Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2011 Issue 1

Human trafficking is arguably the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. An estimated 2.5 million people are victims of human trafficking each year. Despite this prevalence, evidence suggested low awareness and understanding in Qatar of what constitutes human trafficking and its occurrence at a local level. Prior to launching an awareness campaign and capacity building programs, QFCHT deemed it important to identify local attitudes and perceptions about human trafficking.

This paper aims to gauge current awareness and understanding of human trafficking among Qatar residents and to identify community misunderstandings and knowledge gaps.

This quantitative research consisted of a total of 426 face-to-face intercept interviews (in Arabic and English) with a stratified random sample of Qatar residents. Quotas were set according to four nationality groups so that demographic comparisons could be made. Interviews were conducted by 20 volunteers and QFCHT staff throughout July and August 2011. All interviewers underwent an extensive briefing by a qualified market research consultant and a quality audit was conducted on 10% of completed surveys.

The results of this research confirm there is limited awareness and recognition in Qatar of the overall concept of human trafficking. However, in general after being provided with a definition, respondents accurately reflected that the categories of people most affected by human trafficking in Qatar are domestic workers and labourers. Almost half (48%) of respondents did not know which organisations in Qatar provided services to victims.

A significant proportion of Qatar residents interviewed had a limited understanding of the meaning behind the term human trafficking. The findings indicate a further need to build the awareness among residents of Qatar of the types of human trafficking occurrences and ways to combat them. Human trafficking promotional campaigns need to focus on targeting nationalities where understanding is at its lowest and on issues specific to the categories of people most affected in Qatar. Campaigns should also focus on increasing awareness of support services available to victims such as the services offered by the QFCHT. Recommendations are included in the research report.

The state of Qatar has embarked upon an unprecedented period of investment in human, social, economic and environmental development in line with its Qatar Vision 2030 plan. With significant investments in support of the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector, Qatar is making impressive gains towards building a knowledge economy. The College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) has developed its own Strategic Plan in line with the State's to ensure that the college is providing the best service to Qatar and its people. Within CNA-Q's School of Business Studies, the Entrepreneurial Center (EC) was created to assist with the planning and development of small businesses.

In order to better understand the requirements of budding entrepreneurs at CNA-Q, a research project was initiated to measure the Entrepreneurial Potential (EP) of students based on their attitudes towards entrepreneurship and the constituent elements of achievement, personal control, creativity, leadership, intuition and risk taking. The project also gathered data about gender, sponsorship, age, program-of-study, country of citizenship, postgraduate intentions and extra-curricular activities in order to understand any demographic or behavioral characteristics that may be important.

In this cross-sectional, quantitative study, a sample of over 400 diverse students from various faculties at CNA-Q was surveyed. Results showed that students at CNA-Q register relatively high EP in general but lower in the areas of intuition and personal control. There were differences observed in various groups as well. Non-sponsored students scored higher in EP than sponsored students, male students scored higher than female students and business & information technology students scored higher than average. Students who participate in extra-curricular activities scored higher than those who do not and a large percentage of students intend to continue their education while very few intend to start their own businesses after graduation.

The results indicate that if CNA-Q wants to increase EP in students, among other things, the school needs to adapt curriculum to improve students’ intuition and personal control as well as encourage students to take part in more extracurricular activities. CNA-Q should also pursue further research to better understand why so few students have entrepreneurial intentions.

Throughout the Ummah, fertility levels are dropping dramatically for many countries and sub-national populations--and traditional marriage patterns and living arrangements are undergoing tremendous change.

There remains a widely perceived notion that “Muslim” societies are especially resistant to embarking upon the path of demographic/familial change that has transformed “more developed” areas (UN terminology). But such notions are utterly uninformed by the important new demographic realities that reflect today's life patterns within the Islamic world. Indeed: the plain fact today is that the most momentous fertility declines ever witnessed, in both magnitude and tempo, are today being registered in Muslim-majority societies. Changes in family formation patterns, likewise, are occurring faster and at much lower income levels in parts of the Muslim world than were recorded in the past in now-affluent Western societies.

This study will outline, analyze and assess the dimensions, determinants and implications of the profound fertility declines and revolutionary changes in family life now evident within the Ummah, focusing special attention on the Arab world, utilizing data from DHS surveys, national censuses, and international demographic and social science databases (including the World Values Survey).

Applying demographic tools and also what might be called “strategic demographics” to the analysis of changes in patterns of fertility and family formation in the Islamic world will enhance understanding of society, economy, politics, and future development prospects for these peoples and states. This is a neglected area of research inquiry, but it is nevertheless of vital importance to understanding these societies and their futures.

