Reducing Tension by Stabilizing Local Authorities

“Future Together Now” a project partnering the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings and their German partners ForumZFD and completed its second community project in the city of Bednayel.
Friday December the 4th, 2015 representatives from ForumZFD,  LOST members, guests and potential workgroup participants gathered to applaud the efforts of the community coming together to help improve the services provided by the municipality in order to improve the village in general and help reduce tensions between both the Lebanese host community and the Syrian refugees.
President of LOST Dr. Ramy Lakkis gave a brief introduction about the mission of LOST. Working with people, particularly women and youth to create a more developed and equitable society through reducing poverty, eliminating exclusion, and fostering a culture of peace. Dr. Lakkis highlighted the importance of activating the coordination between local and international society so they can respond for the needs of the community because of the huge influx of the Syrian refugees.
Project coordinator and community activist in Bednayel, Malak Ashaal, after a series of training in conflict resolution, conflict transformation and needs analysis, and in compliance with the municipality request, found out that a crane would be very helpful for the municipality. Ashaal emphasized the importance of such initiatives hoping to transform conflict into joint decision-making and comprehensive communication skills in the social atmosphere between Syrian refugees and the host community.
This initiative is the second of four initiatives in the Baalbek-Hermel region in cooperation with ForumZFD and the municipalities to change struggle into joint decision making and ease the social climate between the displaced Syrians and the hosting Lebanese society.

A Yearning for Learning: LOST opens doors to Improved Classrooms in Maarabun

Saturday November 28th, 2015 the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings opened the doors to the newly renovated classrooms for the children of the town of Maarabun. This initiative is part of the small community project LOST engages in to give back to the community.

President of LOST, Ramy Lakkis, the Mayor of Maarabun, the Director and teachers of Maarabun’s official school, along with the parents and children gathered to celebrate the finished product of improved classrooms for the preschool and kindergarten students. The kids ages three to six, couldn’t sit still in their seats and were exuberant about getting to be the first to use the new equipment in the refurbished rooms.
Before LOST intervened in fixing the classroom for the toddlers, the rooms were a chaotic destruction. LOST rehabilitated the walls, painted them a friendly color, installed carpeting on the floors, and furnished the room with tables and chairs. With the new fixtures, the kids are more motivated to learn and more comfortable in the academia scene.

By implementing small community projects that greatly impact the morale of the people LOST aims to enhance the quality of life in Lebanon.

Winterization in Bekaa

The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings (LOST) with their Canadian partner, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Global Affairs Canada (DFATD), started their first day in the distribution of space heaters December 2nd, 2015 for needy Syrian Refugee families and vulnerable Lebanese. More than 4,000 individuals will be receiving aid for the harsh cold months to come.
In their project "Winterization and Shelter Assistance for Syrian Refugees and Vulnerable Communities in Baalbek-Hermel, Lebanon", a team of field officers go around to refugee camps and assess their living conditions. Based on a set criteria and a resilience test, that measures the needs of the family, and a reassessment of their living conditions, LOST is able to provide what the families need.
For the past month, LOST associates were out in the field gathering information. This winterization initiative is providing assistance through distributing space heaters, fuel, heavy blankets for warmth and by weatherproofing the tents and homes that need it.

LOST Assists The Lebanese Red Cross

"Future Together Now" a project partnering the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings and their German partners ForumZFD completed its first community project in the city of Baalbek.
Thursday November 19th, 2015 10 Red Cross Volunteers dressed in their neon orange attire, along with representatives from ForumZFD, LOST members, guests and potential workgroup participants gathered to applaud the efforts of the community coming together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with LOST and celebrate the donation of a Respirator Kit, a Vacuum Mattress and a Regulator. The Lebanese Red Cross Volunteers were thankful for the aid from LOST and ForumZFD.

The project in coordination with ForumZFD focuses on easing tensions between the Syrian Refugee and the Lebanese citizen. It aims in reaching a social inclusion for both sides in joint decision making and non-violent conflict transformation through having Community Activists. Each area has its own CA. In Baalbek the CA, Jad Choubassi, was responsible for finding a mechanism that will thrive to ease and benefit Syrian and Lebanese citizens.
After taking trainings in Conflict Analysis, Conflict Transformation, and Needs Analysis, Jad Choubassi saw that health access is difficult for Syrian Refugees and vulnerable Lebanese. Services like the Lebanese Red Cross, a non-profit organization, aid people without judgment and criteria requirements. The Lebanese Red Cross is more readily available to helping persons in need but has a shortage of supplies in order to do a superb job.
This initiative is one of four initiatives in the Baalbek-Hermel Region under the title of the project "Future Together Now" aiming to transform conflict into joint decision-making and comprehensive communication skills in the social atmosphere between Syrian refugees and the host community.

LOST Plants A Green Initiative in Yamuni

 "Yamuni Goes Green" is an initiative led by the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Trainings (LOST) and UNICEF aiming at raising awareness of environmental protection through workshops, door-to-door discussions, cleanliness campaigns, and hands on implementation.
LOST recruited six trainers from the village of Yamuni to train them on communication skills, municipal work, green techniques, needs assessments and surveying. After completing the workshops, LOST built the capacity of the townspeople by using door-to-door techniques to spread information. The trainers from LOST went door to door with brochures designed during the workshops and talked to the people of Yamuni one by one about environmental problems in the village. The trainers along with some volunteers also took surveys categorized by age groups; 20-25, 25-45 and 45 plus, to take into account the opinions, problems and concerns of the people. LOST conducted a total of 180 surveys and found out that the main problem; aside from the condemnable feelings of dissatisfaction, is the same throughout: water contamination and pollution. Based on results from questionnaire the trainers as well as LOST will implement Green initiative before the end of the year.

This past Tuesday, November 17th, LOST organized an opening ceremony in Yamuni under the auspices of Bashir Khodr, Governor of Baalbek-Hermel. Key stakeholders, village people, LOST representatives and UNICEF senior delegation attended to support this up and coming initiative. But before the kickoff of the launching event; LOST and the townspeople celebrated accomplishments of their own.

Sunday November 8, 2015, LOST project coordinators and associates along with more than 150 townspeople made up of Syrian and Lebanese youth, children, men and women, rich or poor gathered to clean up the main water stream of their town.
In Yamuni, this green initiative to preserve the environment and is led by local youth, volunteers and the townspeople. The day of the clean-up, the townspeople and key stakeholders were more than enthusiastic that they gathered their own groups and equipment and aided. A Syrian resident of Yamuni, Hassan Assef, came with his family and a tractor to take the trash from one place to another. Yaseen Chraif, another resident in Yamuni took care of the cost of dumpsters that will dispose of the trash. Another resident, Shalaan Chraif, rented an excavator for 80 dollars an hour, to scoop up dead trees and larger items of debris from the ground and from the river. The townspeople have passion for their village despite their attitudes towards each other and now with the knowledge of green technique and importance of keeping a clean environment, they are more willing to help in the coming processes.
Yamuni is made up a large tribal family line, Chraif, but there are more than 20 different bloodlines within the same family line. The different bloodlines in this area can't stand one another and are always blaming each other for the problems in their town. 
Given the circumstances it is unbelievable that a large number of people engaged in cleaning up, especially considering the lack of a municipality in Yamuni to regulate such activities. LOST's associates positive outlook and energy saw this as a way to start mending the relationships between everyone in town. LOST started a social cohesion campaign.
LOST associates and volunteers then invited a representation from each bloodline to a dinner.  The diverse mindsets were able to gather over dinner and discuss communal issues at large without judgment. These representatives became the committee in the town. They placed their personal problems aside and concluded that working together to solve a problem in order to enhance their town wouldn’t cause any harm and will only benefit everyone. The people of Yamuni went from being an idle community and staring at the problem at hand to becoming an active community and engaging with each other to tackle it.
An established trust between LOST and the townspeople was created when the people saw that LOST's presence was unbiased and the intention was to help everyone. The villagers now just wanted to be involved in one way or the other, to fix the problem. For those villagers who had money, they donated supplies to the town and for those who couldn’t donate supplies, they donated their time. Whole families came out to support the cleaning initiative of their town. The energy between the people flipped from negative to positive after LOST convened by Social Cohesion and participatory techniques.

Yamuni is known to attract locals and tourists with its remote peaceful location and family friendly parks strategically placed around natural rivers, waterfalls, and springs. Like other places in Lebanon LOST intends to support the natural environment and its need to be preserved and clean. In supporting the environment, the living standards of the people will be enhanced and relationships will be promoted.

LOST and KAS hold a motivational seminar to promote Women's Role in Society

Friday December 4th, 2015, Head of the Lebanese organization of Studies and Trainings (LOST), Doctor Ramy Lakkis, Representatives from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), Peter Rimmele and Hana Nasser, along with 80 women participants from the project "Promoting Women’s Role in Political Participation in Baalbek” gathered at LOST Headquarters in Baalbek to hear Lamia El-Husseini speak about her experience as a women in a man's' world.
"Promoting Women's Role in Political Participation in Baalbek" is an initiative giving women the tools needed to indulge in all levels of society; from politics to community service. This movement is to foster social change and increase the engagement of women in everyday decision making.

Peter Rimmele, the German resident representative for KAS and head of the rule of law program in the Middle East, gave a short speech on the importance of being active in the community. Rimmele said, "The sky is the limit for the women of Baalbek". Rimmele emphasized the importance for women to take advantage of the rights they have. Being engaged in the community will benefit the community; women should be part of the joint-decision making process that aids in the development of society. He said, "We don't want all of you to be Angela Merkel, but the opportunities to make a difference in your society are there and ready for you to grasp; be part of the public affairs in your community".
Regional Head of Education in Baalbek-Hermel, Lamia El-Husseini, agreed with Rimmele and added that equal rights for women should be considered nothing less than basic human rights. Husseini said women in Lebanon and internationally have been successful business women, doctors, reporters, and have managed to fit their societal roles as mothers and wives. Society should not define how far women go in life.
So many women have suffered from sexist views and the double-standards imposed upon women to conform to. So many have been denied their basic human rights of getting an education, working and even participating in public affairs due to the patriarchal mindset  that the outside world is made only for men. What's most disheartening is when women buy into the ideas that men are dominant over women, allowing the system to define their roles, and raising their daughters with the skewed ideologies.  Husseini said upbringing impacts the future mindset of the children. When raising boys and girls, they both need to know from a young age that they are equal and have a place in society.
"We should only wear the roles defined by us, not by society", Husseini said.

Women Participating in "Promoting Women's Role in Political Participation in Baalbek" hold a Conference to discuss Strategy Plans

Tuesday December 29th, the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training and their implementing partner Konrad Adeuneur Stiflung (KAS) representatives Hana Nasser and Peter Rimmele gathered in Tamooz Hall in Baalbek for a Conference to discuss the Advancement of Women In Politics. The participants of the Project "Promoting Women's Role in Political Participation in Baalbek" were joined by Governor of Baalbek-Hermel Bashir Khodr, former Minister Wafaa el Dika Hamze, General Security Major, Ghayes Zaiter, Pastor of the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop, Elias Rahhal and other community activists.

Dr. Ramy Lakkis, founder and President of LOST said, "This workshop is for the participants to voice their opinions about what stops them from political participation and what we can do to mend these obstacles."

It is the right of every citizen, man and women to participate in community and in politics. The participation of women in politics develops the country and aids in mending the community.

Khodr said, "Despite the shortcomings of our government, the republic of Lebanon was one of the first republics to give women suffrage rights in 1952. In Switzerland women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1972."

But the Lebanese women are not taking advantage of that right even though the number of women makes up half the community. This patriarchal community.

"I think it's time to change that," Khodr said.

The inherited mindset that women are less then men and shouldn’t belong in a man's world is wrong.

Khodr said, "It's our duty to encourage women to participate in all political and community endeavors."

Rahhal, the pastor said, "There shouldn’t be difference between religions or between genders. We need to build bridges with great communication skills to change the landscape and transform the problems of our country into positive solutions."

Peter Rimmele, the German resident representative for KAS and head of the rule of law program in the Middle East said that Lebanon is one of the leading Arab countries in the scope of media, education, arts, and business. But in politics the role of women is not reaching fair standard. There are only 4 women in the 128 seats in parliament; this ratio does not represent the population of Lebanon. 

Lawyer Manar Zaiter, municipality member of Bednayel Inaya Sleiman and participant Kinda Abdel Sater made a group and spoke about the reality of the participation of women in Baalbek-Hermel. 

 

LOST aids 80 women per month to become Self-Reliant

 The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings and MCC have been working together on the project "Supporting Women Refugees in Baalbek-Hermel". In August 2015 LOST started the recruitment process and Training the trainers in life skills, reproductive health, family planning, Civic Education and Law, and trauma healing thus giving them the information they need to pass along to the fellow women participants. After the trainers attended workshops on various topics they recruited 20 participants from the four LOST branches, Baalbek, Ein, Hermel and Bednayel. Each trainer is responsible in making sure that at least 80% of the participants are Syrian women and the remaining should be Lebanese. In one month the participants complete four training sessions and receive their dignity kit; dignity kits are basically like goodie bags to promote cleanliness and femininity for the women participants as well as respond to their basic needs.

Every month 80 new ladies (20 from each branch) are recruited to take these trainings and build their capacities in society. The women have appreciated the trainings and attain useful information from them. They feel self-reliant and have made small changes in their lifestyles to have a better, safer, more dignified way of life. So far LOST has trained and distributed dignity kits to a total of 240 women.

Through the trauma healing sessions, LOST is helping vulnerable Syrian women feel more at home in a country that isn’t their own and hear their concerns. Giving them a platform to share their feelings helps the women feel relieved and puts them in a positive mood that affects the household and this cycle affects the psychology of the children to be peaceful.

LOST launches Youth Forum so Raise your Voice; Someone is Listening

The Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training launched the opening ceremony for the new project "Youth Forum: Amplifying the Voice of Youth in Northern   Bekaa" in association with OTI/USAID in Tamooz Hall in the presence of Bashir Chord, governor of Baalbek-Hermel on Tuesday November 10th, 2015.
The seats in Tamooz Hall filled with 120 participants from all eight villages, field officers, trainers, and special guests like Colonel Mohammed Nasser, Father Paul Keyrouz, and municipality officials. These young men and women will participate in a set of trainings to build their capacities in leadership, communication, issue identification/analysis, conflict transformation and resolution. After they have been conditioned to be original thinkers, the youth will come up with eight different projects after a series of surveys with the people to solve a specific problem in their individual communities.

Founder of LOST, Ramy Lakkis, said, "the project is vital and useful for youth from Hermel, Ersal, Fakiha, Ein, Labwe, Baalbek and Deir el Ahmar to interact with each other positively. The project aims to develop the capacity of young people and enhance their leadership roles in the community as well to improve relations with each other."
After the training workshops the youth will attend a general conference to convert the problems and needs into small community projects, and through the projects communication between the regions channels will be enhanced. By seeing that every village has similar problems and by setting aside differences, individual voices will become a voice in unison to interact with the surrounding environment and homeland.

Governor Khodr came up to the podium saying he isn’t a stranger to the LOST's project and that he is delighted when [he] sees young people attached to their land and their community, and taking part enthusiastically in  workshops to work on developing their knowledge abilities and potential, and [he] sees in a bright future for them. He continued his motivational speech by saying that among this group of 120 there are the leaders who will take action in public affairs and political offices and influence the region.
He quoted Pope John Paul II on how important development is to reach peace and continued asking for all to join together in the advancement of Baalbek-Hermel,
Khodr said "there is no development without security and stability. Security is considered a priority for development, it is not the responsibility of the security forces, but is also your responsibility, and the responsibility of everyone in society."
He concluded saying: "I started from among you, and I'm one of you, so we together enhance our country."

LOST through this project aims to plant the seed of development and inspiration in Lebanon's' youth for the country and the country's' people to flourish and live in dignity.

Women Participating in Political Processes at LOST

October 29th 2015, an opening ceremony for a project funded by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung(KAS) was held under the auspices of the Governor of Baalbek-Hermel, Bashir Khodr, at the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Trainings(LOST). More than 100 participants in the "Promoting Women's Role in Political Participation in Baalbek" project attended along with Administrative Director of the project from KAS, Hana Nasser as well Mufti Sheikh, Khaled Soleh, and Elias Rahal, Pastor of the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop to support the launch of such an important initiative.

This project aims at fostering social change and by empowering 80 women in Baalbek-Hermel Region to participate in the decision making process at the local level and institutionalize their political inclusion. It also gives an opportunity for silent and passive women to become more proactively involved in the local decision-making processes. These 80 women will take training workshops, for the length of the project of two months; including familiarizing themselves with their rights as Lebanese citizens. By expanding their knowledge and acquiring useful skills through the trainings the local participation of women in the municipal elections will increase.
Governor Khodr said, "Why are women absent [from political participation] nowadays? While the making of Constitution and the law of the Lebanese people women were there with the right to equality and to participate in nomination and election before by many Western countries, like the United States, Britain and others. Then the excuses in society and in the mentality of the country about women's participation [are wrong] , the basic responsibility for women is to participate and those who are reluctant to participate in public affairs are giving up their rights."
KSI Project Director Nasser said, "The most important factor that helps women to play their role to the fullest is they constitute half of the society, they are our educators and the media makers and that contributes to raising awareness, and women themselves are responsible for the progress of society, they must change the way they see themselves before they can change the way the world sees them."

Nasser stressed that the "Lebanese women are pioneers in their field of influence, but fail to participate in the political sphere."

President of LOST, Ramy Lakkis said, " "History bears witness to the struggle of women in various places in the world and their suffrage movements to have equal rights and  here we have our society which recognizes women's participation in public work and our women don't exercise that right. And the importance of participation is it promotes a democratic culture."

LOST believes in building the capacity of women in society to enhance the present predicament of Lebanon. Social change is important to better the community and ensures that each person lives in dignity and safety.