Students of Qatar Foundation (QF) Hessa AlDosari and Abdallah al-Kuwari attended the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s General Conference in Austria recently and found themselves lobbying international ambassadors to vote for a seat for Qatar on the organisation’s board of governance.
“Before we left Doha we were told we’d be able to sit in on meetings and observe what went on, but when we got to Austria, the ambassador gave us permission to lobby IAEA member countries, and ask them to vote for Qatar for the floating seat of governance,” said al-Kuwari, who graduates from Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) this week with a BSc in Foreign Service.
Al-Kuwari and AlDosari are part of a growing number of QF students who are breaking new ground as global citizens, ensuring that Qatar has a voice on the world stage.
Long before they graduate, seniors from QF partner universities will have amassed impressive CVs of hands-on experience representing their country and contributing to international social and political developments that directly affect Qatar and the region.
Dana al-Anzy, also a GU-Q graduate this year, represented Qatari youth recently at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“It was overwhelming at first, but also a dream come true,” said al-Anzy, who serves as a youth advocate for Education Above All (EAA), an initiative founded by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, which aims to promote the right of access to education for children, women and youth affected by poverty around the world.
“My role on the team was to represent Qatar’s youth and their active involvement through our training and projects in the field of access to education,” said al-Anzy, who previously interned at the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations in New York, and also participated in a General Assembly High Level Thematic Conversation at UN headquarters on youth and children affected by violent extremism.
During her time at the UN General Assembly, al-Anzy attended high-level meetings regarding teacher collaborations and education projects that EAA is currently working on, including the Syrian refugee crisis.
“EAA is expanding its higher education and leadership skills programme to offer support to thousands of Syrian refugees, and is currently advocating for a change to international law to protect education in areas affected by conflict,” she said.
Al-Anzy said that she felt comfortable working in the UN due to her internship last summer and also as a result of her work on her BSc in Foreign Service at GU-Q.
AlDosari agrees that her degree coursework at GU-Q helped her to speak confidently with international ambassadors during the lobbying stage of their meetings, and “to explain to them our mutual benefits and encourage them to kindly vote for us”.
“I’m very proud to say we helped to win the seat for Qatar,” said AlDosari.
The IAEA works with 168 member states and worldwide partners to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Al-Kuwari and AlDosari attended the gathering on the invitation of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, a standing committee at the State of Qatar’s Ministry of Defence.

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