• His Excellency Abdul-Raqib Saif Fath, "QC has contributed to the alleviation of the sufferings of the Yemeni people."

QC hosted a preparatory workshop organized by QC and 12 other humanitarian organizations. It was attended by His Excellency Mr. Abdul-Raqib Saif Fath, Minister of Local Administration and the Chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief in Yemen.

The initiative committee included the Higher Committee for Relief, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (Saudi Arabia), The International Committee of the Red Cross (Switzerland), Qatar Charity Society, International Humanitarian City (Emirates), International Medical Corps (United States of America), International Islamic Charitable Organization (Kuwait), Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH Turkey), Start Network (Britain), and International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA in Switzerland).

The workshop was held for the preparation of the Conference of Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen: Challenges and Prospects of the Humanitarian Response. The initiators met for consultation, coordination and cooperation so as to face the deteriorating situation of the Yemenis and their increasing sufferings.

Humanitarian Contributions

During the workshop, Mr. Fath spoke about the great humanitarian efforts QC exerted to alleviate the sufferings of the affected Yemenis who have been suffering from the recent escalation of the crisis in their country.

In addition, he displayed to the attendants the humanitarian circumstances in Yemen and clarified the procedures that are followed in dealing with the situation. He explained, "Our work is divided into several stages. The first stage includes an urgent relief campaign for all of the territories. We are done working on this stage and we started with the second stage which covers the territories where hostilities have stopped. We identify the needs and in cooperation with our partners, we plan our response."

Mr. Abdul-Raqib commended QC's work. "QC is considered to be one of the most active humanitarian organizations in Yemen. With the continuous increase in the numbers of the injured in Yemen, QC's support to the Health sector is spectacular. The Health Sector requires bigger operating theatres and more ambulances," added he.

The conference seeks to unite the visions of the active partners in assisting the Yemenis. It aspires to set the floor for an exchange of information, reinforcement of applied procedures related to identifying the Yemenis' needs according to their type and geographical distribution. It is also to help develop the work plans and joint initiatives.

Mr. Mohammed bin Ali Al Ghamdi, QC's CEO of International Development, said that QC has proven its entire and continuous commitment to offering humanitarian and relief aids to the Yemenis. "QC has not spared any effort to alleviate the sufferings of the Yemenis and provide all the necessary means and supplies for a better life."

He also emphasized on QC's role in hosting and organizing the conference about the Yemeni crisis and how such efforts reflect QC's continuous work for the benefit of the Yemenis regionally and internationally. "QC always makes sure to coordinate, cooperate and exchange information with active humanitarian actors in the Yemeni crisis. It also prioritizes implementing relief projects inside Yemen considering the fact that its people are in deep need for aids. Many people who live there suffer from great shortages in drinking water, food and medications," said he.

QC, as Al Ghamdi said, will exert more efforts to respond to the most urgent calls for relief. It will cooperate with all of the active partners and the parties interested in the Yemenis' affairs, whether those related to the displaced, the besieged inside Yemen, or refugees outside Yemen in order to enable them to receive all of the means for a dignified life.

"Yemen, We Are With You"

It is worth mentioning that QC had already inaugurated a campaign entitled 'Yemen, We Are With You' when the crisis first started. It aimed at collecting a financial support of 36,500,000 QR in order to provide food and medication to around 1,260,000 Yemenis. QC also hosted the workshop on the humanitarian situation in Yemen which was attended by several humanitarian institutions from the Gulf and the Islamic World. The meeting resulted in creating a mechanism and a plan for urgent humanitarian intervention, and announcing commitments and pledges by the participants in order to hurry in offering urgent aids. 

Al Kuwari:

QC's interest in advanced technologies and in their employment in serving charity work reflects its development to exceed the use of conventional media and means of communication.

Al Abdullah:

 Since QC is pioneer in humanitarian and charity work, it has to always look for the most creative, comprehensive solutions that would reinforce and spread the culture of charity work.

Al Ali:

 Considering the great role of the advanced means of communication and social media, QC signed multiple cooperation agreements with social media activists and some of Qatar's best stars to support charity work.

Because it always implements creative initiatives to support and spread the culture of charity work, QC launches its own social network in cooperation and partnership with the different groups of the Qatari society and social media activists.

