Qatardebate

QatarDebate is the National Debating Organisation for Qatar and a member of the Qatar Foundation. QatarDebate was established in September 2007 with the aim of developing, supporting and raising the standard of open discussion and debate among students in Qatar and across the Middle East, shaping the global citizens of today and the intellectual leaders of tomorrow.

The QD Program

In its first year, QatarDebate has run workshops on debate for over 1500 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 The Cornell Medical School - Qatar Campus.

In September 2008, QatarDebate will release a 5 disc 'Introduction to Debating' DVD set for use by schools and universities across the Middle East. The training DVDs will be available free of charge to national debating federations, schools and universities around the world and will include a standalone introduction to debating, a disc of debate training exercises and 3 demonstration debates.

At an international level, QatarDebate selects and trains the Qatar National Debating team. The team will attend the 2008 World Schools Debating Championships in Washington DC in September 2008.

Within the Qatar Foundation

QatarDebate is one of a number of initiatives under Qatar Foundation which aim to promote free speech and discussion in the Arab World, and as such enjoys a close relationship with the Doha Debates which airs on BBC World and brings world-renowned guest speakers to Qatar to debate important issues facing the arab world, and with Lakom Al Karar, an arabic debate forum which allows Qatari students to question government ministers and other key figures in Qatar on important policy issues.

QatarDebate was created Andrew Goodman and Alex Just, who split their time between the UK and Doha during their final year at Oxford University, with the support of the team behind The Doha Debates. Since July 2008, QatarDebate has been a Department of Qatar Foundation's Education Division, overseen by an Executive Director, Dr. Hayat Maarafi and run by a Program Manager, Alex Just.

External links

* [http://www.qatardebate.org QatarDebate]
* [http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2007&file=Local_News2007112621955.xml The Peninsula on QatarDebate]
* [http://www.ameinfo.com/132986.html AME on QatarDebate]
* [http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=186654&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16 The Gulf Times on QatarDebate]