By Raynald C Rivera
DOHA: The eighth annual Youth Conference on Personal Leadership, Service Learning and Global Citizenship (Empower 2016) organised by Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) has received more than 1,400 applicants from over 60 countries.
“We are targeting 450 youth, 50 of whom are international and the remaining local,” said Mae Al Zaman, Learning and Capacity Building Specialist, ROTA.
Empower is a youth-led conference combining panel discussions, keynote speeches, small group workshops, seminars, off-site activities, exhibition and youth artistic expression which a focus on equipping young people to take active roles in building their communities and having a voice on global issues.
It will be held from March 17 to 19 at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Student Centre under the theme ‘Innovation in Youth Social Entrepreneurship’.
“This year’s theme was selected based on UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goals 8 and 9,” Al Zaman said, adding the SDGs are aligned with the vision and mission of Qatar Foundation and ROTA.
The conference will serve as a discussion forum, where participants will be asked to devise and review solutions to increase the contribution of youth to achieving SDGs and Qatar National Vision 2030, using the Youth Social Entrepreneurship’s business methodology.
Youth Social Entrepreneurship aims to address skill development, education and investment in young people to motivate them to utilise their capabilities to achieve success and independence. Educating youth and raising their awareness about social entrepreneurship is an essential element of ROTA’s strategies to bolster youth employment in Qatar and the region.
Compared to the previous edition, this year’s conference has the number of workshops doubled all of which will take place in the first two days of the event.
“This year we have more keynote speeches and workshops than the previous edition. There will be more than 20 keynote speakers and around 48 workshops in the first two days of the conference. The third day will be devoted to offsite activities based on the workshops the participants have taken,” said Summer Al Ansari, Member, Youth Planning Committee.
During offsite activities, the participants will have the chance to visit local organisations involved in youth development and entrepreneurship.The Peninsula
