LOST Hosts A Discussion Forum on “Peace-Building in the MENA Region”

The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST) hosted a discussion forum on the topic of “Mapping a Public Picture on Civil Peace-Building Knowledge Production” in the MENA Region at the headquarters of the Lebanese Youth Network (LYN) on the Ras-El-Ain Avenue in Baalbeck.

The forum is based on a research study published by Peacebuilding Academy and authored by the latter’s Executive Director Professor Ramy Lakkis titled “Mapping Peacebuilding Knowledge Production in the MENA”. The study is a qualitative evaluation of research-work on peace and conflict in the Region and defines peace-building in the context of MENA. It reveals four categories of peace-building research including Peace-Building and Conflict Resolution, Peace-Building and Governance, Peace-Building and Youth Engagement and Peace-Building and Democratization and two methodologies followed in the field and which include the Normative Approach and the Analytical Approach. In addition, the study provides an overview of the peace-building research production field in Lebanon and recommends additional research initiatives in peace-building and a more-organized approach to peace-building research, as well as the creation of opportunities for networking among stakeholders.

LOST trainer Manar Zaayter delivered the opening remarks of the event and served as the forum’s moderator. Professor Ramy Lakkis, the study’s author, headed the forum discussion. Lakkis is a holder of a Doctorate degree in International Affairs from the University of Durham in Britain and of a Master and Bachelor degrees from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He founded LOST in 1997 and ever since then has managed over USD 2 Million in grants for development projects in the Baalbeck-Hermel Region from some of the premier international donors including the Government of the United States of America and of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The “Mapping Peacebuilding Knowledge Production in the MENA” research study is a LOST product and aligns with LOST’s mission of serving as a development research institution in the Baalbeck-Hermel Region. In addition, LOST leads development initiatives in the same region aimed at raising the standard of living and building a democratic civil society therein.

CISCO الجمعية اللبنانية للدراسات والتدريب تطلق دورة

للمرة الاولى  في بعلبك أطلقت الجمعية اللبنانية للدراسات والتدريب بالتعاون مع Object Technology CISCO Academy في شتورا، الدورة الأولى من شهادة CISCO التي تقام في مركز الجمعية في بعلبك رأس العين.
تعتبر هذه الشهادة الأولى من نوعها في علم شبكات الكومبيوتر والإتصالات التي تخول حاملها من تطوير وتحسين وحماية شبكات الكومبيوتر وشبكات الاتصال .
ويستفيد من هذه الدورة طلاب الكومبيوتر والاتصالات وموظفي المعلوماتية في المستشفيات والمدارس والمؤسسات التي تعتمد على شبكات الكومبيوتر في عملها.
مدة الدورة سنة كاملة وتشمل أربع مستويات، رسم الدورة كاملة 600$ لا غير.

تبدأ الدورة الجديدة في 4/3/2012 للتسجيل مراجعة  مركز الجمعية اللبنانية للدراسات والتدريب – بعلبك، رأس العين الطابق الثاني.
أو الإتصال على الارقام التالية:

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The Electronics and Commercial Arts Center in Baalbeck Welcomes the New Year with a Fundraiser

The Electronics and Commercial Arts Center (ECC) in the City of Baalbeck had organized a fundraiser on the eve of the 31st of December of 2011 to pay farewell to 2011 and greet 2012 in an effort to raise funds for the Center’s operations and expansion efforts in the coming year. The fundraiser, which hosted over 200 guests, started at 10:00 pm in evening and lasted until the late hours of the morning of the first day of the New Year. Hadi Rifai, the event’s Disc-Jockey, welcomed guests to the celebration and launched the party with a parade of Oriental and Western tunes under which the Al-Sharq dance troop performed popular Lebanese folklore dance routines. Cotillions, raffle drawings and prizes, and a Baytna Restaurant-catered full course meal were among the key features of the evening. Managed by LOST in 2011, ECC is headquartered in Baalbeck in the Bekaa Province of Lebanon.