Yousef bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, QC's CEO, said that the idea of creating a social network for QC came from QC's continuous efforts to follow up with the revolution of informatics and technology. "QC always ensures to employ advanced technologies in charity work. It is a proof of its development and advancement. QC goes beyond conventional means of communication and employs the most advanced ones. We, at QC, aim at reinforcing community solidarity, at highlighting the efforts of the different groups of the society, men and women, and their joint work in humanitarian and charity work," commented Mr. Al Kuwari.

Mr. Ali Abdullah added, "Since QC is pioneer in humanitarian and charity work, it has to always look for the most creative, comprehensive solutions that would reinforce and spread the culture of charity work. QC always seeks to highlight the importance of employing social networks in charity work effectively. It also believes in the importance of raising awareness about related issues and to involve the different groups of the society in charity work."

For his part; Mr. Ahmed Al Ali, QC's Director of Information Department and network coordinator, said, "Considering the great role of the advanced means of communication and social media, QC signed multiple cooperation agreements with social media activists and some of Qatar's best stars so that they would work together to serve the community. They will be promoting the projects, development programs and others through online social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, WhattsApp, YouTube, and Instagram. We aspire that this would help serve charity work".

Mr. Saleh Al Ali highlighted the fact that QC's network for social communication includes already established media networks including TOP-BB network, Ka'bat Al Madyoum (Home of Needy), Fahad Buzwair network,  Butirki Qatar Network for Mr. Abdullah As-Shamri, Wlaif Qatar network, Where 2 Eat Qatar for Mr. Abdul Rahman Al Mahrmuzi, Do alive 7, A'ras Qatar (Qatar's weddings), and others.

It also includes some figures such as Dr. Haya Al M'dadi (Director of Fursan Center); Dr. Ayesh Al Qahtani; some journalists such as Shaqr as-Shahwan, Asmaa Al Hamadi, Adel Abdullah, Eman Al Ka'bi, Jawaher Al Mane', Khaleel Al Baloushi, Sa'd Al Ka'bi (a writer at Sharq Newspaper) and Ahmed Abdullah; and Ahmed Abdul Fattah, a director.

Al Ali said that the agreements which QC had signed with the network members stated that the projects, programs and activities which will be included in the joint cooperation will be identified by QC. The members, on the other hand, will be responsible for attracting the attention of the different groups of the society. They will be interacting with the audience to bring in support and to encourage donors to donate for these projects. In addition, they will follow up with the implementation and report to their followers their experiences and what they see in the field. They will also shed light on certain issues, and help find solutions through starting initiatives or programs adopted by QC.

A Positive Interaction

 The members of QC’s Social Network and QC’s Ambassadors expressed their happiness to be part of this voluntary experience, confirming that they would contribute as activists with large numbers of followers to reinforce the field of social creativity.

Mr. Faisal Al-Heidous, QC’s new Ambassador and owner of TOP-BB Company, said that he was happy to cooperate with QC and serve charity work, reminding the society of its importance (charity work) specially on social media. He emphasized that he would represent QC on social media and he would make utmost effort to support its charity projects.

Dr. Haya said that she was certain that the Qatari society would interact with QC’s social network which would result in funding many charitable projects. She also thanked QC for trusting her and expressed that it was an honor for her as a Qatari citizen to support QC’s projects that carried the name of her country.

Journalist Asma’a Al-Hammadi also thanked QC for their trust, and hoped to earn it. She said that she would do her best to achieve the goals of supporting charity work and leading her followers to Allah’s reward.

Mr. Shaqr commended the idea of QC’s Social Network, and confirmed that he undertook the mission of contributing to charity work; which was made easy by this generous opportunity that QC offered.

Dr. Al Qahtani said that if we examined the situation of Syrian refugees and saw the conditions of orphans, widows, and wounded people, we would try the best we could to help them. He said that it would be of much help to these categories to convey their cases to the Qatari philanthropists so that they would donate for them.

Mr.  Khalil Al-Balushi encouraged the Qatari youth to be more involved in charity work and to try to help those who lived in difficult conditions such as the Syrians. Ms. Jawaher said that she hoped that the agreement would achieve all the expected results.

