Panelists during a session at the third edition of the Government Communications Forum.
Doha, Qatar: The third edition of the Government Communications Forum discussed, during a panel session on its second day, the role of sport as a unifying narrative that helps inspire individuals and institutions and reinforces shared values within society.
The session examined how sporting values, national identity, and emotional attachment to sport can be leveraged to build influential narratives that transform audience engagement from mere spectatorship into active and meaningful community participation.
In this context, participants viewed sport as an effective tool for strengthening national belonging and entrenching values of cooperation, discipline, and teamwork, noting its ability to unite different segments of society around common goals, thereby positively reflecting on social cohesion.
They also agreed on the importance of government communication in highlighting the social and human dimensions of sport and shedding light on initiatives and programmes that make it a platform for promoting civic participation and encouraging the public to engage positively with national issues.
Director of the Sports Sector at Qatar Olympic Committee H E Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al-Thani affirmed that the committee plays a pivotal role in organiing and managing sporting events in the country through its supervision of various Qatari sports federations and the organisation of the annual sports calendar.
H E Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al-Thani said that, around two years ago, the committee established a specialised department for sporting events, tasked with organising events in cooperation with the relevant federations, noting that the current sports calendar includes 83 sporting events throughout the year, reflecting Qatar’s status as a leading destination for hosting major events.
The Director of the Sports Sector at the Qatar Olympic Committee said that preparing sporting events requires long-term efforts extending for months and sometimes years, stressing that communication is a key element in the success of events, whether with international, continental, and Gulf federations, or through coordination with relevant entities within the country.
For his part, CEO of the Local Organising Committee for Football Events Jassim Abdulaziz Al Jassim said that the success of hosting tournaments is based on the integration of communication and coordination systems among various entities, in a way that reflects a positive image of the country and enhances its global standing.
Al Jassim praised the role played by communication and media bodies, such as the Government Communications Office, the International Media Office, and media institutions, explaining that media coordination helped highlight the organisational successes of the tournaments, including the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Arab Cup.
He noted that Qatar has successfully hosted several tournaments simultaneously, reflecting the country’s capacity for integrated organisation with the participation of all sectors, including security, airports, and border crossings.
He added that sporting tournaments have brought about a positive social transformation, through higher rates of family attendance and female participation, increased involvement of children and youth, and the enhanced status of national team stars as socially influential role models.
For her part, Senior Director of Marketing Communications at Ooredoo Qatar Sabah Rabiah Al Kuwari, noted that the Doha Marathon represents a prominent model of community sporting events. It began as a simple event, and the number of participants this year rose to more than 20,000 people from over 160 nationalities, including 2,200 participants from outside the country.
