HH Sheikha Moza's Interview with CNBC Meets

Q: Your Highness, thank you so much for joining me on CNBC Meets. We saw you address the UNESCO event yesterday for the International Day to Protect Education from Attack. How important are days like that?

A: Thank you for having me, first of all. Well, education is an important element in our lives. What’s interesting yesterday, we managed we managed to galvanize more interest among people, among individuals, and among governments. Yesterday we also announced the 2601 resolution, and I think that will be sort of pressure that people will start to take into their policies, their legislation and correct them, and ensure that education is protected and access to education among all children is free and safe. What is interesting in this resolution is that it talked about, or it’s talking about, the right to education for refugees and for displaced people, and the responsibility of these hosting countries towards these people to make sure their education is continuing.

Q: You actually said that you’ve been frustrated, you want to see more action…

A: Yes, I have been frustrated because I’ve been working on that for more than two decades now. In the beginning, people did not see it as a priority. They see it as an impossible task. How can you protect education in conflict time? How can you protect education in war zones? How can you protect education during calamities? So, I can see today there is now a different mind-set, a different atmosphere towards the situation. I can see that people, yes, they are more enthusiastic. They understand better that losing education means losing opportunities, losing future, it is also losing the whole community. I am excited to see [it]. Yesterday, seeing all those people coming just to talk about protecting education, this is a very paradigm shift.

Q: And as you said, the UN security council adopted a resolution on protection of education in armed conflict. How pleased are you about that? And what more do you feel needs to be done?

A: I think this is a step towards gathering and collecting some evidence, and also I think it’s a step to prevent attacks. It’s a step to encourage governments and countries to work on their policies and their legislations, to protect education. But of course, I want more than that – I never stop at a certain achievement, because there is always more to do, especially when it comes to accountability, and to hold these perpetrators accountable you need more than that. Although we have the laws; I mean we have been studying all these laws like law of international humanitarian law, the international human rights law, the international criminal law. And in all these laws, attacking education, attacking the right to education is a crime. I am not asking for too much. I am asking that everyone should act, should make a difference according to what he can and his means.

Q: There does seem to be a struggle at the moment within the international community to agree on issues from climate change to response to conflicts. Are you worried that education may not be a priority?

A: I think that has been always the worry. But today, you know, to see that the UN is [promoting] education: this session, all the sessions, to protect education, this is a big shift. I think the international community, they understand today that if you want to achieve any, or to combat climate change, or achieve other goals of the SDGs, [you] need to start with education. I mean, you need to educate people to be prudent, to be wise in terms of dealing with their ecosystem, with the environment, with their health, with their sanitation. So, all of these things, they come back to education. You educate an individual, and you are helping to bring up a healthy, well being.

Q: Where do you feel the biggest threats to education are likely?

A: I think wars, especially conflicts. Conflict is the main culprit when it comes to interrupting education. I mean, in 2003, when I got involved with UNESCO, I started to receive letters from students, Iraqi students. I remember 2003; that was the invasion of Iraq from US troops. Students sent me letters asking to help them to pursue their education and their learning. I received also letters from teachers to meet, they asked to meet with us. We invited them over to Qatar, we sat with them, and all that they asked for was bullet-proof vests to protect them from attacks and from being killed. We also invited these students to come and continue their education in Qatar. When I had the chance to visit them, and they took me to what is called the green zone, I met with the students, I met with the teachers. Unfortunately, some of these teachers were not there because they were killed. Apparently, the bullet-proof vests were not enough. Students explained to me the situation of their education: in their universities, the classrooms were looted, the classrooms destroyed. That was for me a shock.  One conflict, can really transform a country from being a wealthy country to a country that suffers from ignorance, illiteracy – and this is what I saw, and this how I understood the scale of the problem. Iraq, for me, was eye-opening. From there, from then, I decided to fight for, to protect, education. Unfortunately, when  are not in proximity, or are close to such a situation, [you] can’t understand the scale and the ramification of such conflicts.

Q: You established the Education Above All foundation in 2012. Tell me about the mission?

A: Mainly we are focusing on reaching out to children, trying to provide and ensure their education. We understand that everyone with a different culture has different needs. We are trying to provide education to those who are [the] hardest-to-reach children. For example, we used to work in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, and every situation is different than the other. In Bangladesh, they had lots of floods, as you know, and this situation actually makes it difficult for them to go to sort of a normal school. So, they created a sort of boat schools so kids can continue their education in these schools. This is a project that is being done by a local philanthropist. We joined efforts with him, and we scaled up the project. So, we adapt to the situation, and we try to understand local needs, local cultures, understanding that we should not enforce or force our understanding of how education and what kind methodologies that should be implemented in these countries. This is actually, this is the main task of Education Above All – to teach and to reach out to the children, wherever they are, using local partners and also being considerate to the local cultures.

Q: And how important are these partnerships to the Foundation?

A: They are very important, actually, we cannot work without them. These people, these individuals, these, sometimes, NGOs, they are our guide to the culture, to the mindsets, and try to guide us towards the correct aspects that we should use in terms of how we should implement our programs, and how to reach out to the people there. They know better, and we respect that.

