The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Climate Action, Lebanese athlete Michael Haddad completed a 100-meters dash, running upright —an unprecedented achievement for people with similar spinal cord injuries, causing them to be paralyzed from the chest downin the Asian Youth Paralympic Games, hosted in the Bahrain 2-6 December. 

UNDP in Bahrain hosted in collaboration with local development partners two public discussion sessions in the form of round tables.

The title of the first roundtable organized by UNDP is " From Rehabilitation to Simulating Determination," It was held in cooperation with the High Committee for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities. The roundtable discussed what the scientific team following the case of Michael Haddad has learned from five years of research about the special way he devised to walk standing with the help of simple aids, despite being paralyzed from the chest down.

The second roundtable was held under the patronage of HE Shaikh Mohammed bin Duaij Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Executive Office of the High Committee for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities, who participated in the panel along with Dr. Tasneem Atatreh, Representative of the World Health Organization in Bahrain, and the scientific team following Michael Haddad from two prestigious Lebanese universities—the Lebanese American University and the American University in Beirut.

UNDP is organizing the second roundtable in cooperation with Bahrain’s Supreme Council for the Environment under the title: "Bahrain's commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2060: How to mobilize wide societal participation." The roundtable discuss what is needed for Bahrain to achieve its commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060, and what different sectors of the Bahraini society can contribute, including the private business sector, academia, civil society, and the media, to achieving this important target.