Qatar bid for World Schools 2010

Dear Friends,
QatarDebate, the national debating organisation for Qatar and a member of Qatar Foundation, is delighted to announce its intention to bid in Washington D.C for the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships.

Below is an outline of how far debating has come in Qatar in recent years, what we think we can offer as hosts and the benefits WSDC 2010 could have for debate across the Arab World.

Qatar: A vibrant debating community
• Debating in Qatar is thriving, with QatarDebate training over 1500 students and teachers from over 30 high-schools and universities.
• The inaugural Qatari National Championships was attended by over 400 students.
• WSDC 2010 would be Co-Convened by Dr Hayat Maarafi (Executive Director of QatarDebate) and Alex Just (Program Manager of QatarDebate)

Qatar 2010: A tournament like no other
• Free registration for all national teams (this includes all accommodation, transport, food and activities for an 8 member national delegation)
• Subsidized flights for all new entrant countries (we hope to welcome Jordan, Bahrain, the U.A.E, Morocco, and many others into the WSDC community)
• Accommodation in the Marriott Doha – a hotel that has experience of hosting large international student conferences with students from the USA, China, Israel and Belize among others.

Beyond 2010: Developing debate in the Arab World
• WSDC 2010 would be the first time World Schools has been hosted in the Arabian Gulf or in a Muslim country.
• The debates at WSDC 2010 will be seen by over 2000 Qatari school children and will attract significant interest in the regional English and Arabic language press.
• Just as Southern African debating benefited from Johannesburg hosting WSDC in 2001 we are confident that hosting the tournament in Doha in 2010 will provide a superb boost to debate in the Gulf region and the wider Middle East.

We look forward to seeing you all in Washington in a few weeks time. If you have any questions please have a look at our website – http://www.qatardebate.org/ - or send an email to doha2010@qatardebate.org

Best wishes,
Dr Hayat Maarafi, Alex Just and Andrew Goodman
QatarDebate WSDC 2010 Bid Committee