Fostering Dialogue About the Future of Education and Work at Doha Forum
The Doha Forum, offered in partnership with Georgetown University in Qatar along with other high-level partners, was held in Qatar on December 7-8, 2024, in the presence of heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers.
Held under the theme of “The Innovation Imperative,” the event saw top diplomats, experts, and changemakers address critical global challenges. Over 5,000 participants from 162 countries, including over 350 speakers, came together to share bold ideas and forge productive collaborations. Central to the discussions on the role of education in innovation were leaders and faculty from across Georgetown University.
Tackling the Global Education Crisis
Dean Safwan Masri hosted two sessions at the forum, drawing from his experience as an education leader in the United States and the Middle East. On the first panel, offered in partnership with Education Above All, titled “Financing the Future: Tackling the Global Education Crisis,” experts talked about the importance of cross-border collaboration and regional partnerships.
Panelists included Fahad al-Sulaiti, Director-General, Qatar Fund For Development; Paula Ingabire, Minister of Information Communication Technology and Innovation, Rwanda; Laura Frigenti, CEO, Global Partnership for Education; Hiba Ahmed, Director-General of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, Islamic Development Bank; and Fatima Yasmin, Vice-President, Asian Development Bank.
Introducing the panel, Dean Masri laid out the scope of the problem, saying: “Education is the foundation upon which society is built. It equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to build healthier lives, empower equality, drive economies and strengthen resilience in the face of climate challenges. Despite these clear and undeniable benefits, the global education crisis persists. Direct Aid to education actually fell in recent years leaving us with a question that has grown in both its persistence and its scale, and that is: can we close a $100 billion funding gap and build systems that ensure every child everywhere can access quality education.”
He also introduced the purpose of the panel: to explore innovative approaches to financing education and building pathways for meaningful global collaboration. “No single country or organization can solve this alone. This challenge demands that governments, international organizations, financial institutions, educators and the private sector work hand in hand,” he said.
In his conclusion, Dean Masri reiterated the importance of working together to advance education, saying: “We look at this as the beginning of very important conversations… thank you for all the great work that you are doing because the future of this planet depends on how we invest in its children and the best way to invest in them is to provide them with the best education… if they’re going to fix the climate and fix the way of the world, we need to educate them very well.”
The Role of Youth in Political Futures
In a second session, Dean Masri led a discussion with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General, Palestinian National Initiative on “Palestine: Building National Consensus and Charting a Political Future.” The discussion covered the future of Palestine, and the role of youth in achieving that future.
The Power of Culture to Foster Diplomacy
Representing the Washington, DC campus, Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, Professor of Diplomacy and co-director of the Laboratory of Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University led a discussion on “The Power of Culture: Global Diplomacy in the 21st Century,” held in partnership with Qatar Museums.
The session explored how culture acts as a bridge between nations, offering solutions to global challenges like migration and climate change and highlighted the role of education in fostering global citizenship. Panelists included Khalid Albaih, Political cartoonist and Editor-in-chief, Khartoon Magazine; Razi Ahmed, Chairman of Alhamra Lahore Arts Council; Irina Bokova, Chair of the Board for the Democracy and Culture Foundation; Andreas Görgen, Secretary General for the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media; and Gayane Umerova, Chairperson at the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation.
Education for the Future of Work
Dr. Alexis Antoniades, Professor, Director, and Chair of International Economics at Georgetown University in Qatar, spoke on a panel hosted in partnership with the International Labour Organization on “The Future of Work Is Upon Us. Who’s Ready?”
Moderated by Femi Oke, Co-Founder, Moderate The Panel, his fellow panelists included Sheikha Najwa bint Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Assistant Undersecretary for Migrant Labour Affairs, Ministry of Labour; Celeste Drake: Deputy Director-General, International Labor Organization; Dr. Saurabh Mishra, Founder and CEO, Taiyō.ai; and Ghassan Kosta, Regional General Manager, Google Cloud.
Dr. Antoniades shared some of his research on the panel, saying “We have collected over 1.5 billion vacancy data posted online to understand how the future of work is changing and which direction and one of the key findings is that we talk about skills and not degrees. Ten years ago we talked about the degree of the future, and now it’s all about skills. AI is just one part of it, but what we see is that there are new skills on the block. These skills are very transferable across occupations and they have big implications that we haven’t yet realized. For example, occupations are getting closer to each other. The one sector that has converged the most is actually the military, because it used to be about shooting a gun, but now it’s all about playing video games. The other thing is that wages are now starting to converge across occupations because of the skills, and mobility is rising– the opposite of what was happening over the last 40 years.”
He went on to translate what that means for the future of work, explaining: “I think there are key implications, especially for this part of the world. We have very low female labor participation rates in the world, especially in Jordan and Egypt … [these new skills] can be offered online. So if we understand the changes and we have the right policies, we can bring millions and millions, especially women, back into the labor market.”