Alwaleed Philanthropies Announced First Female Scouts JOTA-JOTI event in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University and World Scouting

International philanthropic organisation Alwaleed Philanthropies, chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud joined forces with Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, the world's largest women's university and World Scouting to participate in Saudi Arabia's first female Scouts JOTI-JOTI event to inspire young Saudi girls to become active and engaged citizens, rallying support in achieving the Kingdom's ambitions of garnering one million individuals to volunteer per year. A global event, JOTA-JOTI brought together scouts from 172 countries over three days on Friday, 15th October – Sunday, 17th October 2021, with a live show that was streamed on the third day with 100 Scouts and 20 mentors from Princess Nourah University. This year's JOTA-JOTI event was in full support of the United Nations' SDGs, with the PNU female Scouts' involvement having created particular alignment with SDG 5: gender equality.

JOTA-JOTI is the world's largest digital Scout event taking place on the Internet and over the airwaves. Held every year in October, the event connects millions of young people around the world over online activities that promote friendship and global citizenship. The local event was livestreamed on Sunday, 17th October at Princess Nourah University, featuring a dynamic programme including a live show along with non-formal education activities and global webinars. World Scouting's global partners were actively involved in the event, offering their expertise and fun activities to engage participants.

The purpose of JOTA-JOTI is to enable and encourage Scouts around the world to communicate with one another by means of amateur radio and the internet, providing a fun and educational Scouting experience and promoting their sense of belonging to a worldwide Scout Movement. The programme aims to support Scouts and non-Scouts of all ages to learn about communications technology, the values of global citizenship and how together youth can solve the most pressing challenges facing our planet with a focus on developing 21st century skills through Scouting.

"Young people are the largest generation of youth in history and investing in them is key to making them great agents of change. They have creative answers to the challenges that will define the future of our economy, environment and society. Alwaleed Philanthropies is honoured to have joined forces with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University and World Scouting to mobilize youth to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, effectively improving the lives of people in Saudi Arabia and beyond," said Her Royal Highness Princess Lamia bint Majed Saud Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies.

The JOTA-JOTI live-stream marked the first event that has come to fruition following the partnership agreement between Alwaleed Philanthropies and World Scouting– a first in the Kingdom to build structured Scout groups in Saudi universities to support women and youth involvement in Scouting locally and internationally and encourage greater participation in community volunteering within the higher education sector. The partnership agreement was aimed at aligning volunteering programs in Saudi universities with the framework of World Scouting as well as prepare students to participate in non-profit development projects.