A group of Youth Advocates have been selected as part of a new programme launched by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) legacy programme Generation Amazing (GA). The Generation Amazing Youth Advocates will embark on a year-long journey to better understand the different ways that football can be used as a tool for positive social change.

Under the programme, 15 Youth Advocates aged 16 to 24 were selected from an online process, with the group comprising of nine young women and six young men. During the year, they will learn to empower participants of the Generation Amazing programme by undertaking training which will see them lead on-pitch programme sessions, enhancing communication, organisation, leadership and teamwork skills among their peers and those they interact with over the coming months.

Generation Amazing Youth Advocates are considered a manifestation of the SC’s legacy programme’s mission, vision and values on the ground. They will advocate for pillar causes in the Generation Amazing programme, such as gender equality and inclusion – in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for achieving a better future for all identified communities.

During the programme’s launch event, SC Secretary General, H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, said:

“Following the success of our Generation Amazing International Youth Ambassadors Programme, through which we were able to reach 500,000 people, we are thrilled to initiate our Youth Advocates programme.”

“Youth Advocates is a platform for promoting the values of global citizenship through football development. Our aim is to create a legacy of empowerment, social development, and civic duty for young people in our region, with football as the inspiration,” Al Thawadi added.

Elaborating on the SC’s continued efforts to include local and regional youth in the planning and preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Al Thawadi added:

“These young people we selected are considered the driving force for positive social change and a core factor in contributing toward finding solutions to multilateral and national social challenges, all through using sport as a transformative tool, in Qatar and beyond.”

Prior to the launch of the Generation Amazing Youth Advocate programme, Generation Amazing had trained over 60 International Youth Ambassadors globally, in countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines, Jordan and Lebanon. The Youth Ambassadors completed football-for-development training which enabled them to relay programme learnings to their individual communities, based on set community development needs.

The new Youth Advocates programme now aims to further extend Generation Amazing’s mission to Qatar and the region and will expand in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup 2022™.

During their journey, the young leaders will participate in a series of online webinars, investigating a variety of issues related to the field of sport for development and social change, take part in leadership conferences, social initiative assignments and social awareness excursions.

The Generation Amazing Festival, an annual football for development event in Doha that takes hundreds of international youth on a social responsibility agent-making expedition through football training, will be one of the key highlights and learning opportunities for the Advocates.

Upon learning about her selection in the Youth Advocate Programme, 16-year-old Mira Abdelrahman said:

“I feel grateful to have been selected and I look forward to working with other students to use football for good to make change, to see developments in our environments and to promote equality.”

A fellow Youth Advocate, 19-year-old Salman Al Khori said:

“I know that I want to make a difference, be an influencer of some sort and witness social change in our community. I believe being a part of this programme and the road to 2022 will play a huge role and be a platform for change and a better way to spread the word, not only to people in Qatar, but all over.”

Follow @GA4Good on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to learn more about the journeys of the Youth Advocates, as well as keep up to date with all the latest from Generation Amazing.