Stakeholder engagement and communication
Initiative description: Periodically and meaningfully engaging with national and international stakeholders, including representatives of those most affected to discuss progress in the implementation of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Sustainability Strategy and Policy.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ sustainability strategy and policy were developed with the collaboration of many professionals across FIFA, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22), and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC). To ensure adequate coverage of the wide range of environmental, human rights, economic development, legal, community engagement, communications and legacy issues, more than 100 national and international stakeholders were consulted, in addition to tournament operation functions, when developing the strategy.
Throughout tournament planning and delivery, tournament organisers continued to engage with a wide range of stakeholders interested in particular themes or initiatives covered. The purpose of this engagement was to not only inform stakeholders of progress and receive their feedback on the strategy’s implementation, but also to discuss methods of collaboration for the delivery of these initiatives, and ways to reach other stakeholder groups.
The SC and Q22 carried out regular engagements with government ministries and agencies directly linked to the delivery of key sustainability priorities associated with the tournament. This included the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Ministry of Municipality and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (ADLSA). Important developments took place as a result of such engagements, including procedures to minimise waste to landfill with the support of the Ministry of Municipality and the provision of inspectors from MOPH to support tobacco control at tournament sites.
With regards to human rights matters, key engagements included:
Regular meetings with FIFA’s Human Rights Advisory Board during its mandate that finished in 2021, to discuss progress on addressing the tournament’s human rights commitments.
A meeting with several member associations and confederations to discuss workers’ welfare reforms and broader human rights in Qatar in connection with the hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022™.
Four meetings of the Core Stakeholder Group on Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination in 2021 and 2022. This group comprised of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ organisers and leading organisations in the diversity field and was set up to enable a structured engagement process on topics related to inclusion and anti-discrimination. The process helped to inform and further strengthen the steps taken to ensure an inclusive tournament.
Periodic engagements carried out by FIFA with a group of LGBTQI+ organisations and fan groups in relation to the measures taken to ensure a welcoming and safe environment for LGBTQI+ fans, including an in-person meeting in Zurich in April 2022.
Regular engagement with global human rights advocacy groups in relation to specific cases and reports addressing human rights matters in the context of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
The SC carried out extensive engagement with stakeholders nationally and internationally on workers’ rights and welfare issues. This included the delivery of joint projects with the ADLSA, Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Institute of Business and Human Rights (IHRB). Numerous meetings with member associations, academia, commercial affiliates, and other stakeholders also took place to further discuss protection of workers’ rights in Qatar. More information is available in the workers’ recruitment and working conditions web pages of this report.
In addition, the SC established an Accessibility Forum in 2016, which was made up of 80 people from 25 different organisations representing disabled people. The forum facilitated regular and ongoing engagement with disabled people and their representatives throughout tournament planning to ensure access requirements were taken into consideration and to provide a seamless and enjoyable experience for disabled fans.
Tournament organisers also engaged regularly with member associations, and with FIFA's commercial affiliates and media rights licensees at various workshops related to the tournament. These engagements focused on areas of interest such as workers’ welfare, human rights, inclusivity, sustainable sourcing, waste reduction and recycling.
Other relevant engagements are described on the sustainable building awareness-raising and capacity building and awareness-raising web pages of this report.