DOHA: Qatar Football Association (QFA) and Qatar Shell celebrated the overwhelming success of their award-winning programme, at the ‘Il’Ab We’Yana’ mid-term festival. The extra-curricular school programme, uses football as a tool to develop healthy habits and positive behavioural change among young people in Qatar. Over 200 school children from across the country attended the festival that was held at the Football Development Department. Participants took part in a series of educational activities including improving their football skills, but crucially also learning how to lead a healthy lifestyle. The event also served as an opportunity to mark the programme’s achievements and milestones. During the event, Hamad Abdullah Al Kuwari, Director of Marketing and Communication of the Qatar Football Association, and Mohammed Abu Jubara, CSR Manager of Qatar Shell Companies, interacted with the participants and encouraged the boys and girls from the side lines. The community-inspired initiative, which specifically targets 7-16 year olds across the country, aims to support the Social and Human Development pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) by engaging Qatar’s youth at every stage of their lives. In 2014, Il’Ab We’Yana was awarded the ‘Best Youth Development Initiative’ at the Sport Industry Awards after findings published by an independent sports education research agency showed that the initiative had significantly improved the Body Mass Index (BMI) rate of 89 per cent of participants. The programme is part of the wider KOORA Time initiative created by QFA and Qatar Shell. A five-year sustainable programme designed to improve the health and wellbeing of young people through football, KOORA TIME has positively impacted over 10,000 participants from across the country since its launch in February 2013. KOORA TIME was recently recognised for its positive contribution to Qatari society. The programme received the Asian Football Confederation ‘Dream of Asia’ Award for its corporate social responsibility activities and won the Dar Al Sharq National CSR Award for Best Sports Initiative in the country.