(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Doha: The Arab Federation for Voluntary Activities has nominated Qatar to chair the organisation for the coming round, said an official.
In a meeting on September 19, Qatar was nominated unanimously by member states, Yusuf bin Ali Al Kazim, Director of the federation, told a press conference at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture and Sport yesterday.
Qatar is a pioneering country in voluntary work and the Arab Federation was basically a Qatari idea and established in Doha in December 2003, he added.
'In Qatar, today we could speak about over 7,000 volunteers, thanks to awareness we have created. In the past, there were about 100 volunteers, including active and registered ones,” he said.
To boost voluntary work in Qatar, the federation has signed an agreement with Arab Network for Food Banks to create a food bank in Qatar in collaboration with charity organisations, he said, adding the food bank will be run by charities and will support the needy in Qatar and outside.
The federation has developed a strategy for 2016-17 to boost of voluntary activities. There are associations for voluntary work in Arab countries but the federation is the strongest due to its projects under way in Arab states, Al Kazim said.
He said the federation has signed four agreements, including renewal of an annual agreement, with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) to activate the role of university students in voluntary work.
As part of cooperation with UNV, the federation organised the first International Youth Forum in Doha last April and the next will be held in April next year. The second forum will be attended by 12 countries from five continents and around 18 Arab member states, he added.
Another agreement was signed with Arab Scouts organisation to involve school students in voluntary activities and create awareness about voluntary work.
An agreement is also signed with the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Sudan to organise camps for youth every year in one of the Sudanese states. 'There is a plan to create partnership with the committee in charge of FIFA World Cup 2022 to attract volunteers for the event and we will soon announce an agreement and the plan,” Al Kazim said.
The federation also plans to hold a media voluntary work forum in Bahrain for the first time in the GCC next month.
Forthcoming activities include the signing of an agreement with Arab Contractors Federation to train uneducated people aged 18-40 in vocations to help solve unemployment in Arab countries.
An academy will be established and the federation will provide trainers.
Two training centres — one in Lebanon serving Asia and the other in Khartoum serving Africa — have organised many training courses on voluntary work, covering fields, including natural crises and protocols.
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