With “More Than Vocation Training! A Job Opportunity” as its slogan, ECC aims at granting local residents the qualifications necessary for them to become active participants in the economy of the Baalbeck-Hermel Region and at aiding them in realizing their full potential. The Center offers courses and diplomas in photography, computer, floral design and work, accountancy, presidency of accountancy, engineering and architectural drawing, hairdressing and makeup, and secretarial work. In addition, it offers BP, BT and TS specialties in kindergarten education, construction and general work, information management, nursing and information technology. ECC is located in the Lakkis building on the Ras-el-Ain Avenue in Baalbeck. For more information, contact the Center at +9618370882.

Al-Jadeed Television’s Former Reporter Talks Women’s Rights at a LOST Forum in Hermel

In line with the scheduled programming of the Women’s Political Empowerment (WPE) project, LOST organized a forum on the topic of Women’s Rights in the Workplace starring the Lebanese journalist and Al-Jadeed Television (NEW TV) reporter Ogarit Dandash at the Hermel branch of LOST in the presence of WPE participants and LOST staff.

Welcoming participants and the guest speaker, the director of the Hermel branch of LOST Ahmad Alsaheli delivered the opening remarks of the forum and emphasized the importance of the latter in fostering dialogue among local women about their issues and in initiating a social movement to shape the social and political institutions of the region to resemble the ideal of a democratic society characterized by justice, liberty and opportunity. 

Dandash, who is a native of the city of Hermel in Northern Bekaa, spoke on the status of women in Lebanon. She insisted that despite women’s willingness to and aptitude for work, their immeasurable contributions to their families and to society and their deep-rooted yet institutionally repressed spirit of giving, women in the region continue to lack their basic civil rights and especially their rights to take an active role in the local marketplace and in public life.

After Dandash’s speech, participants engaged in a question and answer session with the guest speaker and focused on the topics of women’s rights and of women’s independence and productivity.

The forum is among the key elements of the WPE project which was launched in 2011 and aims at empowering 100 economically-disadvantaged and politically-disenfranchised women from the Baalbeck-Hermel region of the Republic of Lebanon politically via a curriculum encompassing education on the civil rights of women and practical experience organizing community projects on local governance matters. WPE is fully-funded by the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands via its Embassy in Beirut.

Yemeni Non-Governmental Organization Visits LOST

 PARTNERS-YEMEN, a Yemeni Non-Governmental Organization, visited the headquarters of The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST) in its round of visits to Lebanese organizations and projects involved in the field of Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building, thereby exchanging expertise and strengthening their ties with LOST.

PARTNERS-YEMEN delegation’s visit aims at studying LOST’s organizational culture, strategy and operations, learning about and from its strategies and projects and ultimately adopting the theoretical and practical lessons which best suit PARTNERS-YEMEN’s circumstances but most importantly vision and mission in the Republic of Yemen. Also, it aims at sharing with LOST its experiences and knowledge gained from years of activism in Yemen.

LOST’s Executive Director and founder Ramy Lakkis delivered a welcome address where he greeted the delegation and welcomed their initiative to learn from LOST and its programming in the Conflict Resolution/Peace-Building domain and to share with his organization their experience in Yemen. In acquainting PARTNERS-YEMEN with LOST, Lakkis elaborated on LOST’s programming in the concerned field but especially on LOST’s youth programs which constitute the primary machine for implementing the organization’s Conflict Resolution/Peace-Building agenda.

In his welcoming remarks, Lakkis acknowledged the fact that “Lebanon suffers from sectarian and religious divisions which come in the way of development and represent the latter’skey impediment. Adding to the dilemma is the structure of family in Northern Bekaa which alleviates this division and unbalanced development. It is for this reason that LOST strives to lessen the severity of such factors via its various programs and to uproot these factors via its research-development and knowledge-sharing efforts.”

Abdel-Halim Afeiry, PARTNERS-YEMEN’s Deputy Executive Director, and four trainers representing four provinces in Yemen, comprised the delegation. “Despite the sectarian diversity in Yemen, our country hasn’t witnessed any divides or clashes, sectarian or otherwise, yet for we approach our differences in a manner that is civilized, progressive and respectful,” remarked Afeiry; “Our organization is attempting to spread the idea of individual freedom which is already spreading across our country and it is this very element that is contributing to the elimination of existing problems which impede the path of development therein.” At the end of his speech, Afeiry presented LOST’s Executive Director a memorial shied in recognition of LOST leadership in the Conflict Resolution/Peace-Building domain in the Middle Eastern region and for LOST’s warm welcome of the delegation.

PARTNERS-YEMEN is a Yemeni branch of PARTNERS-INTERNATIONAL, a Non-Governmental Organization established in 1989 in the United States and with presence in 20 countries around the world. The organization’s purpose is to develop the capacity of organizations and of civil frameworks around the globe and to enhance their role in development in general and in democratic development in particular. Also, it aims at emanating skills and knowledge of conflict management and consensus-building around local issues. For further reading about PARTNERS-YEMEN, please visit the organization’s web site at www.partnersyemen.org

Lebanese Military’s Commander-in-Chief Honors LOST

The Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Military Jean Qahwaji commended LOST for its “noble national sentiments,” cooperation with the institutions and personnel of the Military and initiative on the Independence Day of Lebanon in 2011 involving the Lebanese Army orphans.

LOST organized an Independence Day celebration event in November of 2011 honoring the nation’s heroes and thanking them for their selfless dedication to Lebanon’s security and independence. The event was attended by the families and orphans of the Lebanese Army martyrs and also representatives of the Military and included an opening ceremony, entertainment, gifts and food.

Recognizing the significance of the Military in preserving the nation’s Democratic institutions and its civil society, LOST involves the Lebanese Armed Forces in most of its programming and never fails to appreciate their contributions to and service and sacrifice for the people of Lebanon in general and the people of the Baalbeck Hermel Region in particular.

Developing Generation Y’s Civic Intelligence-Shaping the Nation’s Democracy One Youth at a Time

In line with its purpose, the seventh annual Academy of Youth at LOST launched the Universal Declaration of Human Rights exhibition at ten secondary schools across the Baalbeck Hermel Region as it executes the second month of its program.

Over 150 youngsters from ten schools in the communities of Baalbeck, Hermel, Ain and Shmustar are participating in the exhibition which is set up to acquaint local students with their rights as citizens of the global community, and which—thanks to the leadership of the United Nations organization—have become inborn rights for all. The exhibition includes poster-displays, theatrical plays and roll-upsset up at the participating schools and all of which emphasized the thirty articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Academy of Youth at LOST is an annual project designed to educate youths about public life with special emphasis on democracy and democratic governance. It trains them on the use of technical tools essential for a pro-active approach to civic participation where they learn about information technology, social media and English language tools and goes further to engage them in projects offering practical experience implementing the material they learn in the classroom.

In the Academy, Youths complete a comprehensive curriculum with four components. The Civics-Training component educates Academy participants about civics and democracy and trains them on the use of technical skills to implement projects of civic nature while the Activity component engages them in civic projects in their respective communities. The Events component promotes the Academy and its works to the various communities in the region in an effort to attract more youths to future academies at LOST. Finally, the Media component involves youths in public relations and media campaigns to provide them with practical experience voicing their concerns and opinions to the public at large and to public figures at the local, regional and national levels.

Yes She Can: LOST Educates Women About Their Rights and Opportunities in Public Life, Empowers Them Politically

 As a second stage in the Women’s Political Empowerment (WPE) project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon, LOST commenced the program with training sessions on the topics of Human Rights and Women’s Rights in six sub-regions in Lebanon including Baalbeck, Akkar, Ain, Beit Shema, Hermel and Ersal, thereby embarking on a five-month long mission to empower women in the marginalized communities of Lebanon politically and ushering in a brighter and more democratic society for them and their country.

Scheduled for two sessions per week with each session lasting approximately two hours, WPE includes a theoretical component and a practical one. The former covers several topics on civics including citizenship, human rights and women’s rights, advocacy and civic participation, and also information technology, social media and English language. The latter involves participants in a community project allowing them to partake in the policy-making process in their respective communities under the guidance of LOST.

In the Baalbeck branch of LOST, twenty six women are attending the training sessions; close to 50% of them joined WPE after graduating from the Women’s Economic Empowerment Project also run by LOST. In a partnership with Jusur organization LOST is managing WPE in Ersal while in Akkar LOST has partnered with the municipality of Tall-Abbass to manage it. Jusur and the municipality provide logistical and human capital support for LOST who in turn is providing leadership, expertise and funding for the implementation of WPE therein.

