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Since starting in 2010, Bahrain City Centre’s ‘City Walkers’ programme has grown in numbers and popularity.

Today, more than 2,000 are registered members with more than 200 regulars starting off their day on the right foot. City Walkers welcomes people from all nationalities and ages, and has become a sociable way to incorporate fitness, catch-up with friendly faces and include a bit of window shopping fun.

What’s more, there are special offers from participating retailers exclusively for City Walkers, so a solid workout can be rewarded with some guilt-free shopping.

The programme takes places three-times-a-week: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 9am-10am. It is completely free for residents and it’s led by a certified instructor who can also give advice on taking fitness routines to the next level.

Committed walker, by email.

Editor’s note: To join the programme interested walkers need to register at the Ground Floor Customer Service Desk and be ready to get fit.  All participants also receive an exclusive ‘City Walkers’ T-Shirt after joining three sessions. For more information visit www.bahraincitycentre.com

In line with the United Nations initiative to bring people’s voices to the Secretary General’s High Level Panel in order to help shape the post-2015 global development agenda, the UN in Bahrain set up a voting booth on Logos-Hope, the charity ship which recently visited the country.

Visitors aboard the Logos Hope were given the opportunity to vote for the six issues which would make the most difference to their lives.

I was very pleased that we could collaborate with the management of Logos-Hope to bring the survey to an important segment of Bahrain’s multi-national and pluralistic society.

The wide array of diverse voices and opinions need to be heard and this is only possible through public efforts and co-operation. Logos-Hope staff members were most helpful and we are grateful for their support and assistance.

The MY World Survey is the first global survey and was established by the UN in order to allow world citizens to submit their six priorities for a better world for consideration by global decision makers in the discussion of post-2015 development planning.

Ship visitors during the last weekend of the Logos-Hope presence on Bahraini shores were given the opportunity to learn about the initiative and cast their votes both online and offline.

Since they were adopted in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, have made a huge impact in the lives of millions of people. While the focus remains on accelerating the MDGs, world leaders are also discussing how to build on the progress and confront the challenges that will continue to affect people and planet after the 2015 MDG deadline.

For that reason, the UN developed this survey with 16 priorities, from which respondents can choose their most important six. The 16 issues cover the existing MDGs, in addition to issues of sustainability, security, governance and transparency.

The results of the survey will be analysed by the UN and its partners and presented to global leaders, including the High-level Panel on Post-2015 Agenda led by David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, and Queen Rania of Jordan.

This initiative is co-ordinated by UNDP, the United Nations Millennium Campaign, ODI and the Web Foundation – with the support of over 180 partner organisations across the world.

Peter Grohmann,  UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative.

Editor’s note: The survey can be accessed online here: https://www.myworld2015.org and votes cast are consolidated all the time and available for public view on the MY World website. The results are being reviewed also by the Secretary General’s High Level Panel who will use them to prepare the development agenda for the world post-2015. Voters can engage further in global development consultations and the post-2015 process at www.worldwewant2015.org

I don’t know if your readers remember me, but I used to write GulfWeekly’s Youth Talk column all those years ago.
 
I just graduated from college a few months ago and I’m now working full-time for Al Jazeera English as an online journalist/producer.

I try to keep up with a lot of the feature articles in GulfWeekly and I was glad to read Charlie Holding’s recent piece on British expat students being refused student loans. I had a few Brit friends in Qatar who had to stay in the region because UK bureaucracy told them that their families had to ‘have property’ in the UK to qualify. Since when did having a piece of land determine the level of nationality or British-ness?

Anyway, I just wanted to write this message to you and to say ‘Thank you’ for giving me that chance four summers ago in writing for your paper. It certainly kick-started my career and I’ll always remember that.

Ismaeel Naar
Assistant Producer
Doha, Qatar