Q Life Magazine Q Magazine December 2018 | Page 20
| Issue 5
Afraa Al Noaimi
Generation Amazing:
Getting the ball rolling
on social change
How can football positively impact the lives of one million young
people in the next four years? Acting Executive Director Afraa Al
Noaimi explains
T
he name says it all. Generation Amazing uses the
power of football as a catalyst for social change to
educate and empower the next generations in Qatar, the
wider Middle East and Asia. Having begun in 2010, the programme aims to leave
a legacy beyond the excitement of the World Cup.
Al Noaimi adds: ‘We aim to transform a million lives
through football outreach and education by 2022.
Inspired by the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the programme
uses football for development training to enhance the
skillsets of young people, and create leaders who can
make a difference in their communities. It aims to
spread the World Cup effect further afield than the eight
magnificent stadiums currently being built in Doha,
constructing pitches for communities globally. This includes our beneficiaries of the programme in
Qatar, as well as young people in the other countries
we operate in Nepal, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon,
the Philippines and India. Targeting vulnerable and
displaced people, we empower a new generation of
young leaders to transform their communities through
sport.’
Afraa Al Noaimi, Generation Amazing Acting Executive
Director, says: ‘We are working with school children and
workers in Qatar, as well as youth in countries across the
Middle East and Asia. We build infrastructure while at
the same time training coaches to make it a sustainable
programme within each community.’ The project is important both for young people and
migrant workers. She adds: ‘This is the first programme
in the world which uses football to enhance the lives
of workers both in Qatar and in their communities in
Asia, giving back to those building our country. It fits
perfectly with Qatar’s long-term vision to leave a lasting
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