills.
By teaching workers within their own organisations, the student volunteer tutors helped improve productivity as well as demonstrate a commitment to social responsibility and life-long learning. The Rota held the second ToT for the volunteers to continue the success achieved in the first term.
Rota’s Executive Director Essa al-Mannai, said: “Rota’s Adult English Literacy Programme has proved to be a very effective way of supporting local low-income workers and empowering them to achieve their aspirations and goals at work. We are pleased to resume the initiative and to build the capacities of such a big number of volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to this humanitarian initiative. It does make us proud to know we have so many people dedicated to improving and empowering the well-being of others. We are thankful to our sponsor, Qatar Petroleum, who also shares our belief of supporting workers through RAEL.”
Alongside the QF, the Rota works towards building stronger communities through initiatives that significantly impact youth and people in need. First introduced in 2009, the RAEL programme was created primarily to develop the English literacy and language abilities of the country’s low-income workers in Qatar.