LEBANON: AMBASSADOR'S FUND FOR REFUGGES NOMINATION

1. Post recommends using the PRM's Ambassador's Fund for
Refugees to fund a summer program for refugees and local
children living in Lebanon sponsored by the Caritas Lebanon
Migrant Center (Caritas). The estimated total cost of the
summer program is $20,000 and would provide positive
experience of diversity, emotional healing, and develop
attitudes and skills that foster tolerance and
reconciliation.

Project Proposal


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2. This summer program will take place near the mountains of
Fariaya and will host 70 children between the ages of 6 and
14 including Palestinian, Iraqi, and Sudanese refugee
children and some local Lebanese children as well. It will
be implemented over three weeks in late July/early August
2008, with age-appropriate educational and recreational
activities. The program will be designed to provide
positive experiences of diversity, emotional healing, and
develop attitudes and skills that foster tolerance and
reconciliation.



3. Although Caritas has organized similar summer programs in
the past, the Summer 2008 program will have a greater focus
on Iraqi refugees and peace building. Rising food costs and
general political uncertainty in Lebanon have created tension
between the local Lebanese population and newly-arrived
refugees, who are seen as a strain on an already fragile
society. The inclusion of local Lebanese
residents is integral to help with reconciliation between the
refugees and their Lebanese neighbors.



4. The 70 children, who will take part in the summer camp,
will be recruited through networks that serve these
populations, including UNHCR and Caritas social workers. The
targeted mix of children will be: 12 children between 6 and 8
years of age in 2 groups; 21 children between 8 and 10 years
of age in 3 groups; 21 children between 10 and 12 years of
age in 3 groups; and 16 children between 12 and 14 years of
age in 2 groups.



5. There will be an emphasis to recruit children from
economically disadvantaged families and who otherwise do not
have access to summer recreational activities. While
religion will not be a criterion for selection, the final
selection will ensure that the group includes a mix of
Shiite, Sunni, and Christian children.



6. Young adults will provide supervision to each group of
children, including one supervisor monitor and one assistant
monitor per group. These monitors have been trained to care
for children during summer programs. In those trainings, the
young adult monitors learned to develop activities, games and
songs adapted to the appropriate age and development stages
of the children to best assist them in acquiring the desired
skills and attitudes.



7. The children will be assigned to different groups of mixed
nationalities and will spend the full three weeks together.
All of the groups will eat in the same dining room, but each
camp group will eat at its own table. The three-week program
will include activities by group and also events in which all
of the children participate.



8. The program will include cultural activities that
celebrate the richness of the different national groups
attending the camp and benefit of bringing this diversity
together. These cultural events will include demonstrations
of the traditions and songs from each country. In addition,
there will be six field trips away from the camp to permit
the children to discover new regions of Lebanon.



9. The Caritas Migrants Center Coordinator and the group
supervisors will monitor the summer camp during the three
weeks. All team members who will be in direct contact with
the children will sign a code of conduct, and be given clear
instructions to be followed in their work. The group of
supervisors will meet every night to discuss whether and how
the children are developing a sense of community in the
groups. Monitors will observe the interactions among all of
the children, especially those of different
nationalities. In the nightly meetings, they will also raise
problems encountered and help one another to solve them with
ideas about resolving conflicts and about activities that can
aid group and individual development. The nightly meeting's
highlights will be recorded and preserved as "best practices."



10. At the conclusion of the camp, the children will be asked
to write a short letter about their experience. The
compilation of these letters will be used to evaluate the
impact of the camp on the children. The supervisor monitors
will also write evaluations of the camp and their experience,
with particular attention to whether or not the camp achieved
its stated objectives.

COST


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11. Caritas estimates the total cost of the program at
$20,000. Post, which has partnered with Caritas on other
programs, has the authority and capacity to award a grant to
the intended recipient agency prior to the end of the fiscal
year.

The following is the budget breakdown:

Personnel 2,000
Accommodation 3,500
Utilities 1,500
Food 9,000
Activities Material 1,500
Traveling/Transportation 1,000
Insurance and Medical Care 1,500
TOTAL 20,000

Personnel include two cooks, a kitchen assistant, and four
cleaning and maintenance personnel. It also includes stipends
for a nurse and a camp assistant. The monitors are volunteers
and the project management is provided by Caritas.

Accommodation includes rental cost for the camp facility,
including repairs made as an in-kind contribution in place of
rent.

Utilities include fuel oil for the generator and other
utilities at the camp facility.

Food includes food for the children participants and monitors
and other camp staff for the 21 days.

Activity Materials includes all materials required for the
programmed activities.

Traveling/Transportation cover the costs of field trips in
the course of the summer camp.

Insurance and medical care provides for medical insurance for
the camp participants and basic first-aid materials. A
qualified nurse will be at the camp to ensure proper care of
any injuries or illnesses that might occur.

Comment


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12. Embassy Beirut chose this project because it meets
important objectives not being currently met by UNHCR or
other organizations, namely: repairing some of the
psychological trauma that many refugee children have suffered
since their displacement and helping ameliorate tension that
exists between local citizens and refugee populations. We
are confident that with Caritas, with which we have
successfully partnered on many other projects, will work
seriously to achieve the program objectives. End comment.

SISON