Employment and Peacebuilding - Building Bridges Amongst Youth at Risk in Lebanon

The project will enhance youth engagement through activities that would i) promote social stability and conflict resolution; and ii) improve their employability (skills-training, youth entrepreneurship, and job placement initiatives). Together these two sets of activities will foster positive interactions between Lebanese and Syrian youth and create livelihood opportunities. ILO component on Know About Business (KAB) programme contributes towards the creation of an enterprise culture by introducing and promoting awareness among young people on the opportunities and challenges pertaining to choosing self-employment as a potential career option. The component seeks to enhance social stability by using joint entrepreneurship classrooms to increase mutual trust and understanding among enrolled Syrian and Lebanese youth in addition to proposing a positive alternative to their potential participation in conflict situations or engagement. This course will encourage youth to choose self-employment and will promote joint ventures among Lebanese and Syrians. This approach is to be considered a pilot in the Lebanon context. Given Lebanon’s legal framework, the start-ups will be developed jointly by both Lebanese and Syrians, but will be solely owned by Lebanese. It is hoped that this approach can both empower Syrian youth to pursue similar activities once back in Syria and promote business linkages across borders with Lebanese young entrepreneurs. For Syrian and Lebanese youth who are unemployed and not enrolled in schools, a boot camp will be organised in collaboration with local community-based organisations and will include ILO training programmes such as My First Business (MFB) and a business plan competition to encourage the joint-business ventures. Financial and mentoring support will be provided to winners of the Business Plan Competition to ensure a successful operationalizatin of their start-up phase. The project also foresees the delivery of self-employment sensitization workshops targeting parents of the Syrian and Lebanese youth engaged in the boot camp. The sensitization workshops aim at the creation of an enabling, positive and supportive family environment that would encourage selected Syrian and Lebanese youth to venture into self-employment.

Project symbol

LBN/17/03/UND

Admin unit

RO-Arab States/DWT-Beirut

Start date

01/01/2018

End date

31/07/2019

Total allocation

1500000

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

1415569

Development Partners

Multi Partner Trust Fund Office, UNDP

Country/Countries

Lebanon

Outcomes

Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as generators of employment and promoters of innovation and decent work