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For many people, volunteering is a valuable opportunity to make a contribution to society in a spirit of generosity and selflessness. The Qatar Center for Voluntary Activities, also known as Qatar Voluntary (QV), offers this opportunity to citizens and residents of Qatar, male or female, children or adults.
Qatar Tribune spoke with Qatar Center for Voluntary Activities Secretary-General Nasser al Malki about the scope of the centre's activities, and its mission and objectives.
Outlining some of QV's aims and objectives, Malki stressed the importance of the contributions which volunteering makes to society, and the need for people to understand this importance, which he defined as a 'volunteer culture'.
"We want to be an instrument for spreading a volunteer culture in Qatar, and especially among the younger generations, which is why many of our initiatives target children and young adults. If young people can develop an appreciation of the benefits and value of volunteering early on, then this knowledge will develop with them as they grow," he said.
Malki elaborated on this need to develop a volunteer culture in children at an early age by describing one of QV's programmes which was established with that very purpose in mind.
"Indeed, one of our key initiatives, known as the Young Volunteer programme, seeks to develop this early appreciation for the significance of volunteer work to the individual and society. To that end, we engage children in volunteering in different ways, for instance distributing iftar meals to drivers at intersections every year during the Holy Month of Ramadan, which we hope will demonstrate to them first hand the potential benefits of volunteering," he said.
"In addition, we also organise workshops, such as the recently held session entitled 'know yourself and invest your abilities', which was organised by the Young Volunteer programme for children aged 11 to 16. The session was well attended, with 35 children participating, and aimed at fostering an understanding of the scope of an individual's contributions to society and how much the members of that society can benefit therefrom," he added.
Thus, while QV understood the need to develop a volunteer culture at an early age, Malki noted, its activities were in no way restricted to children."The Center works with enterprising young Qataris to support their ideas for volunteering initiatives, thereby, rewarding their efforts to organise volunteering initiatives while working to encourage members of the centre to join these promising programmes," he said.
The official noted that eight such initiatives were adopted by QV earlier this year, including programmes to assist those with special needs, to encourage and promote computer literacy in all sectors of society, and others.
"In May, 2016, we adopted these eight initiatives, which were developed by young Qataris with a passion for volunteering, and we are proud of their work in this regard. By supporting these initiatives, be it financially or logistically, we are showing our appreciation to these young volunteers for, in turn, supporting us in our work to benefit society," he said.
In addition to organising its own events, QV also participates in youth gatherings and initiatives, with the aim of promoting volunteering, Malki said.
"We recently participated in the local celebration of International Youth Day, an awareness day designated by the United Nations to draw attention to cultural and legal issues surrounding young people.
"The events in Qatar were hosted by a number of sports clubs in the country, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and we felt this was the perfect opportunity to promote the volunteer culture and seek to engage these young people in volunteer work", he explained.
