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Doha International Family Institute Holds Conference
Written by Mrs. Lynn Walsh, Director, UPF Office of Marriage and Family Education
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Doha, Qatar - The Doha International Family Institute (DIFI) hosted an impressive mix of policy makers, researchers, academics, and UN and NGO representatives dealing with aspects of family policy and good practices from around the world during a conference April 16-17, 2014, in the beautiful Qatar National Convention Center. The theme was "Empowering Families: A Pathway to Development."
The goal for this high-level gathering was to "stress the need to strengthen and empower the family to cope with the challenges in this time of economic crisis and political turmoil and provide an opportunity to highlight the important role of the family as an active agent in overall development."
Rich discussion focused on why families matter in all levels of human, social and economic development followed by numerous presentations of concrete, effective practices and policies particularly in the areas of addressing family poverty and social exclusion, ensuring work-family balance and promoting intergenerational solidarity.
During a plenary panel on "The Family and the Post-2015 Development Agenda" Tageldin Hamad, representing WANGO and Universal Peace Federation, addressed the reasons why the family has been largely ignored in the goal setting and policies of the UN and stressed the need to strengthen the parents' role. Some of the topics covered in the panel sessions were the family and gender equality, men in families, and the family and civil society.
One highlight was the impassioned and articulate speech given by H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson, Qatar Foundation, as she pointed to the impact of the entertainment media saying, "Cultural invasion has targeted the core identity of the Arab family, its culture, language and religion."
At the close of these intense two days, a "Call to Action" was formulated providing focal areas of action for all participants in their diverse areas of work. Besides the excellent exchange of information and insight and this final document, another important accomplishment of this conference was the building of networks and future collaborations as new relationships were formed among participants from around the world.
As this conference provided substantial evidence for the need for family empowerment and concrete methods to move forward, it also empowered and encouraged everyone present with new energy, resources, and knowledge. From many of comments heard, participants have a greater conviction that, with our efforts, the world will become a better place as the family is strengthened and regains its central role in solving and preventing much of the world's dilemmas and creating a vibrant world, family by family.
For the Call to Action, click here.
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