This study examined whether the reactive stress tolerance of male adolescent student athletes of a high-performance sport academy improved after a 24- week intervention which included Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) and imagery. Participants (N=36) responded to a psychomotor test measuring reactive stress tolerance, in which they were presented with visual/coloured stimuli and acoustic signals. The presentation speed of the stimuli adapted to the respondents’ performance level. After the completion of this test, the participants engaged in an intervention designed to learn progressive muscle relaxation and imagery skills through an eight-week education phase, an eight-week practice phase and another eight-week implementation phase. In the implementation phase, progressive muscle relaxation and imagery sessions were expected to become part of the participants’ comprehensive training in sport in an organised manner. At the end of the intervention period, the student-athletes were requested to take the reactive stress tolerance test again. Results showed that student-athletes' reactive stress tolerance was significantly improved (t(35)=2.825, p=0.008) in the post-intervention test (M=0.1742, SD=0.0714) compared to the pre-intervention test (M=0.2049, SD=0.0947). It was concluded that progressive muscle relaxation and imagery have a positive effect on the adolescent student-athletes' reactive stress tolerance.

The status of women in the Middle East has always been a a controversial issue, but there does not seem to have been quantitative studies of how the political and religious attitudes reflect on the presentation of women in the Arabic media.

The current study examines the way women are presented in two websites of general circulation with the purpose of unearthing the linguistic connections of “woman” in liberal versus politico-Islamic discourse.

The study uses computational and corpus linguistics techniques to investigate a corpus of 40 million words extracted from the political Islamic website http://www.ikhwanonline.com and the liberal website www.almasry-alyoum.com in search for the collocates of the word “woman” in all its possible morphological representations. Due to the morphological richness of Arabic, the words were first stemmed, i.e. all the clitics were removed from the words, before all words within the range of 5 words before and after “woman” were subjected to collocational analysis using a combination of pointwise mutual information and raw frequency counts as a measure of association. The top 100 stems in each corpus source were selected for comparison.

The results of the study give a strong support to the conclusion that liberal and Islamic websites treat women differently. While the liberals stress political participation, rights, and work equality, the Islamists stress home, marriage, pregnancy and children. While the results are not new in the sense that this may sound like common knowledge, the study provides quantitative analysis and proof of the results.

We have provided quantitative analysis of large amounts of data in the study of a linguistic and humanities filed, an area that is still lacking in Arabic linguistic research. We hope to augment this with qualitative research in the future over the same data sets.

Background: Qatar Charity is seeking to develop and upgrade its communication strategy not only in Qatar but, all over the world especially at the era of the Arab revolution (Tunisia- Egypt - Syria- Yemen- Libya). The role of Qatar Charity in relief activities presented a model of how the humanitarian organization is supposed to be. This requires knowing the features of the current image. So, this research examined the image of Qatar charity among the Qatari society and how the Qatari public, residents and beneficiaries perceive the organization. In addition the study evaluated the perception and image of Qatar Charity for the beneficiaries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The study is trying to answer the following questions:

What communication tools are frequently used? What are the main components of communication strategy? What about the situational analysis of this communication strategy? (Strengths - weaknesses - opportunities).

Objective: The study seeks to enhance the efforts to reshape and reposition Qatar charity as a model of NGO worldwide.

Method: The study will be descriptive with data gathered via a questionnaire aimed for all groups in the Qatari society and external sectors that we are serving. We will depend on 800 random sample respondents as follows:

250 in Qatar and 550 outside Qatar as follows:

150 Africa sector

150 Asia sector

250 Europe sector.

1. The life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is an eternal source of guidance and inspiration for all humanity in general and Muslims in particular, which provides us with a role model to be eulogized. Luckily, the minutest details about the life, conduct and behavior of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) are preserved with the maximum possible degree of exactitude. However, writing a paper with a focus on Prophet's (PBUH) acumen on Statesmanship and Leadership is a challenging task as there is no dearth of scholarly works on the moral, spiritual and social areas of the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

2. The Prophet (PBUH), during his stay at Madina, acted as the Head of the State, judge, chief administrator, military commander, and educator etc. His experiences in solving problems and difficulties of the citizens covering diverse spheres of the society can be easily copied to sort out governance and administration problems presently faced by the world in general and Islamic countries in particular. In addition, the application of his immense leadership qualities conform to the present change environment needs of 21st century. His quality can be derived from the principles of military tactics and strategy, which he followed for countering subversion, treachery, aggression and invasion, and the training of men in arms and the art of warfare, which were necessary for the ultimate defeat of the enemy.

3. It is time perhaps that we study afresh the superb leadership and statesmanship exhibited by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) depicted under difficult conditions. This will help us to draw appropriate lessons for application in existing change environments need of 21st century particularly for strict adherence of Islamic countries. This paper is a humble attempt towards that direction.

