Enabling the youth with lifeskills and psycho-social support sessions

At a time where children in Lebanon are victims of an unstable economic, social, and political environment, new initiatives emerge to support their well-being and give them a window of hope amidst a continuous series of unfortunate events. Faith & Development is at the core of these initiatives, and that is by mobilizing faith leaders and faith-based organizations to protect children. World Vision in Lebanon, hand in hand with The National Orthodox Scouts, through the “Faith communities support to positive and peaceful relationships between children and their caregivers” project,  aim to help faith communities create an enabling environment for all girls and boys, especially the most vulnerable, and assist them to have positive and peaceful relationships within their families and communities.

As an expected outcome, Faith Leaders have to take actions and influence socio-cultural norms and policies to enable improved child well-being through evidence-based models. Through this project, World Vision Lebanon will more specifically equip faith leaders and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) to initiate activities that influence positive social norms for child well-being.  

The project will directly reach 660 beneficiaries (host community, refugee children and caregivers), and indirectly will reach 5,000 community members with Child Protection messaging. 

The project aims to support children through lifeskills and Psycho-social support sessions by working with Faith Leaders and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs). Kazem, project officer explains more about the project, "we are targeting children here in Tripoli through scouts groups. They meet at the weekend. And the reason why we are working with FBOs is because of the important role they play in the communities here." 

Elie, a six-year-old scout member in Tripoli, is learning and discovering new topics thanks to the sessions, like why it is not okay to hit each other and why no one should not throw garbage on the floor. "I like that I am learning new stuff and playing at the same time", he says. Elie likes coming to the scout reunions every Saturday because he makes new friends. 

16-year-old Roy had been a scout member for four years now. "Each week we target a new topic during the World Vision sessions about subjects that interest every teenager", he says. Being among his scout peers and learning new issues that helpthem during their daily life is giving Roy and his friends' confidence even outside the scout life. Becoming a scout member was always on Roy's mind, "I like coming here every week, just like my father used to do, I heard his stories, and I was intrigued to discover this life", Roy explains. 

With the sessions given by World Vision, Roy and his friends are learning about bullying, psycho-social support and many other topics related to child protection. "In my opinion, these sessions are important for teens my age. Because at this age we start to think that we know everything but not really", Roy clarifies. "We like the space they give us to express our opinion and discuss the ideas presented, especially that they are relatable," he adds. 

A previous scout member herself, Tatiana the moderator of the sessions, is very pleased with the opportunity to help the younger generations. "As per World Vision's curriculum, we are teaching the children about violence, general idea on the situation, how to handle stress, cyber safety, bullying and many other topics", Tatiana says. "The interaction during the sessions is very motivating to keep going and the children like to be engaged", she continues. 

This project provides children with Psycho-Social Support activities and caregivers with positive parenting sessions. Caregivers receive as well the Celebrating Families module created by World Vision in Beirut-Mount Lebanon and T5 (North of Lebanon).