Building Bridges Through Education
Syrian and Lebanese students need your help
41’940 € Raised!
Our Objective: 50’000 €
For over a decade, Relief & Reconciliation (R&R) has been working at the intersection of peacebuilding and humanitarian aid, offering hope to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon. Our mission remains steadfast: to provide continuous education as a means of fostering social cohesion and empowering the next generation.
The school year 2024/25 has started in harsher conditions than ever. The bombing of Lebanon by Israel, following the attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah on 7 October 2023, has not spared our region, even though no attacks have been launched from here. Our Peace Centre and most public schools were sheltering internally displaced persons from the South of Lebanon. Several shelters were bombed.
As a consequence, the school year 2024/25 started with huge delays: regular morning shifts in public schools were launched in November and the supplementary afternoon shifts for Syrian refugee children only in January. Despite all these challenges, classes in the 3 permanent educational centres of R&R were running from day one of the school year. We didn’t wait for the afternoon shifts to start.
Our continuous educational work, uninterrupted for more than 11 years, is only funded by your donations. Please read more below about our plans and needs!
Your support has made a huge difference
The results from our last evaluation and assessment survey were overwhelming. Even though Akkar remains the poorest region of Lebanon, it has one of the highest school enrolment rates for Syrian refugees. According to UN data from all Lebanon, 57% of Syrian children aged 6-11 were enrolled in primary schools. In Akkar, however, the percentage rises to 64%. The percentage is even higher amongst Syrian children in the areas R&R is working in where 84% of the respondents to our representative survey, aged 6-11, were enrolled in primary school.
In the last school year 2023/24, we also had a positive impact on the success rate of the 503 students who attended daily R&R classes. Among those who attended formal education (either public or private school), R&R students had the highest success rate, with 85% successfully passing the school year (of which 50.7% were boys and 49.3% girls). Students attending educational support classes with other NGOs in the area of our work, funded by UNICEF or other public grants, had a success rate of 78%. Some students came to both R&R and to other NGOs: their success rate was 84%. Those who didn’t attend any support classes, neither from R&R nor from other NGOs, had the lowest success rate at only 72%.
Today, the needs are bigger than ever
We are humbly asking to continue your support for the sake of Syrian and Lebanese children in Akkar, the poorest region of Lebanon. Our classes are up and running. We need to raise at least 50,000 € to cover the costs of the school year 2024/25. Your support will allow more than 500 children to receive daily education, either as basic literacy and numeracy classes (BLN) for those not enrolled in school, or as school support classes for those enrolled or as vocational and technical education (VTE) for those beyond the age range for school enrolment.
But education is not just about individual learning, it is a tool for peace. By bringing together Syrian and Lebanese youth in shared learning spaces, we foster dialogue and understanding. Our work engages parents, teachers, and civil society actors to create a truly inclusive environment where young people can thrive. Our regional Steering Committee, composed by moral authorities of both Christian and Muslim communities, oversees the choice of our centres. And at each of our 3 permanent learning centres, we elect every year a Parents’ Committee that is deciding about the classes to be offered, within the limits of our projected budget. Also our youth leaders are now electing a Leadership Committee for each location.
All this would be impossible without your help. We are deliberately relying on your donations, instead of big governmental grants for a huge project that only lasts a year. Your support helps us to remain independent and sustainable. Without the continuous support of our donors from around the world, we would not have brought more than a dozen of Syrian refugee children into Lebanese universities. Education is a marathon, not a sprint. We plead with you to renew your support and forward this call to your family and friends. 10 € are enough to keep one child in school for a month.
Please share the word and support our work with a donation, either a small amount every month or a bigger aid package once in a while!
Click here for our bank details and further instructions!
Thank you for keeping these kids in school!
Clicking on the icons below, you can download the our educational needs assessment and the detailed call for educational funding in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon for the school year 2024/25:
