جداريات في بعلبك الهرمل لطلاب مشروع اكاديمية حل النزاعات

"بدنا نعيش مع بعضنا"، " بعلبك حلوة بسلمها الأهلي"، " بيكفي الام بدنا نعيش بسلام"، " التسامح اساس السلم الاهلي"، "التربية على التسامح ضمانة للسلم الأهلي"، " التسامح يعني تعدد الثقافات وإحترام رأي الأخر "، "للتسامح دور مهم في بناء المجتمع، "No war any more" و "Keep calm and live in peace" شعارات اطلقها طلاب اكاديمية حل النزاعات في بعلبك، العين، اللبوة، الهرمل، سهلات المياه، بدنايل وتمنين التحتا على جدران الثانويات وفي الاماكن العامة ضمن مشروع اكاديمية حل النزاعات تنفذه الجمعية اللبنانية للدراسات والتدريب بالتعاون مع السفارة الكندية في لبنان.

رأى طلاب الاكاديمية في اختيار هذا الاماكن باعتبارها نقاط حساسة لجهة موقعها الجغرافي والتي يمكن من خلالها ايصال رسائل الشباب الى اكبر عدد ممكن من المواطنين بمختلف اعمارهم واطيافهم والوانهم.

تحولت الجداريات منذ اللحظات الاولى لبدء تنفيذها الى محط انظار المارة الذين تمعّنوا بقراءة الشعارات فكانت الردود ايجابية حيث اشار احد المارة الى ضرورة ان يعي الشباب اهمية الحفاظ على السلم الاهلي في لبنان بشكل عام وفي منطقة بعلبك الهرمل بشكل خاص على اعتبار ان المنطقة لطالما عرفت سابقا بعلاقة عائلاتها الممتازة من كافة الاطياف.

اراد الطلاب المشاركين في المشروع الدعوة الى التسامح  والتلاقي بين كافة شرائح المجتمع  واحترام الأخر لبناء وتعزيز السلم الاهلي في المنطقة فالجدارية تتضمّن رسالة ترمز الى السلام وتوحيد جميع المواطنين لحماية الوطن والدفاع عنه  على اعتبار ان هذا هو الطريق الوحيد لنحافظ على و طننا، و بناء مجتمع تسوده ثقافة تقبل الآخر ورسوخ  قوانين تحمي العيش المشترك وتدعو الى الإبتعاد عن العنف في حل النزاعات.

Peace Colors Your Life

 Over 120 students of the Conflict Resolution Academy recently organized a grand campaign for painting peace through murals on public walls, which reflected their attempt to mirror what they have learned to society. The campaign took place in Baalbeck, Al-Ain, Labweh, El-Hermel, Sahlat lmay, Bednayeel and Tamnin El-Tahta.

The Academy students insisted on painting slogans like “No War Any More”, “Keep Calm and Live in Peace” and “We Want to live in Peace” on the most notable public walls acknowledging the importance of their role in delivering the message of “Peace Building”. This project was an open invitation for society to forgive and live. The students preached tolerance, acceptance and peace through the murals they painted, asking for unity to exorcist the demons of war. The community proved to be very fascinated by the message with many admirers stating satisfaction and encouragement to the students.

LOST’s “Conflict Resolution Academy”, supported by the Canadian Embassy is a “reach out for peace project”, One of many LOST has done over the years as part of their strategy to reintroduce peace to a society torn apart by wars. Youth can be the portal to change; they just need the programs that get them on the right track.

Women Activists in the Bekaa Advocate for Participatory Budgeting

Participatory budgeting is a must in nowadays society. It is a great way to increase the functionality and efficiency of the municipal work by understanding and reflecting the needs of the community. In Baalbeck Hermel region, it has also become a great means of empowering women, through a select few who are prepared to become leaders and pioneers by sharpening their skills, leading participatory budgeting projects, and enforcing the will of the community on the elected municipality members. 

The project, being of pioneer thoughts had to start from scratch. First, 4 groups of 15 educated women were created reflecting the ethnic, secular and generational diversity of our society. These women went through 4 months of training, undergoing as many as 15 workshops on citizenship, civic participation, municipal work and advocacy at LOST premises in Baalbeck, Hermel, Ein, and Bedneyel. After that, the groups, using all acquired skills, designed a questionnaire in an answer to a needs assessment. That questionnaire inquired about the knowledge of our society in municipal work priorities and needs. It studied the reflection of municipal work on tourism, agriculture, health and infrastructure. As results were gathered, these groups constructed a well designed study for the needs and priorities of their communities matching the finances of the municipality. Those studies were handed to the respective municipalities. People were so interested that supportive petitions were signed to persuade municipalities on adopting these thoughts.

LOST along with the British Embassy have reflected some of the beliefs in Women Empowerment through this project. These women are now a reference in society on participatory budgeting. They express the needs of the masses and reflect the opinion of their society, enforcing our need to increase women’s participation level in municipal work, as well as other areas of social, and economical development. They proved up to the challenge of doing it, so who is to say NO!?

CISCO “Information Technology Essentials (ITE)” Academy in Baalbeck

LOST has signed an agreement with CISCO to establish an ITE Academy (IT Essential) in Bekaa.

This Academy provides short basic courses in IT (hardware and software) with International certificates from CISCO after successful completion. The course started on January 19th, 2014 and will comprise 30 hours.

The internationally recognized certificate is of great value for youth (especially of the refugee communities) since it opens up new opportunities in supporting refugees and host communities.

It is worth noting that LOST is the sole provider in Bekaa who offers such courses and is in the process of informing all educational institutions and CSOs about this achievement.

“Syrian-Lebanese Youth Fellowship Program”, an Empowering Initiative in Baalbeck by Action Aid, Arab Regional Initiative (ARI)

The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training initiated the “Syrian-Lebanese Youth Fellowship Program”, a pilot project sponsored by Action Aid, ARI at its premises in Baalbeck on February 2nd, 2014. 

The project aims at identifying and building the capacity of 45 young Syrian refugees aged 17-27 and Lebanese young hosts  in the local Lebanese community of Baalbeck, increasing their ability to identify development needs, and initiating and delivering their own life-enhancing solutions, thus reducing vulnerability of Syrian people to war and empowering them to participate in decisions affecting their future. 

18 educated Syrians and 2 Lebanese youth were selected to participate in the first phase of this pilot project. They went through 12 days training with 2 trainers from Action Aid, Denmark.

This intensive training included workshops on mobilizing people and resources, Needs assessment/documentation and action plan, Linkages with stakeholders, and Advocacy initiatives.

Participants were encouraged to voice their own priorities and risks by highlighting cultural problems that the Syrian community faces in the local context of Baalbeck. Sharing their perceptions, views and analysis with local NGOs, they then conducted community mapping using scientific tools after which they obtained a social document which will be adopted and implemented in the form of a small community service project that can help them to improve the community they live in.

This project will last for six months and can be scaled up reaching out for more participation and larger geographical outreach.