FORSA Completes its Project, Celebrates Success

In celebration of the success of its vocational training program, FORSA held a graduation gala at the Tammouz Hall in the Lakkis Building in Baalbeck at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, the 19th of October, 2011.
Attended by FORSA’s trainees and their parents, project manager and coordinators, OTI representative Sarah Sakaheel and other prominent local personalities, the graduation gala denotes the completion of a six month-long process which included workshops on citizenship, tolerance and conflict resolution, in addition to vocational training workshops on topics including painting, building and flagstones.

The Lebanese National Anthem opened the ceremony and was followed by a documentary film depicting an unemployed young man from Baalbeck and how he managed to get a job. While sharing with the audience one of the project’s success stories, the film served as an information tool describing the purpose of FORSA and the latter’s role in aiding young men and women in building their careers and shaping their future.

Ali Raad, the project’s administrative officer, delivered a speech where he emphasized the importance of vocational training in helping youth to obtain job opportunities and become economically independent. Due to the gloomy job prospects and the high level of unskilled labor in the Baalbeck-Hermel region, youth finds itself immersed in less than desirable activities which lead to personal and as a consequence social paybacks of negative nature. To prevent this problem from further escalation, the FORSA project came into being,” Raad asserted. “The FORSA project aims at developing the personal skills of youth, enhancing the concept of work and production and training youth on the careers that comply with the job market” added Raad.
On behalf of the student body of the FORSA project, Yaser Taleb delivered an address thanking FORSA for its generous support of youth in the region and regarding it instrumental in providing them a chance to win job opportunities which would allow them to realize their dreams and ambitions.

At the end of the ceremony, Sarah Sakaheel and Hammoud Shall, the project manager, awarded graduates with program completion certificates in recognition of their academic and vocational achievement.