The Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science officially announced on 26 September that Al Wakra City, (part of Al Wakrah Municipality) in the State of Qatar, has joined the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL) Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC).

The Secretary-General of Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, Dr. Hamda Al Sulaiti, praised the efforts of the parties that participated in preparing the documents required for membership, namely, the National Commission, the Municipality and Environment and the College of North Atlantic - Qatar.

A presentation about Al Wakra City was given by Professor Rupert Maclean, College of North Atlantic-Qatar, on behalf of the Director of Al Wakrah Municipality, Mr. Mansour Ajran Al Buainain, at UNESCO’s Third International Conference on Learning Cities in Cork, Ireland (18-20 September).  In writing the presentation Mr. Mansour emphasized that the concept of a Learning City provides a solid foundation for achieving the vision of Qatar 2030. One of the main objectives of the Municipality is Sustainable Development. The Municipality proudly provided examples of how it is spreading awareness of concepts such as sustainable development and green buildings, for example, by encouraging school students to work on projects promoting the principles of green buildings and efficient use of energy and water resources. Professor Maclean and I enjoyed visiting the Municipality and viewing the ideas that students came up with on the topic.

Professor Rupert Maclean, UNESCO Chair on TVET and Sustainable Development,  Coordinator, UNESCO- UNEVOC Centre for Qatar.  was invited to be on the Drafting Committee for the Cork Guide to Action,  and one page Call to Action,  detailing the Commitments of the participants of the Third Conference on Learning Cities at Cork is soon to be published as an outcome of the conference, I as a PASCAL Board member presented  on promoting learning towards equitable and inclusive cities, basing my presentation on what I had learnt from working with Learning Community Colleagues  in Australia..

The theme of the conference – Global Goals, Local Action: Towards lifelong learning for all in 2030 emphasized how lifelong learning has become integral to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This resonates with the Municipality in Al Wakra and links directly to the goals of Qatar 2030.

PASCAL International Observatory congratulates Al Wakra City and Al Wakrah Municipality on this development and will monitor and report on further initiatives. As you can see from the following links, this announcement has received quite a lot of publicity in the State of Qatar this week.  The College of North Atlantic – Qatar also  looks forward to working further with the Municipality as it develops its learning city plans further.

News Reports:

The Gulf Times, Qatar:

http://www.gulf-times.com/story/565023/Wakrah-joins-Unesco-Global-Networ...

Middle East Business and Financial News:

http://www.menafn.com/1095893080/Qatar-Al-Wakrah-City-joins-Unesco-Globa...

The Organisation of Asia Pacific New Agencies:

http://www.oananews.org/content/news/general/al-wakrah-joins-unesco-lear...

The Peninsular, Qatar:

https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/25/09/2017/Al-Wakrah-City-joins-Un...

Qatar Tribune:

http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/79703

What’s Going On Qatar:

http://wgoqatar.com/wgoqnews-m/qatar/item/3492-joins-unesco-global-netwo...