By Sports Reporter/Doha
As Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup continue to advance, communities across the country were consulted about the plans for the tournament in a successful five-week Roadshow which reached over 30,000 people.
Organised by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), the tour stopped at five different malls across Qatar to increase awareness about the SC’s Community Engagement programme and encourage residents to participate and learn more about the 2022 FIFA World Cup programmes, progress and activities.
Khalid al-Jumaily, SC Community Engagement Manager, said: “The Roadshow has been a remarkable opportunity to listen to the community. The high number of people who participated in our consultation is testament to people’s passion to be involved, voice their opinions and be heard.”
The last stop of the roadshow was Landmark Mall, following stops at four other malls including Lagoona, Villaggio, Al Khor and City Centre. The different communities reached learned about the proposed host venues underway for the tournament as well as several programmes specifically designed to engage the different communities in Qatar, such as the School Arts Programme, the Al Rayyan Recycled Art Programme, the Volunteer Programme and the Youth Panel.
Many attendees were eager to learn more about the location of proposed host venues and found out about the design, proposed services available in the precincts, such as mosques, schools, parks or coffee shops, thanks to the roadshow. They were also reassured about the legacy benefits of these new infrastructures.
Valuable experience
Meanwhile, Mishaal Javed, a SC Youth Panel volunteer from Doha British School, stressed how the roadshow helped all the volunteers grow as individuals, proving to be a valuable experience: “Getting to speak with people from all walks of life, I was able to appreciate how uniting sporting events can be. They give us common ground to share our stories and experiences and help us come together.”
Javed added: “The SC successfully managed to engage with thousands of people, all who were interested in talking about the exciting future of Qatar, with many wanting to contribute to the journey themselves and signing up to get involved.”
Visitors used the interactive platform to make their voices heard about their hopes and aspirations for the World Cup and the legacy it will leave for Qatar, as well as proposing suggestions to make the tournament an inclusive event reflecting the diversity of the country.
SC Community Engagement has a wide array of programmes including: a Youth Panel, with 35 young residents of 17 nationalities who now have a first-hand understanding of the tournament; the Al Rayyan Recycled Art Programme, which will re-use materials from the deconstructed Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan to create art pieces; or the Volunteer Programme, which already has 1,300 volunteers who have an opportunity to participate in different SC events leading up to 2022.
