QatarDebate

QatarDebate Logo

QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation and the National Debating Organisation for Qatar, is a civic engagement initiative which aims to develop and support the standard of open discussion and debate among students and young people in Qatar and the broader Arab world.

Founding

QatarDebate was founded in September 2007 under the direction of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Misned and the Qatar Foundation, with support from the team behind the Doha Debates.

In the last year and a half, QatarDebate has provided schools with numerous workshops, teacher trainings, and held debate competitions around Qatar. National Championships were held in both 2008 and 2009 at the school and university level. At an international level, QatarDebate selects and trains the Qatar National Debating team, which represent Qatar at various international tournaments including the World Schools Debating Championship.

Domestic programs and activities

Since its founding in 2007, QatarDebate has run workshops on debate for over 3000 students and faculty at over 30 different educational institutions across Qatar, within Education City and beyond. QatarDebate administered the first ever Qatar-wide debate league between schools and universities from February 2008, and ran National Schools and National Universities debating competitions attended by over 400 students in March 2008. The Qatar National Schools' Debating Competition 2008 was won by Doha College and the National Universities' Debating Competition 2008 was won by a team from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. These national debating competitions take place annually.

QatarDebate is in the process of launching Arabic Debate, Training of the Trainers, and Primary Schools debate programs in Qatar.

International Program & Activities

At an international level, QatarDebate selects and trains the Qatar National Debating team. The team attended the 2008 World Schools Debating Championships in Washington DC in September 2008, winning 4 of their 8 debates, and in doing so setting a new world record for the best performance by a new entrant country in the competition. The Qatar team attended the 2009 Championships in Athens, Greece during February 2009.

Qatar hosted the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships in February 2010, becoming the first country in the Arab World to host the competition, and attracting over 50 countries to the competition.[1]

Film

The first Qatar National Schools Debating Team (2008) are the subject of an independent documentary film, 'Team Qatar', directed by Liz Mermin, which premiered in New York at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast in the UK on the BBC.

References

  1. ↑ The official website for the 2010 competition is http://www.wsdc2010doha.com

External links