Time to FLY

Internships within the fields of engineering, banking, social work, programming and more will nurture our FLY (For the Livelihood of Youth) students’ soft skills, increasing their experience and developing their confidence to successfully and independently enter the job market.

The program was piloted this quarter and is currently at the halfway stage: 25 young men and women, all graduates of universities and vocational institutes, committed to and completed three months of intensive sessions in English for international use and soft skills workshops. They have all developed their resumes and practiced their newly acquired interview skills and are now in the process of applying for internships. These youth are proof to all of us that potential just needs an opportunity to blossom.

FLY is implemented in partnership with Taawon-Lebanon and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

 

Encouraged to Go as Far as They Can

On August 30^th, more than 250 children from different backgrounds –Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian—gathered at a centre in Al-Baddawi camp for a day to celebrate education. The children got to know each other, play together and speak about their dreams for the future. The entire day was organized by Fouad Fayez Al Banna, a Palestinian refugee living in Tripoli who is actively involved in his community.

Fouad has been organizing many events in the Al-Baddawi camp. This time, he says: “The idea was in my mind to make something in the camp that involves the greatest number of children…Education and young people are the tool to change.”

Apart from organizing cultural and educational events in his community, Fouad studies Biology at the Lebanese American University (LAU), on an UNRWA scholarship. Through the scholarship, he has become involved with ULYP. He has volunteered as an English teacher, and was nominated by ULYP to take part in the Clinton International Summer School this year.

ULYP is my essential supporter and my second family. Here I met great people like Mrs. Melek and Mr. Salim Karroum. Here I built strong bonds with great friends.  Here I was supported to believe in myself, in my potential and dreams. ULYP taught me that dreams will come true if we work for them.

ULYP has supported a number of projects and events that Fouad has organized. The Day of Education was financed and supported by Al Najdeh association, the Global Network of Rights and Development (GNRD), and by ULYP.

Fouad Fayez Al Banna, LAU student and community activist

New Programs

The palette of programs offered by ULYP keeps growing. This fall, two new activities of CIRCLE and two new programs are starting:

CIRCLE’s Young Learners

Young Learners gives underprivileged four to five year olds a head start in life by offering a safe space for exploration, as a compliment to regular pre-school classes. The program is part of CIRCLE and is carried out in partnership with UNICEF.

CIRCLE’s Mothers

In the third week of September, 30 women arrived on ULYP’s campus to build on their knowledge through a second round of English classes, IT lessons and interactive workshops. The women will attend classes three mornings per week, from September to December. They are taking part in CIRCLE’s Mothers, a program designed to offer women with non-formal learning opportunities.

CIRCLE’s Mothers also has a broader aim. As the pillars of their families and the wider society, the program seeks to strengthen women’s ability to be active agents of change –improving life for their children, for themselves and for their families. To this end, dynamic awareness sessions are offered on topics such as child protection and child and human rights, First Aid, health and hygiene, and conflict resolution.

Action for Children of Today (A.C.T.)

Action for Children of Today is a year-long program for the most marginalized youth—Syrians, and twice displaced Syrian Palestinians—in the ages 7-15. The aim of the program is to strengthen the participants’ psycho-social well-being. To meet this goal, the program has three components: English and IT training, conflict resolution and arts and drama. Action for Children of Today is carried out in partnership with HSBC.

United by Environment

Whatever damage is brought to the environment today, the next generation will be the one to suffer. Put in another way, the environment surrounds and sustains us all, and unites us across political and social borders.

Funded by the US Embassy’s Small Grants Program, United by Environment is a program directed towards youth in the ages 14-18, coming from underserved Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese communities. Through a series of workshops, the participants will learn about the environment while improving their public presentation, campaigning and conflict resolution skills.

Everyone who completes the program will be encouraged to act as an agent of change in his or her home community, spreading the values of respect for the ‘other’ and for our shared environment.

New Program: CIRCLE

A circle has no beginning and no end and neither does our new program in partnership with UNICEF. CIRCLE is a multifaceted, integrated program that targets the psycho-social wellbeing of children, youth and women through activities designed to help the participants better understand and express themselves, as well as cooperate with each other. The program targets 500 beneficiaries and takes place over a period of 7 months ending in February 2015.

 For Sports: Football Retreats

Three football retreats were held this summer.  During each retreat, the 30 players and their coaches spent three nights and four days on our campus. They attended football training sessions, as well as learning new cooperation and team work skills and building new friendships through football skills-building activities, conflict resolution and health and hygiene workshops. After a fierce competition at the end of each retreat, the winning teams met for a final cup, which was won by Al Somoud from Nahr el Bared. Congratulations to all participants, especially the winners!

For the Arts: Artist and Actors

This program enables children to develop their social skills, gain self-confidence and learn about their rights—through the arts.  Three mini camps of two nights and three days were held at the ULYP campus for  children aged 8-14 who came from as far as Bekaa, Tripoli and Tyre to immerse themselves in music, drama, art and handicrafts. The children also benefited from conflict resolution workshops and learned to work and live together on our campus.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Two weeks ago we had a very fruitful workshop with Rama Chakaki, the founder of Dubai-based Baraka Ventures, about the use of social media to develop NGOs and enhance fundraising. During our 4 days with Rama we were introduced to other organizations’ communication strategies, and given many insights into creating effective and profitable campaigns.

One of the key messages we will take away in fact comes from Einstein – ‘If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.’

After discussions and brainstorming, we are all excited to create a new digital strategy; including improving and simplifying the main messages on our website and other digital platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With Rama’s advice and as ULYP nears its 4th birthday, we aim to build up a more effective channel of communication between us and the world, to increase our online presence and to better spread the word about our work and our vision. Another key goal is to improve our means of receiving feedback from our friends and supporters – your comments, criticisms and complements are very valuable to us!

In the end we came up with a plan to launch a campaign for our HAPPY program later this year. This will allow us to expand the program to more children and improve the services we offer them, which means more HAPPYness for all! If you want to know more about this program, or how to support us, please visit our (new!) website. You can also follow us on twitter or Facebook to keep up to date with our campaign news.

We want to thank Rama for her enthusiasm and patience, her great presentations and the invaluable lessons and support she has given us. If you want to know more about Rama and her work, you can follow her on Twitter at : @rchakaki