Qatar- Brighter future: Innovations lead way to change education

By Fazeena Saleem

Muzabel Welongo a Congolese exiled to Kenya where he has been living since 2010 has found effective methods of how refuges could change their life in to a self reliant way at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Learners’ Voice Programme’s residential session held in Doha.

He was among the 33 young learners including three Qataris participated in a 10-day intensive workshop on education leadership held at the Qatar national Convention Centre.

The 2015-16 cohort of learners who began their journey at the November WISE Summit attended the first of two core residential sessions since January 3 which are designed to impart a foundational understanding of key concepts and evolving trends in education as well as knowledge of pressing global education challenges.

“I have lived all my life as a refugee. Initially as an internally displaced person in Congo then moved to Tanzania after few years went back to my country and again moved out to Kenya” said Welongo speaking to the press yesterday in Doha.

“This is the first time I have travelled out of Africa. WISE Learners is an opportunity for the future life. It has shown how innovation can lead the way to change education. During the workshop I have re-learned a lot on education leadership. There are a lot of ways we can change the refugee life in a self reliant way in economically and at a personal level” said Welongo. He is also Economics and Political Science Student Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi; Director Solidarity & Advocacy with Vulnerable Individuals in Crisis (SAVIC).

WISE a global initiative of Qatar Foundation is aligned to its mission of helping transform Qatar into a knowledge-based economy and through its youth-empowerment initiative it brings the voice of young people to the challenge of rethinking education.

Specialists from the Yale World Fellows Programme will hold workshops in leadership and communication skills. The focus on education leadership and communication is designed to support the participants as they research and develop innovative projects throughout the year-long programme.

The 2015-16 learners were chosen from over 1300 applicants from around the world they are aged 18-25 and represent 29 countries.

The experience at the workshop held in Doha was different from each participant depending their background.

“We had an opportunity to know about other cultures at a personal and professional level. People from different backgrounds have different problems in education and the solutions are also different” said Vinícius Santos Facilitator Social Collaboration and Innovation Laboratory (COLLAB) in Brazil.

Eman Al Kuwari a Qatari graduate from the Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and at present employed as a Technology Researcher at ictQatar said: “WISE learners’ voice is an eye opener about problems faced across the world regarding challenges in education. With different people from different backgrounds we have gained diversified experience.”

Another young Qatari Hassan Salatt has graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and employed at the Qatar Airways also shared similar thoughts.

“The incredible range of participation showed that education and its challenges are different from one country to another” said Alisha Fredriksson a Student from Canada and Sweden.

Learners’ Voice has had a lasting impact on its participants as it has evolved to include residential sessions online activities and the development of group projects.

A successful story is that of the Orenda Project developed during the 2013-14 Learners’ Voice Programme by four students from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (GU-Q) and one from the UK’s University of Warwick.

The Orenda Project is based on the concept of co-creation as a way to increase access to education and works directly with target populations to establish schools in a sustainable community-driven way. The Learners’ Voice Programme was established in 2010 as an initiative of WISE to engage the perspectives and creative energies of young people in debates around important education issues and challenges.

The learners’ benefit from the expertise of the WISE team and global education specialists including faculty from Yale University and Babson College. The Learners’ Voice Programme is supported by partners Banco Santander through its Universities Global Division.

The Peninsula