Q: How important do you think technology is, and how does that play a role in educating children?

A: Well, I think technology is very important. I think technology is, especially now during the pandemic – I think we understood the importance of technology. People shifted to online education to continue their education. Technology can help also in terms of reaching out to students and children in rural areas in conflict times.  It’s a tool that the children can use to continue their education. But not every child has a laptop or tablets, and we really need to be creative in terms of using these external elements [in] education.

Q: [On Father Amir – not on record]

A: The Father Amir had a vision for his people and for Qatar. He wanted Qatar to be a modern, prosperous country. He achieved that. The transition from Sheikh Hamad to Sheikh Tamim, my son, happened in a very smooth way from father to son. I think Sheikh Tamim went through a lot, a lot of challenges. He went through lots of hard times since he took over, but he faced all of this with prudence and wisdom, and people stood behind him. People love him. He's a young, ambitious leader. And I think he learned a lot from the political master, his father. I’m, as a mother, also very proud of him. And I think he is going to take Qatar to a different place, to the future.

Q: The World Cup is coming up soon in Qatar. The world’s eyes will be on you. What are you looking forward to mostly?

A: We are all excited for this event, we have been preparing for it since a long time, more than eleven years. When we announced it in Zurich, we said this is a World Cup for all Arabs. I think not just Qataris, but I think the whole region. I know our region has been through a lot; it’s has been a sort of hot zone for such a long time, so I think such an event will bring hope, happiness and such joy.

Q: And your foundation would also have initiatives there during the World Cup?

A: Yes, true. I mean the foundation, actually, we are working with the legacy who is in charge of the event to create like a pavilion for the [UN] SDGs. So really, it’s going to be an interesting time to see how a world event can bring people together from different sectors from different means to work together under one umbrella. It’s going to be a wonderful event.

Q: And, Your Highness, what would you like the World Cup, in a sense to achieve? There has been criticism, there has been negativity. So, what would you like Qatar to say for the rest of the world?

A: I think the most important message that we want to give the rest of the world and convey to them is that Qatar promised to deliver [a] clean, enjoyable, peaceful, event. And we will be achieving that. And when it comes to weather, some criticisms were related to the weather: that Qatar is too hot. So, this discrimination on weather is something that I cannot understand and comprehend. Nevertheless, we worked on it, on our stadiums, and they are all high-tech stadiums. We offered temperatures that is acceptable for our audience. And actually, two of our stadiums are LEED certified as sustainable stadiums. This is something I that would love, really, people to come and see and join us in such an extraordinary event. For our region it won’t happen every day and we are really honored to host.

Q: May I ask Your Highness where your passion for education importance has come from?

A: Well, I think it’s in my DNA. I have been brought up by someone who believed in education; he was a self-educated man. He instilled in us the importance of education and from there, I tried to offer the same quality of education for my children. When my children were young, I struggled with their education. I didn’t have much choice: either public schools or private schools, and there was not that big difference between them. I created my own school, and then I started reforms in Qatar. All of this, I think, came from my personal experience as a child and as a mother, and then as a person who cares about the education of the children of the world.

Q: Your Foundation has helped so many children around the world. You feel like you have a lot more to do.

A: Yes, I think there’s always room for improvement. There’s always something to achieve. And I think if you continue believing in this, you will continue to achieve. In 2012, for example, we promised to – I promised to – educate 10 million children by 5 years. We achieved that in six years, not five years, but that was okay, at least we achieved that. We have four million now, in the pipelines, and we already secured their equipment. Leaders, we, always have to set new goals for yourself to achieve. I think for me this is a mission; it’s a mission in my life and I feel that it is a responsibility that I should take, and take seriously. There’s a lot to address especially when it comes to education and children who are really in desperate need to be educated to have a better future. And I think every child is worth to have a better education, and to have a better future.

Q: And what is your message to these individuals? What can they do?

A: I think everyone has a responsibility and they can do something. First, you start with your children. Your children should be educated, and when I say educated, it means that they need to have values; they have to have certain principles in life. With this, you are bringing up a healthy, well being, and individuals will be productive and will also be positive citizen. So, I think you start as parents, and then as teachers, then as a community, then as an international community. Education doesn’t cost much, especially if we are ready to dedicate ourselves, our efforts, our time to perfect it.

Q: Just finally, Your Highness, what would you like your legacy to be?

A: I am a person who dedicated her life to serve education, and to serve, or to secure, the rights to education for every child. I would like to be remembered as a person who was serious about this cause – a person who tried, through different means and by different ways, to achieve education for all. It was, I think, hard to achieve, especially if you are doing that with lots of challenges around you. But, so far, I think we managed to galvanize more interest; people now understand the scale of the problem and also, they understand the ramifications and the consequences of such, also not being inactive towards protecting education. I think this is the main thing that I would love people to remember me with.

 And you still have a lot more work to do?

A: I still do, yeah. As I said, as long as we are living, we need to continue this path. It never stops. The path continues as long as we have conflicts around us, as long as we have these calamities happening every day; as long as there are children living in emergency time and conflict time, and war zones, we need to always reach out to them and to help them in any way we can.