Bahraini filmmaker and digital creator Omar Farooq has become a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa, extending a partnership with the UN Refugee Agency that began nearly a decade ago.The appointment, announced on Monday, 26 October, gives Farooq a wider advocacy role as the agency seeks to draw attention to displacement emergencies receiving limited public attention and financial support. UNHCR said his work would focus on sharing refugees’ experiences and mobilising assistance amid mounting humanitarian needs and funding pressures.
Farooq is also working with the agency on Beyond Borders, an education initiative intended to equip young refugees with filmmaking, digital storytelling and other communication skills. The programme aims to help participants document their own experiences rather than relying exclusively on accounts produced by visiting campaigners.
UNHCR said the planned initiative would combine practical training with mentorship and introductions to professionals working in relevant fields. Participants could gain opportunities to present their work through Farooq’s digital platforms and, where feasible, obtain resources to develop their projects. The agency has not announced a launch date, participant numbers or a budget for the initiative.
Khaled Khalifa, UNHCR’s senior adviser and representative to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, welcomed the appointment, pointing to Farooq’s sustained involvement with the organisation. He said the agency expected to continue collaborating with the filmmaker to increase awareness of forced displacement and encourage support for affected communities.
“We value partnerships with content creators who use their platforms to foster understanding, inspire solidarity and draw attention to the plights of forcibly displaced communities,” Khalifa said in the announcement.
Farooq described the appointment as a responsibility to listen to displaced people and help bring their voices to audiences they might otherwise struggle to reach. His stated intention is to use storytelling to make experiences of displacement more visible while maintaining attention on the people directly affected.
“Today, this role gives me a responsibility not only to listen, but also to amplify voices that may not yet have found their way to the world,” he said, describing himself as a bridge through which those accounts could be shared.
The filmmaker has worked with UNHCR since 2017, initially as a High-Profile Supporter. His first engagement involved travelling to Bangladesh to highlight the plight of Rohingya refugees, whose displacement has remained a major humanitarian concern for the agency.
His subsequent advocacy has included UNHCR’s Ramadan and winter fundraising appeals, which seek donations for people facing displacement and difficult living conditions. His documentaries and social media productions have featured refugee communities across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, with particular attention to the consequences of the conflict in Sudan.
Farooq travelled to Renk in South Sudan, where people fleeing fighting across the border have sought protection, and visited the Chad-Sudan frontier. Those journeys provided material for digital coverage of families displaced by the conflict and helped support the agency’s efforts to engage audiences beyond conventional humanitarian communications.
His campaigning has also promoted UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund, which channels eligible Islamic charitable contributions towards assistance for refugees and internally displaced people. The agency has identified digital creators as partners in explaining humanitarian needs to audiences who may not ordinarily follow institutional appeals.
The new role comes as UNHCR faces constraints on its ability to respond to displacement crises. Its announcement specifically identified underfunded and prolonged emergencies as priorities for Farooq’s advocacy, although it did not set fundraising targets or specify new missions linked to his appointment.
Beyond Borders is intended to complement UNHCR’s wider emphasis on opportunities for displaced people to develop skills and greater independence. The agency linked the proposed training to its 50 by 35 vision, which focuses on helping refugees in prolonged displacement in low- and middle-income countries become less dependent on humanitarian aid by 2035.
The appointment formalises an existing relationship rather than introducing Farooq to the agency’s humanitarian operations. UNHCR has described his documentaries and online campaigns as ways of broadening public understanding of displacement, while the education project would place greater emphasis on refugees producing and distributing their own accounts.
Under the initiative’s proposed approach, Farooq’s professional network would help connect participating young people with mentors and potential opportunities. Access to equipment, resources and wider distribution for their work would depend on what could be arranged, rather than being guaranteed to every participant.
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