QU to launch first Qatari Youth Survey project

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Doha: Qatar University's (QU) Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) convened a virtual meeting to launch a new research project titled, 'Gender, Education, and Employment Transitions in Qatar: Implementing the First Survey of Qatari Youth. The project was recently awarded a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund National Priorities Research Program (NPRP). The project aims to understand more about the challenges and opportunities associated with young adulthood in Qatar by implementing a first-ever Qatari Youth Survey. It will provide scholars and policy makers previously unavailable data about the educational, professional, and social transitions taking place in the lives of young Qataris between the ages of 18 and 29. The convening was chaired by the study's Lead Primary Investigator, Dr. Noora Lari, the Policy Department Manager at SESRI. Dr. Lari was joined by SESRI Director Dr. Kaltham Al Ghanim and fellow project investigators Dr. Justin Gengler and Dr. Abdellatif Sellami of Qatar University, and Dr.' Azza Abdalmoneim of the Doha International Family Institute (DIFI). Also in attendance w ere representatives from several project co-founders, end-users, and stakeholders from a range of governmental and semi-governmental institutions, including Khalifa Al Yafei from the Qatar Finance and Business Academy, Abdulla Al Hilali from NAMA center, Khadija Albuhaliqa from the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Dabiah Al Meqbali from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, and Alyaa Al Maadeed from Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Participants confirmed the need for reliable and up-to-date scientific data that gives insight into the youth experience in Qatar, and how public sector efforts in Qatar might be targeted to assist critical transitions between schooling, employment, and marriage. They also emphasized the importance of another key focus of the project, which is gender roles in Qatar and their impact on human development. The attendees lauded the study's unique and innovative scientific approach, implementing a panel study carried out across two waves. The same set of Qatari youth respondents will first be interviewed in a preliminary survey and then re-contacted approximately 12-18 months later for a second interview. This methodology allows the research team to identify trends within the population and focus on the causal effects of economic, educational, and personal 'shocks, or difficult-topredict events that took place in the time between the surveys. The nationally representative telephone survey will provide a wide-ranging picture of youth empowerment, personal well-being, and attitudes toward different types of educational, employment, and social developments in Qatari young adults' lives. The Qatari Youth Survey is only the latest in many surveybased research projects currently being conducted by the SESRI Policy Department to help inform evidence-based decision-making in Qatar. Other recent initiatives include the Institutional Food Waste project and the Impact Covid-19 Epidemic in Qatar.MENAFN06042021000063011010ID1101866870