Over 7 weeks 1200 students across 6 countries worked with their teachers and with the Taqaddam online platform to develop their character strengths and skills. Alongside this they worked in teams to develop a Future Innovation idea that would help solve a problem that they had identified regarding the environment, health or their community. Here we showcase some of the ideas from each of the participating countries.

Country: Qatar
School name: Amna Bent Wahab Secondary School
Idea: “Inhale positivity, exhale anxiety”

This team showed a real understanding of the Taqaddam character strengths. What was really special was the way they applied the strengths to their own lives and the experiences of young people in Qatar. They showed how it can be hard to understand your strengths without support and they covered the consequences of not having the opportunity to explore these ideas and feelings. They discussed how social anxiety is a big problem for young people today.

To try and solve these issues they designed a social centre for young people that would blend physical and social activities with support from mentors and junior health workers. Their informal but consistent support programme provides for young people on their path to becoming young adults, discovering how to navigate the world around them.

What was really special for me was that they brought the idea to life with a number of visual tools – through their presentation and 3D image of the centre.

You can check out the design for their centre here: https://home.by.me/en/project/nashwa_15/nashwa-cafe-146455

And their full presentation here: https://prezi.com/gxvvise4ebro/copy-of-social-anxiety/