Mr. Scott Bates, Representative in Bahrain and Qatar of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs acclaimed the statement of HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned, SCFA President in the ceremony of HH's winning of the Prize of the British Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatam House) for the year 2007. In this statement, HH said, "Democracy is empowerment

This acclaim came within the training program organized by Permanent Elections Committee at SCFA in collaboration with NDI for International Affairs during the period October 22nd-25th2007 at the Millennium Hotel. The training program, titled, "Training the Trainers", targeted students of the University of Qatar studying the Foreign Affairs Program tutored by Mr. Allen Frumhierz, Assistant Professor in the University of Qatar

On his part, HE Sheikh Khalid bin Jabor Al-Thani, PEC Vice-Chair, expressed in an address on this occasion his best wishes to the students and the participants in the training program, confirming that PEC looks forward to commence an elaborate program containing different segments of the community in order to create leaders of the society. HE also explained that the word "leader" does not necessarily mean being a chief or an executive official, but a leader in his/her life, his business and in influencing the others.

It suffices to say that this program falls within PEC's objectives in activating political participation in the Qatari community through holding meetings, seminars, training courses and other activities necessary to achieve this and raise awareness of voters about their rights and duties and introduce them to the electoral process mechanisms and encourage candidates to gain the skills of the democratic electoral process