WPE aims at improving the lives of women in the marginalized communities of Lebanon by empowering women politically so they are active participants in the policy-making process of their communities and country. Also, it aims at strengthening the institution of women’s leadership in public life by educating women about their rights and opportunities in the public domain, involving them in projects which allow them to influence the policy-making process in their community, and offering them guidance on their endeavors in public life at any point in the future.
WPE is funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands via its diplomatic representation in the capital city of Lebanon Beirut and is scheduled to last until April of 2012.

Local Youths Learn to Instill Change in Their Community and to Participate in the Making of Their Region’s History

LOST concluded the first month of the execution stage of its “Advocacy Civic Initiatives in Baalbeck-Hermel” project, with training sessions on the theme of “Citizenship and Civic Participation” to youths at its four locations in Baalbeck, Beit Shema, Ein and Hermel.
The initiative commenced in September of this year when LOST conducted preliminary preparations for the project selecting and training its personnel, developing and executing a marketing campaign and designing a research plan related to the issue of public access to government data. In October LOST continued its preparation for the project and in this regard recruited 80 youths from various communities in the Baalbeck-Hermel Region to participate in the initiatives and completed a training guide to be used by trainers in their work. In addition, training of trainers sessions continued and a project launch ceremony was held to announce the project to the local communities of the region.
In November, the first training session of youths was held and like subsequent sessions it focused on the topic of citizenship and civic participation. Upcoming sessions will focus on various topics within the Civics domain including sessions on Good Governance and Civic Advocacy. Also, community service activities where participants gain a first-hand look at advocacy campaign execution in communities other than their own will be organized via field trips to different provinces around Lebanon.
The “Advocacy Civic Initiatives in Baalbeck-Hermel” is a LOST project aimed at developing the capacity of youth to advocate causes they care about in their local and national legislatures so as to fully reflect their will in the making of their future. Funded by the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the project is scheduled to end in July of 2012.

LOST “Takes It To The Street,” Recruits 1,000 Local Youth To Participate in BLOM’s 9th Annual Beirut Marathon 2011

As part of its Youth Academy curriculum and in an effort to contribute to the civic engagement of youth in the Baalbeck-Hermel region, LOST recruited over 1,000 local youth to participate in BLOM Bank’s 9th annual Beirut Marathon held in Beirut under the auspices of the Minister of Youth and Sports of Lebanon Faisal Karame.

In association with BLOM Bank and under the slogan “Take It To The Street,” the Beirut Marathon Association (BMI) organized the 9th annual BLOM Beirut Marathon 2011 in Beirut with the purpose of contributing to the making of the national unity of Lebanon and in creating an opportunity for the people of Lebanon and other regions as well to engage in sports. Attended by over 31,000 participants from Lebanon and other countries, the Marathon included eight races as follows: 42.195 K, 42.195 K—Wheelchairs, Relay 42.195 K, 10 K Fun Run, 10,000 Meter Run, 10,000 Meter Run—Wheelchairs, 5 K Youth Run, 1 K Run-with-Mom.

LOST, as part of the Academy of Youth curriculum, recruited over 1,000 youth from the Baalbeck-Hermel region to participate in BLOM Beirut Marathon 2011. LOST’s contribution to the Marathon went beyond recruitment to include provision of T-Shirts and food to local participants, management of logistics and marketing efforts in the region so as to publicize the event and spark youth’s interest in the activity.

Hussein Yazbeck, the Director of the Beit-Shema branch of LOST, served as the coordinator of LOST’s efforts in the Marathon. According to Yazbeck, LOST’s aim behind the project is “to ingrain in youth the feeling that they are citizens of Lebanon and have a right to participate in all activities at the national level based on the principle of equality of citizens, as well as position the Baalbeck-Hermel region on the Sports agenda of Lebanon via efforts to project a civilized view of the reality of the Lebanese progressive youth who are in need of new horizons and challenges. Also, it is the aim of LOST to unite the Lebanese youth to keep the spirit of charity and of affiliation, which characterize Lebanon so much, thriving.”

For information on BLOM Beirut Marathon 2011 official results, visit BMA’s web site at http:// www.beirutmarathon.org/blom-beirut-2011/.