Doha Islamic Youth Forum kicks off with focus on good governance

Doha Islamic Youth Forum kicked off Sunday under the motto "Youth is the power of the nation", with the participation of youth delegations from 56 countries of the Islamic world, including 20 young people from Qatar.

The forum, which comes in the framework of the "Doha OIC Capital 2019" event, is held in co-operation between the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Islamic Co-operation Youth Forum (ICYF), under the supervision and organisation of Qatar Centre for Cultural and Heritage Events.The five-day event addresses a number of important topics including youth and bet on sustainable development; youth and the safe use of social media; diplomatic simulation; and good governance and transparency among young people, aiming at creating a space for young people to express themselves and their views on a number of issues that capture their attention.The forum's events began with a general workshop entitled "Good Governance and Transparency among Young People". The participants included Amal al-Kuwari, head of the Control and Development Department at the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority; Hussein Ibrahim al-Haj Masoud, expert at the Planning and Quality Department at the Ministry of Culture and Sports; and Hussein Mahmoud Hassan, acting Director of the International Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Culture and Sports.The workshop discussed the concepts of good governance and transparency in general, and the most important ideas presented by the forum to address the challenges of youth at the level of the Islamic nation, as well as the international agreements that ensure transparency among countries.The speakers called for awareness-raising, law enforcement and youth empowerment, as young people are the most affected by corruption and nepotism, resulting in the loss of education or jobs.They emphasised that Qatar has a clear anti-corruption strategy in line with international best practices in terms of transparency as well as enhancing staff competencies.Three other workshops and debate sessions for participants were held following the opening workshop.The first workshop discussed the role of youth in establishing a culture of good governance.Consultant and self-development trainer Khalid al-Muhannadi, who moderated the workshop, said that the workshop aims to remind young people and the current generation that good governance has existed in ancient Islamic systems, and give some models of governance at the United Nations.The second workshop discussed the sound management of human and financial resources in youth institutions.Hussein al-Sayyed, trainer and researcher in the field of training and supervisor of the workshop, said that the workshop was divided into three phases.The first was about the most important challenges facing human and financial resources in how they are managed and invested.In the second phase, the three most important challenges were selected.In the third phase each group of the participants presented 12 challenges and answers to these challenges.Al-Sayyed noted that this document will be submitted to the administration of the forum to discuss it and produce recommendations, adding that the most important challenges highlighted by the participants were transparency, combating corruption and the loss of good governance.The third workshop dealt with integrity and the promotion of a culture of renouncing corruption.Assistant in the forum, Fatma al-Taweel, said that the workshop raised ideas that serve the main theme of the workshop.The participants were divided into five groups, and each group was asked to present three new ideas and the best three projects that serves the main theme in an innovative and creative youth way.Al-Taweel added that several ideas were reached during the workshop, the most important of which was the need to include subjects in the educational curricula that promote the culture of rejecting corruption, and the attention to the role of civil society institutions in supporting the governmental role to promote transparency and reject corruption.The participants also highlighted the important role of social media and the adoption of awareness campaigns to spread the culture of rejection of corruption.For his part, Sheikh Ali bin Salman bin Jabor al-Thani, a participant in the forum, said that 20 of the distinguished male and female young people are representing Qatar in Doha Islamic Youth Forum, stressing the excellence of the Qatari youth taking part in the forum and its endeavor to co-operate with young people participating from other countries to reach solutions to many issues and problems to submit recommendations thereon to the Organisation of the Islamic Co-operation.