Qatar‘s Al Wakra city was recently awarded the 2021 UNESCO Learning City Award.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added three cities in Qatar, to the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning’s Global Network of Learning Cities.

Doha, Al Rayyan, and Al Dhaayen now join Al Wakrah, Al Shamal, and Al Shahaniyah, which are already on the list. The country now has six municipalities as members of the UNESCO Learning Cities Network.

The addition of these three cities to the Learning Cities Network represents a new accomplishment for authorities in Qatar.

Learning cities, according to UNESCO, “foster a culture of learning throughout life, enhance quality and excellence in learning, and effectively mobilise resources in every sector to promote inclusive learning, from basic to higher education.

The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities is a policy-oriented international network. Sharing ideas with other cities can benefit learning cities at all stages of development because solutions to issues that arise as one learning city develops may already exist in other cities.

The Network is committed to achieving all seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4, where ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’) and SDG 11 (‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’).

It promotes policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities, forges links, fosters partnerships, provides capacity development, and develops instruments to encourage and recognise progress in building learning cities.

Qatar‘s Al Wakra city was recently awarded the 2021 UNESCO Learning City Award for its outstanding progress in providing lifelong learning opportunities for its community.

The city, which has almost 90,000 inhabitants, was among ten cities globally to be granted the prestigious award, highlighting its prominence not only in the region but also worldwide.