Qatar Foundation International Announces New Program Forging Relations Between Arab and American Youth

QFI Pledges a Commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative with Launch of Youth Social Platform

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a new Commitment to Action made through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Qatar Foundation International (QFI) continues its leadership in innovative global learning with the launch of YALLAH – Youth Allied to Learn, Lead and Help.  The YALLAH program consists of an online forum for former participants in QFI's educational exchange programs to join together for student-driven and expert-facilitated discussions on pertinent global topics.  It will also act as a platform for taking action locally to benefit others.  

"The more people get engaged in intellectual discussions, the more they become open minded and the more we understand one another," said Fahad al-Nahdi, a Qatari high school student who first conceptualized YALLAH with a fellow alumni of QFI exchange programs, an American, Damon Mallory.

The student-run program will help 13-18 year olds from the U.S. and Qatar to continue working together, strengthening their relationships and building the skills necessary to be responsible global citizens.  QFI has partnered with Meedan.net, a leader in online social networks that facilitate collaborations across languages, to develop custom hybrid translations on YALLAH's social learning platform, increasing the student's familiarity with both Arabic and English.

"Meedan is delighted to be working with the QFI team on YALLAH," said Ed Bice, CEO of Meedan.  "Bringing crowd-sourced translation to a forum for young globals promises a more inclusive virtual space for sharing ideas and building networks. " 

In addition to YALLAH's virtual side, active members will also hold annual meetings in either the U.S. or Qatar to renew friendships, strengthen their sense of shared purpose, and visit community projects they have supported.

"YALLAH is a natural extension of QFI's innovative educational and volunteer programs," said Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of QFI.  "In making this commitment, we will ensure meaningful and measurable impacts on many students' lives, and their communities."

YALLAH is set to launch at www.qfi.org/yallah on October 1, 2010.

To find out more about YALLAH and other QFI programs, please visit www.qfi.org.

For media inquiries, please contact Lauren McCollough, [email protected],

Tel: +1 202-255-3575.

View QFI's full commitment to action on the Clinton Global Initiative site: www.clintonglobalinitiative.org

About Qatar Foundation International

Qatar Foundation International (QFI) is a private U.S. foundation established on the principle that education can transform for the better individual lives, communities, and nations. Our mission is to promote education as a force that builds strong local communities, facilitates collaboration across geographical, social, and cultural boundaries, and builds a network of global citizens who communicate effectively and work together to find solutions to pressing global problems.

QFI will implement this mission through innovative educational and volunteer programs, which inspire lasting exchanges of experience and knowledge. Our programmatic focus is on interrelated issues of global importance: education, community engagement, technology, and health. QFI's vision is of a world that embraces and respects diversity, values lifelong learning, and empowers individuals to take action to shape their future.

About Meedan

Meedan is a social technology and social media company that seeks to increase cross-language interaction on the web, with particular emphasis on translation and social knowledge services in Arabic and English. Through its use of Machine Translation (MT), Machine Augmented Translation (MAT), and distributed human translation, Meedan's goal is to create more linguistically diverse and globally informed internet communities. Meedan is based in San Francisco and employs a globally distributed team of designers, engineers, translators, and journalists based in Amman, Damascus, Toronto, Alexandria, Cairo, London, Beirut, and Doha.

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 125 current and former heads of state, 15 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made more than 1,700 commitments valued at $57 billion, which have already improved the lives of 220 million people in more than 170 countries. The 2010 CGI Annual Meeting will take place from September 20-23, 2010, in New York City. The CGI community also includes CGI University (CGI U), a forum to engage college students in global citizenship, MyCommitment.org, an online portal where anybody can make a Commitment to Action, and CGI Lead, which engages a select group of young leaders from business, government, and civil society. For more information, visit www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

SOURCE QATAR FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL