IREX IN LEBANON

HIGHLIGHTS: YOUTH IN ACTION
Eliminating Stereotypes in Deeply Divided Communities:
Beeatoona’s Green Lebanon with Peace Project
In the city of Aley in the historical region of South Mount Lebanon, youth from the local
Druze, Christian, Sunni, and Shiite communities have not interacted with one another since
the Lebanese Civil War. A young Lebanese NGO Beeatoona – dedicated to raising awareness
of Lebanon’s environmental problems – for the first time, brought these divided youth
together to rebuild an area of their city damaged by repeated forest fires.
Since 2008, Beeatoona has been leading environmental initiatives throughout Lebanon,
specifically targeting youth to improve their community’s environmental conditions. The
Youth Community Empowerment Program provided the organization with the chance to
address two of Lebanon’s pressing issues at the same time: the country’s deteriorating environmental
situation and communities torn apart by religious and political divides.
Through their Green Peace with Lebanon project, Beeatoona staff brought together 200
students from four different religiously-affiliated schools. After training the teachers from
the participating Druze, Christian, Shia, and Sunni schools on enviromental preservation,
the NGO organized a reforestation event on Earth Day 2009 with the help of Miss Lebanon
2008 Rosarita Tawil. At first, getting the youth to work together proved challenging. As a
Beeatoona staff member remarked, “Students are really impacted by what they hear from
their parents…before the event, we asked students what they thought of the other…many
had no interaction with their peers from other backgrounds.” Despite such difficulties, Beeatoona
along with its volunteers succeeded in getting the youth to move past the stereotypes
they held and work together for a common cause - to beautify their city.
Although at first, the youth were forced to interact with each other, the interaction eventually
led to the foundation of friendships. After the Earth Day 2009 event and conflict mitigation
training, the youth began playing sports together after school. In fact, the principal of the
Druze school requested Beeatoona’s assistance in organizing soccer tournaments for youth
from the four schools during the summer. Green Lebanon with Peace Project Manager Nadine
Haddad remarked, “These students feel proud that they worked with others and were
able to help their communities in some way. Most importantly, however, the students are
now influencing their communities, telling the parents that youth from other backgrounds
are not so bad after all.”
“These students
feel proud that they
worked with others
and were able to
help their
communities in
some way. Most
importantly,
however, the
students are now
influencing their
communities,
telling the parents
that youth from
other backgrounds
are not so bad after
all.”
Project Manager,
Green Lebanon
with Peace
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