Integration of youth affected by learning disabilities, Lebanon

Project name: Social and professional integration of youth affected by learning disabilities

Project location: Lebanon

Website: http://www.caritas.org.lb/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaritasLebanon/
 

Project description:

Between 7 to 10 % of children in Lebanon are affected by learning disabilities. Social exclusion of people with disabilities occurs in combination with several forms of discrimination, including gender bias, lack of access to education, and unequal employment opportunities. As a result, income‐generating opportunities become further reduced, leading to chronic poverty, and further exclusion. There are still considerable areas for improvement, notably in terms of opportunities for social and economic reinsertion. Caritas Lebanons’ (CL) team operates 3 centers for the social and professional integration of children and youth suffering from learning disabilities. In these centers, children are given the chance to learn a trade in order to become active citizens. Different workshops are proposed to children, mainly: culinary workshops, gardening workshops, hairdressing workshops, cosmetic workshops, candle production, mosaic, etc.; according to the labor market. After trying the different workshops, they choose a trade and start a more specialized training, before being integrated in the professional world under the supervision of CL’s team. Beneficiaries of the project are deaf or partially deaf youth; youth suffering from mild, moderate, and severe mental retardation; youth suffering from attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

Goal and purpose of the project:

The goal of the project is to promote professional and social integration of children and youth with learning difficulties. As children grow to adulthood, they face difficulties in finding jobs, mainly due to the lack of facilitation and incentives for the recruitment of youth with specific needs. Thus, the main objective for the next period is to promote the recruitment of the trained youth, notably through working on different incentives for employers and facilitation of relationships between youth candidates and employers. This will facilitate youth integration in the labor market and their social inclusion. Hence, they will be able to become active and responsible actors in the society, and to generate income which will increase their self-esteem and autonomy, reduce their vulnerability and reduce their poverty.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

The applicant team works in CL’s “centers for social and professional integration of youth with learning disabilities”. The organization strives for an environmentally sustainable economically inclusive developed world in which all people lead peaceful, just, and dignified lives in harmony and intergenerational solidarity. The team works since many years in Public and Semi-Public schools, in order to ensure better access to education to deprived children and children with learning difficulties (sponsorship programs, school’s restoration and equipment, organization of themed days, awareness sessions for parents and capacity building for teachers, remedial summer classes, paramedical and medical follow up, distribution of hygiene kits and clothes, therapeutic support to children, etc.).

Use of prize money:

The Prize Money will be used for the creation of a website for exchanging job vacancies and applications, the conduction of a study on legislative framework, and the drafting and submission of a law regulating and encouraging youth with learning difficulties.