Background: Civic organizations play a major role in the welfare of society and they are a good indication of how developed a society is. Over the last few years the state of Qatar has witnessed the development of several such organizations, dealing with various aspects of the psychological and social life, for both individuals and families. There has been some debate and discussion, particularly in the local media, regarding whether or not people living in Qatar are aware of these civic organizations and to what extent they are aware of the specialties and services provided by these organizations.

Objectives: The Social Rehabilitation Centre Doha, wanted to test the knowledge and awareness of people living in Qatar and so chose ten organizations as examples These ten selected organizations deal mostly with treatment, counseling, rehabilitation and support for individuals or families.

Methods: This is a survey of 505 subjects in Qatar. The participant group was made up of both Qatari citizens and expatriates, both males and females of different age groups. The survey investigated participants’ knowledge of ten civic organizations in Qatar. We used a questionnaire designed specifically for this survey, and we presented the participants with 25 scenarios, each of which raised a different problem, and asked them to name the organization(s) they are more likely to consult for each of these problems. Statistical analysis was then performed.

Results: It is obvious from the results of the survey that although there is some overlap between some of these organizations, the studied participants have a good understanding of the specialties and services provided by these organizations. The study shows that there is still room for these organizations to raise further awareness about themselves through launching campaigns using varied media sources.

Conclusions: Although the survey shows that the studied sample has a good understanding of the roles and specialties offered by these ten organizations, it also shows there is a need for such organizations to communicate effectively with each other in order to improve their services to the society at large. Several recommendations were made, which will be presented at the Conference.

Investigating the impact of the core curriculum on the performance of universities’ graduates worldwide has become a vital trend in determining their institutional effectiveness in providing societies with multi skilful, knowledgeable, and well rounded individuals. In line with this trend, this research attempted to study the role of Qatar University Core Curriculum Program on improving students’ academic achievement, enhancing their career opportunities, and fulfilling Qatar national needs.

The mixed methods research approach was adopted for the purposes of this research. This approach integrates both quantitative and qualitative methods to provide comprehensive understanding and analysis of the variables examined. In addition, a wide variety of direct and indirect data collection methods were utilized such as surveys, tests, rubrics, focus groups, nominal group technique, benchmarking, and content analysis. A targeted sample of different stake holders inside and outside Qatar University was selected. This covered senior and junior students, alumni, faculty, and marketplace employers.

The results indicate that the Core Curriculum has a positive impact on the students’ academic achievement as seen by students, alumni and employers. Also, the results show that employers have positive opinions related to the graduates’ skills, knowledge and depositions. Moreover, the results clearly illustrate that the program is fulfilling 90% of the identified needs. The use of the triangulation analysis has confirmed that the overall results obtained are complementing, and confirming each other. One of the major outputs of this research was the design and validation of the core curriculum program assessment model. In the mean time, to ensure high quality core education, actionable recommendations for continuous improvements for the Core Program at Qatar University were presented.

It is believed that the results of the research will not only add to the human knowledge but also to the international recognition of Qatar since the research is related to what Qatar and other countries worldwide are seeking when it comes to building information-based communities, knowledge based-societies and economy. Moreover, this research endeavor will contribute to meeting the majority of the societal needs that have been emphasized by the Qatar Vision 2030.

The study aims to analyze the situation of unskilled laborers, in order to identify their problems and to make proposals to improve workers conditions. The study followed the development of presence of foreign workers, as well as analyzing labor laws, and their conformity with the Convention on International Labor and with human rights and applied a survey on random sample of 1114 workers in the construction sector. Interviews were conducted with groups of workers, and with employers.

The Qatari labor law excludes workers in households, agriculture and grazing, which needs to be reviewed and modified, with some gaps exploited by the sponsor such as requiring the transfer of sponsorship with the consent of the sponsor. The National Commission for Human Rights monitoring reports find some workers, especially in the areas of construction, drilling and concrete working under harsh and unsafe conditions, with a lack of adequate health care. 8563 workers of different nationalities had submitted complaints to the Department of Labor, with wages arrears the most important of those complaints.

The sponsorship system eliminates some of the code of labor law, such as the freedom to move to another job or to travel. Workers may remain in custody for long periods without being submitted to the court. The interviews showed that the employers see that the system may need to change, but under an appropriate mechanism to preserve employers rights.

Survey results showed low wages in the construction sector, workers from Nepal are on the lowest wages, and most of workers had borrowed to come to Qatar, low educational levels, poor living conditions, fear of losing their jobs, makes them accept the excesses. Crowding in the rooms and use of only one toilet, lack of drinking water and meals at work sites, lack of awareness about labor laws which exposes them to abuse, whether by the employment offices in their country or the employers in some cases.

The study recommends to look for alternatives to the sponsorship system. Reinforce the concepts of human rights in the relationship between the employer and workers. Improving safety conditions in the workplace.