BINA – Pre-vocational Training in Lebanon

bfz offers profiling, pre-vocational training and support for integration into the labour market.

Together with LOST, the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training, bfz uses tools for profiling, vocational orientation, vocational preparation and placement into the labour market. The NGO LOST, founded in 1998, focusses on the development of the underdeveloped communities of the Lebanese Republic in social, political and economic terms. It promotes development and improvement of the municipal infrastructure through a wide range of programmes, and is dedicated to the education and training of young people and the strengthening of women in civil and intellectual matters. LOST has set itself the goal of improving the lives of the local population in social, economic and political terms.

High demand for further training

Lebanon is one of the countries heavily burdened by the high influx of refugees from Syria. This is particularly true because the economic situation has become more difficult due to the conflict-ridden environment. Important sectors of the economy (tourism, trade, agriculture) are facing considerable problems. Many of the almost 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon have no opportunities for further training. Some of them have been living in refugee camps or in the cities there for years. There is a danger that a generation traumatized by the war will emerge, which sees itself without a chance of a normal life, which will remain permanently in poverty and without prospects and can therefore easily become victim of radicalization. Yet it is precisely these people who are needed in Syria after the end of the conflict to help rebuild their country. This is where the BINA project comes in. The aim is to improve the quality of vocational training in Lebanon by introducing vocational preparation and vocational orientation and combining this with support for the transition into the labour market.

Strengthening the local economy

A high placement rate is aimed for in the employment service, attaching particular importance to cooperation with local businesses. Contacts will be systematically cultivated through moderated groups of entrepreneurs. On the one hand this is meant to raise the local businesses‘ awareness for the importance of qualifying future employees, on the other hand, it is supposed to make it easier for trainees to access the labour market.

Participating teenagers and young adults aged between 15 and 35 years will complete six lessons of basic vocational training per week in addition to their schooling, thus improving the situation of refugees in an exemplary manner. Moreover, the skills they learn in the fields of sanitation, electricity/solar, logistics, catering and care for the elderly enable them later to take an active part in the reconstruction process in Syria.

The project is promoted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) via sequa gGmbH.

It runs for three years, from November 2019 until October 2022.

Funding:

Partner:

Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST)