Democratic and Empowerment Processes for youth in Lebanon (DEEP)
Funded by: UNDEF – The United Nations Democracy Fund
Country/Region: Lebanon/Middle East
Implementing Agency: Permanent Peace Movement (PPM)
Implementing Partner: International Development and Empowerment Association (IDEA) - Lebanese Local NGO
Executive Summary
The project “Democratic and Empowerment Processes for Youth in Lebanon” (DEEP) aims at the realization of the participation rights of youth through social empowerment leading to their active participation and their involvement in all decision affecting them in the family, at schools, in institutions and in social life. This is advocated mainly in light of articles 12, 13 and 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The overall strategy will be based on Capacity Building, Awareness raisin and Interaction and partnership.
Overall development goal: Strengthened democratic practices in Lebanon by ensuring youth participation in public life without discrimination.
Project objective: To promote youth participation in public life through social empowerment of youth and a capacitated civil society.
Expected outcomes:
Outcome 1: Increased capacity of local NGOs to promote youth participation in public life and in society in general.
Outcome 2: Increased empowerment and capacity for participation enhanced among youth.
Outcome 3: Increased advocacy undertaken by youth to promote youth participation in public life.
Main steps of the project:
In the first step a number of selected NGOs working for and with youths from all over Lebanon will receive capacity building with a ToT methodology. The NGOs will form a partnership to later support the youths in their actions. The trained NGO-workers will in their turn raise awareness among parents through training sessions to highlight young people’s right to participation and help with the capacity building of youths.
The second step is to select and gather young people from all six governorates to make them better equipped for participation in the society. These young people will be chosen by the NGOs that participated in the first step of the project. The NGOs have direct contact with youth in the community they work in. The empowerment process of the youth will be realized through interaction, training opportunities, field exchanges and the election of the youth council.
Thirdly, with the tools received, the youths will be better capacitated to advocating for their own rights. This will be realized through the establishment of a National Youth Council and a number of regional secretariats which will promote youth interest in the policy making on national and regional level. This mechanism will also ensure the sustainability of the project. The youths will also produce advocacy material through different media techniques and participate in campaign activities. Throughout the project a film production will document the youth experience and empowerment process.