'Cultural Adaptability, A Reason Behind Generation Amazing's Success'

Doha, Qatar: The cultural adaptability and sensitivity to the ways and manners of the local community that Generation Amazing Foundation (GA) is operating in have been some of the major reasons for its outstanding successes over the years, GA Executive Director Nasser Al Khori has said.

Speaking at a panel discussion titled, 'Sport as a Force for Sustainable Development in the MENA Region' on the sidelines of the Doha Forum yesterday, Al Khori noted that anytime the organisation is working with a new community or a country for the first time, the initial thing on the agenda has always been for the organisation to try to understand the needs before doing anything else.

• Experts at Doha Forum call for turning AI into tool for benefit of humanity
• Ecuador Minister highlights role of art, culture in global diplomacy
• Global leaders highlight pressing issues in energy security across Central Asia
• Experts delve into power of art in fostering diversity and dialogue

“That's how we design interventions; everything is based on the needs of that community, so we understand the social issues, we understand the social fabric, and what we do is we work across the community, so it's not just with the kids or the schools or the coaches; it's with the parents and with the stakeholders; across the board, everyone is involved. So, I think that also ensures that the programmes are sustainable. We build capacity locally, and we empower the local community to be able to take the lead,” he said.

Al Khori added that collaboration is part of Generation Amazing's core strategy, noting that at the end of the day the organisation cannot do it alone.

“We have to work with organisations, other partners on the ground. We work across multi-sector levels, so obviously working with governments, working with UN agencies, working with other NGOs, and also working with football and other sports federations, because they have a role to play as well, like the Olympic Committee and other sorts of organisations, and I think people would probably agree with that. There's a lot of work that now we're starting to do with different partners across the board, and there's a lot of lessons learned and best practices that are within the MENA region, which I think we can capitalise on,” he added.

Highlighting some of the landmark achievements of Generation Amazing Foundation, Al Khori noted that the organisation was born with the country's winning the bid for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with the idea being to leverage football as a way to kind of empower and kind of build resilience amongst youth and develop capacity across the region.

“So at that time, in 2011 and 12, we established our first programme, which was looking at refugees in Jordan, and we built a safe space, which still exists today. And we've recently relaunched these two safe spaces with the West Asian Football Federation Foundation (WAFF Foundation) recently. And again, the impact doesn't stop as it keeps going. We have over 4,000 kids on a weekly basis using our football pitches. These are just a tiny bit of what we've been able to do over the years. Sports has an amazing power to unite and bring people together and promote values of inclusion and sort of create inclusive societies wherever you are, whatever the challenges,” he said.

The session organised in partnership with Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) was moderated by the Lead Arabic Consultant, International Platform on Sport and Development, Haneen Khatib. It also featured Programme Director of Lead Morocco, Fatima Azzahra Benfares; Executive Director International Platform on Sport and Development, Dr. Ben Farai Sanders; Head, African Union Sports Council, Dr. Decius Chipande; and Manager of the Humanitarian Aid Department at Qatar Charity, Ahmed Al Rumaihi.

MENAFN09122024000063011010ID1108969987