Mr. Abdullah promised to utilize all the available potentials and relations to serve the needy people, and Ms, Eman expressed her gratitude to QC for giving her the chance to help others and make their lives better.

Mr, Al Ka’bi said that he would support QC’s projects in his writings. He also stressed that he would encourage his followers on different social networks to serve the charity work led by QC.

• "We, in Microsoft Qatar, believe in the need for empowering all individuals and institutions for a bigger achievement." - Microsoft Qatar General Manager
• "We hope that our national institutions would follow the steps of Microsoft Qatar’s initiative and support the child-centered programs."- Director of QC centers

As a part of its annual spring program, the fourth edition, the Executive Department for Local Development at QC organized a workshop for programming computer games that targeted more than 20 "future-leaders" students. The workshop aims at developing the skills of using computers and at introducing the children to programming principles, and using Microsoft’s Kodu visual programming language. Microsoft Qatar fully supported and contributed to the implementation of this idea from planning stage until the graduation ceremony.

A graduation ceremony was held at the end of the workshop in Qatar Science & Technology Park with the presence of representatives from QC and Microsoft Qatar. The children received gifts and certificates for their success, as each child programmed a game and tested it practically with his/her peers.

Microsoft Qatar held the workshop at its office in Qatar Science & Technology Park and it provided a skilled trainer, who delivered the course for a group of orphans under the sponsorship of the Social Care Management at QC.

"Microsoft believes in empowering every person and organization to achieve more,” said Mr. Naim Yazbeck, Microsoft Qatar General Manager. “We are happy to partner with QCharity to bring the Kodu coding camp to Qatar for the first time. As innovation is the key to success, we want to encourage young minds to enhance their coding skills, and also to come up with ideas that will not only challenge them but also make a difference to society.”

 Ali Al Gharib, Head of the Local Developmental Centers at QC, stated, “The workshop was organized with the aim of integrating the "future leaders" with the society in an atmosphere of benefit and joy. The workshop is part of the continuous programs that QC offers during the spring vacation, and is also part of the fourth annual spring program for future leaders.”

Al Gharib appreciated Microsoft Qatar’s sponsorship and full cooperation with QC to organize the workshop. He wished that all local institutions and organizations would follow the same path as part of their social responsibilities to boost the local society, especially in the field of cultivating skills and talents.

Ruba Hashem, Country Marketing Manager, expressed her profound happiness over working with QC to hold the workshop, for the importance of programing skills in forming and encouraging the children’s skills of analysis, connection, logical order, and imagination.

“I was very impressed with the level of engagement and excitement I observed in these kids all week. They seem to have absorbed the training content very quickly and even managed to apply the learning instantly. I feel that each and every one of them have a bright future in coding, which has become an essential part of education these days. I am very proud to see them graduate today.”, said Mr. Haydar Al Abodi; Senior IT Instructor – New Horizons.

 The executive department of local development at QC organized the annual spring program for more than 130 future-leader students starting last January and until 4^th of February. In addition to the computer games programming workshop, there are many other events in the fields of science, technology, engineering andmath, STEM for short. The program received the attention of Exxon Mobil Corporation that sponsored it and made its implementation possible.

Spring Programs

It is worth mentioning that the QC Community Development Centers, under the executive department of local development, have organized events for the spring vacation that target hundreds of students, especially orphans. The events include camps, Umrah trips to Mecca, and different cultural, educational, and entertainment activities. The targets of these events are students from different schools and ages.

Future Leader

QC gives priority for social and educational care for the "future leaders" candidates, filling their free time with activities that would help them and deepen their belief to make them capable of bearing the burdens of life. The programs aim at sharpening the children’s skills and abilities through various cultural, entertainment, and sport activities. They also offer care for the orphans’ families.

Social Responsibilities

QC has established a specialized center for community partnership to introduce the QC developmental programs, and to exert efforts to bring such programs into effect through partnerships with the public and private sectors. QC has singed many partnerships with national organizations and companies, allowing them to provide effective community programs that are designed, implemented, and socially tested by a specialized team at QC. This offers the chance for different institutions to maximize the impacts and benefits of the budgets allocated for community programs by approaching QC CSR team.