Doha: INJAZ Qatar continues to facilitate learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption. INJAZ Qatar has successfully implemented several programmes online under its three pillars: Entrepreneurship, Work Readiness, and Financial Literacy, reaching 92,000 students since inception. It was able to prove its capabilities by withstanding and adapting to changes imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programmes were delivered online as a new method to enhance students’ involvement and interaction with several companies. As a start, INJAZ Qatar participated in the launch of the first regional virtual Innovation Camp “INJAZ Beyond Borders” initiated by INJAZ Al Arab and sponsored by Citi Foundation.
From different countries in the Mena region, around 200 students worked together with the help of volunteers and INJAZ team members to find innovative solutions on education and healthcare challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis. Many other programmes were delivered. The “Maharat Min Google” programme with a 3-4 hour workshops to more than 150 high school and university students; as well as the virtual “Head Start” programme in collaboration with Al Khor Girls Center.
These programmes aimed to improve job chances for young people, showed opportunities online to empower them, and prepared them for the workplace. INJAZ ran its first Virtual Innovation Camp sponsored by Citibank Online. Student teams were provided with the opportunity to work collaboratively over three days to address a specific business challenge related to COVID-19 pandemic.
In partnership with Boeing International, INJAZ Qatar and INJAZ Al Arab worked together to implement a virtual regional Innovation Camp. They presented a Boeing STEM-based business challenge, fully prepared by Boeing and presented to students by the Boeing CSR team.
The teams from member nations competed against each other and INJAZ Qatar team won the challenge and got the first award. INJAZ Qatar participated in the HACK-COVID-19, a virtual hackathon designed by QDB to give the brightest thinkers and innovators a platform through which entrepreneurial ideas can be developed to tackle the most pressing challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Besides, INJAZ Qatar announced its “Dardashah with INJAZ” career series through its Instagram platform for streaming live sessions. Emad Al Khaja, CEO of INJAZ Qatar, said: “In an unprecedented crisis, INJAZ has succeeded in continuing its programmes and activities that focus on building human capabilities, and it is the cornerstone for building a modern society that keeps pace with the development witnessed by the world. With the exceptional circumstances that were associated with the emerging corona crisis, and the continued provision and support of programmes in the areas of entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness, which are important pillars that are not sufficiently focused on in our educational curricula.“
“We would not have been able to provide or contribute to such efforts without the support of our corporate partners as what the organisation has accomplishes is based on the strong partnerships and collaborations that it has succeeded in building since its foundation in 2007. “
Consequently, INJAZ Qatar is looking forward for its July 2020 virtual summer camp powered by Qatar Financial Center. It starts on July 5 and runs till the July 16 targeting high school and university students. Students who are interested to participate can register through the link free of charge.
