Qatar Foundation International Brings Together Students From U.S. and Qatar for Empower Conference in Doha

Finalists in Qatar Foundation International's (QFI’s) YALLAH Commit to Action program (C2A) participated in the 10^th annual EMPOWER 2018 conference organized by Reach Out To Asia, which was held at the Education City Student Center from March 15-17.

The YALLAH C2A program is designed to support youth who are carrying out work in their communities that is geared towards the achievement of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During this 12-week program, students from the U.S. and Qatar participated in a series of six service learning and leadership training webinars, and developed their own service-learning projects with the support of a professional mentor via a virtual platform. The program culminated with a virtual showcase in which students presented their projects to a panel of judges, competing for the opportunity to be part of a one-week trip to Qatar to attend the 2018 EMPOWER Conference.

Zana Murrie, a student at Chattahoochee High School in Atlanta, Georgia, who attended EMPOWER 2018, said: “Attending this trip to Qatar gave me an opportunity to spread awareness beyond my community and move a step closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals within my community.”

This year’s EMPOWER conference included panel discussions, workshops, seminars, and activities over a three-day period. Students from QFI’s YALLAH Commit to Action program presented their projects during multiple sessions, such as:

• The Emotional Education Project, a mental health awareness campaign organized by teens, for teens, to destigmatize talking about emotional issues and reaching out for help. Six students from three cities aim to lift the veil of silence and make resources more readily available to their peers through social media, public speaking, and community outreach.

• Food for All explores the issues of food inefficiency, poor nutrition, and unequal access to quality food in a world where there is enough food for all, and yet millions go hungry and malnourished. In six different cities, this group educates and organizes their peers to take action against hunger by leading food drives, reducing food waste, and creating community gardens.

• Hydration Nation takes a two-pronged approach to the global water crisis. By raising funds for clean water stations in his school, student Sean Marcus Headley is raising awareness about the need for clean drinking water in schools all over the world. The proceeds from the sale of reusable water bottles will fund hydration stations in his school while reducing the use of single-use plastic bottles, the current approach to the problem. Additional proceeds will go to NGOs providing clean water to areas in drought. 

• No E-Waste aims to stop the disposal of electronic waste in Qatar. Starting with his school, student Leo Angelo Cabibihan is offering a challenge to students who recycle their old cell phones or donate them to be reused by guest workers in Qatar. Through public speaking and social media, he is raising awareness of the environmental costs of disposal, as well as the production of electronics, encouraging his audiences to reduce, reuse, and recycle, more consciously.

“We are so proud of these C2A students – they inspire us with their commitment to positively impact their communities and then bridge tremendous distances to find ways of working together,” said Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of QFI. “To us, the SDGs become real for students when they can be part of practical, hands-on projects that deliver real benefit to those around them – and those thousands of miles away.”

In addition to attending and presenting at EMPOWER, the students spent a week together in Qatar learning about the Arabic language and Arab heritage while visiting Qatar’s cultural landmarks.