The QatarDebate Center, a member of the Qatar Foundation, concluded the Second Kuwaiti Training Debate Forum, which was organised in partnership with the Kuwaiti National Debating Team via videoconferencing.
The forum witnessed the participation of 170 registrants in the workshops out of 220.
The forum aimed to provide various training workshops at different levels for the debaters and arbitrators, as well as the qualification of a group of debate trainers, using training experiences at the local and international levels.
These workshops were held on the Zoom electronic platform due to the current conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The importance of such forums is to spread the culture of debate over a wider range of civil society, to enhance the means of dialogue and respect for difference, as well as to develop the level of debaters and referees in the field in an intensely professional manner by virtue of various local and international training experiences and a space for practical application.
Also, this forum is considered a training start for a coming season full of debating championships and other events.
The need to establish a debate forum that brings together aspects of debate from debating, arbitrating and training, provided that the effect sees the light of the aforementioned activities, and through continuous follow-up even after the end of the forum.
The trainer and general supervisor of the camp, Saad Al Assad — QatarDebate Center — said that the forum provided a distinctive professional training environment that represents a safe arena for dialogue and the exchange of ideas and opinions.
This was achieved through providing training workshops, knowledge and skills, and practical debates at various levels targeting civil society and those interested in the field of debate.
The workshops are led by local and international training competencies, punctuated by practical applications, real effective participation, and an opportunity for dialogue with trainers and workers in the field of debate and benefit from their experiences and knowledge treasures.
He explained that this was an effort to attract a new segment of civil society interested in debate by providing a safe space for opinions and ideas, raising the level of the debate to participate in local and international championships, as well as qualifying cadres of referees to involve them in the upcoming events.
He added that as part of the forum program, there was a training camp for students that included a number of workshops presented by a group of the center's trainers, ambassadors, and a panel of arbitrators from the State of Qatar, Kuwait, Libya and Sudan.
He referred to the knowledge workshops, which included various videos and articles that were discussed before the debate that took place in the training camp, as there were 4 debates per day, each one was an application to a knowledge issue related to global issues.
Saad Al Assad added: "The debates took place using the British Parliament approach, and it is a very useful system for students, allowing students to participate in more than one situation.
This is in addition to the feedback, creative contests and daily briefings provided by each panelist after each workshop and debate."
He praised the tremendous efforts of the forum to bring it out in this distinct way, especially the method of presentation and honour for the best developed participants.
In turn, the General Coordinator of the Forum and a member of the National Debating Team in Kuwait, Dana Al Khashan: "After the success of the first Training Debating Forum, we were excited to hold the second edition of it in an organisational partnership with the QatarDebate Center, the largest supporter of efforts to spread the culture of debate and the art of dialogue in the world, in addition to the logistical partner, which is the Schools Debating Club in Kuwait."
Al Khashan added that the main objective of the forum is to spread the culture of debate and promote dialogue in society, by presenting several training workshops in this field that attract a new segment of society in addition to those who have previously entered the field and practiced this art, as the workshops covered all target groups.
Al Khashan continued: "Praise be to Allah; the forum has achieved great success with the help of the youth energies in the organisational team that worked perfectly day and night and made sure that the event came out in this way.
This forum left a noticeable impact on the trainees."
She stressed the importance of these forums, which are an investment of young people's minds and their energies that gives them a safe space to express their opinions while respecting and accepting their differences from others.
