Abstract
Maker Majlis is a space where the young leaders of the world can unleash their creativity and innovative ideas to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Maker Majlis hosts workshops, educational programs, and events focusing on the SDGs. It is at the intersection of formal, non-formal and informal learning. The Maker Majlis is hosted under the College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar, i.e. a formal educational setting. It invites partners to teach and train youth about topics beyond the confines of a classroom or educational curriculum, i.e. a non-formal setting. Maker Majlis fuses Sustainable Development Goals, Faith, and Qatar National Vision in a local setting, which helps the youth build local-global connections and approach global challenges from local perspectives and local needs from global lenses. Maker Majlis provides opportunities to the community members where they can explore their creative and innovative thinking and produce ideas and solutions to local and global challenges, i.e. informal learning. At one event under Maker Majlis, for example, more than 1000 high school students participated from more than 15 schools in Qatar and started their formal to informal learning journey outside HBKU. They were taken through a refugee camp simulation experience to learn about the struggles of refugees in adapting to a new and unfamiliar environment. They, then, moved inside HBKU, where they directly spoke to real refugees about their struggles. After that, they attended workshops delivered by some of Maker Majlis’ partners and participated in a Makeathon to create solutions for the struggles of those refugees. In between these stations, participants were exposed to different organizations in a gallery setting where they witnessed real life examples of how to apply these solutions in their businesses.
