Director Magda Abu-Fadil was in Qatar in January 2009 to conduct two brief workshops on media literacy for school activities coordinators and parents in Doha.

The training was held at the request of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs. Media literacy is the pet project of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the country’s first lady, who is behind a multi-year strategy to address the media’s impact on youth identity formation in the Arab world.

The workshops tackled “glocalization” of the media (moving  from the local to the global), media content analysis, dealing with multimedia and social media, interactivity and “screenagers,” digital media filtering, developing media literacy skills, educators’ roles, parents’ input, critical thinking, and empowerment.

Participants were enthusiastic. One said “higher-ups” should take the workshop “to convince them of the usefulness of the media.” A board member of Qatar’s Al Khairiya School said, “Media today are a key factor in changing ideas and personal beliefs and we should capitalize on them to benefit us all.”