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HAWI STREAK | Designing a National Framework to Regulate Hobby Competitions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Client: Quality of Life Program

Sector: Entertainment | Culture

Duration:

Industry: Public Engagement

Overview

With the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, hobbies have emerged as a key enabler for enhancing quality of life, fostering creativity, and strengthening community engagement. With the widespread practice of hobbies across the Kingdom, there is a growing opportunity to further organize and advance this landscape through a national framework that supports structured and competitive hobby activities. The Hawi Streak project was initiated to address this gap by developing a national framework that organizes, regulates, and enables fair and sustainable hobby competitions, while aligning with the Quality of Life Program's objectives and broader national transformation goals.

Challenge

Although hobbies were widely practiced and diverse in nature, there was no official national framework to regulate them or define clear mechanisms for competitive activities. This resulted in inconsistent practices, limited community visibility, fragmented competition formats, and underserved enthusiasts seeking structured recognition for their skills. Furthermore, the absence of standardized evaluation criteria made it difficult to assess and validate hobby-based competitions at a national level. The system needed a clear structure that hobbies could be competed with and evaluated, Identify and provide competition models and impact assessment with Saudi Vision 2030 and the Quality of Life Program. While enabling competitors in themes, activities, and sustainability.

TAM's Approach

TAM applied a structured, evidence-based methodology to design a scalable national framework for hobby competitions, ensuring strategic alignment, fiscal relevance, and long-term sustainability.

  • Global benchmarking of leading competition ecosystems across sports, cultural, and creative sectors to identify best practices and success factors.
  • Development of a comprehensive hobby landscape and assessment of its relevance within the Saudi context.
  • A multi-stage prioritization process based on strategic alignment with Quality of Life objectives, competitiveness potential, and feasibility of fair, measurable evaluation.
  • Co-developing the prioritized criteria with close collaboration and iterative refinement to ensure credibility, inclusivity, and national relevance.

What We Delivered

The team delivered a robust national solution for activating hobbies competitively, supported by practical and scalable results:

  • A localized assessment covering 192 hobbies, with 111 qualified for competitive activities.
  • Formulation of six strategic hobby clusters based on participative characteristics and evaluation logic.
  • Design of seven competition models tailored to different engagement and progression levels.
  • A comprehensive implementation roadmap outlining funding strategy, staffing approach, governance model, digital enablement, and stakeholder engagement.

Impact at a Glance

10+

global hobby competition models benchmarked

192

hobbies analyzed in depth

111

hobbies qualified for competitive activation

6

core hobby clusters established

7

distinct competition models designed

1

unified national framework supported by an implementation roadmap

Lasting Value Created

The Hawi Streak project established the groundwork for building a vibrant, structured, and an evidence-based national hobbyist selection system. By moving from an unstructured landscape of scattered hobbyist to a clearly defined and recognized system, the project reduced fragmentation and enabled more informed decisions making for policymakers and organizing entities. The long-term sustainability was also embedded in the design — the framework built during Hawi Streak 2024 sets the stage for Hawi Streak 2025 and beyond, embracing each cycle to expand reach, validate impact, and continuously improve the competition experience. TAM's involvement extended beyond just delivering a document — we co-created the framework through deep collaborative design for the hobby ecosystem in the Kingdom. Over the long term, the framework establishes an institutional spine for the hobby ecosystem in the Kingdom, enabling a shift from individual, scattered practices to organized and recognized competitive landscapes aligned to quality of life, social vitality, and cultural pride.