Country: Lebanon
Institutions: Jusoor
Name of Experience: Refugee Education Program: Generation Hope for Syria
Description
Jusoor is a Syrian expatriate-led international NGO that supports various educational initiatives for Syrians affected by the conflict. In Lebanon specifically, the organization’s “Refugee Education Program: Generation Hope for Syria” enrolls Syrian students in primary and secondary schools throughout the country and provides informal education at centers in Beirut
and Biqa’a Valley.
According with the Program “Jusoor has been working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon since June 2013. Jusoor’s refugee education program in Lebanon seeks to ensure Syrian refugees in Lebanon have a holistic, well rounded primary school education through integration into formal schooling whenever possible, introducing contextual and relevant curricula and teaching methods to deliver informal education, and providing a strong psycho-social support within the framework of community engagement and rehabilitation”.
For more information: Refugee Education Program
Impact
Lunched in June 2013, the program is currently educating more than 1000 Syrian children. The program is led by displaced Syrian university students, with fundraising and other support from Jusoor’s international leadership.
Relevance of the development of initiative in its specific context
Syrian refugees include among them large number of Syrians aged 15-24, whose higher education, professional development, and technical training has been disrupted as a result of the violence and general deterioration at both Syrian’s high schools and its public and private universities. According to the report :” Uncounted and Unacknowledged: Syria’s Refugee University Students and Academic in Jordan,” higher education was a critical engine of development and social mobility in pre-conflict Syria.
Sustainability
The team is composed of two parts: employees who are employed by Jusoor, while others work as volunteers. The volunteer students have a desire to both continue their education and help their fellow Syrians.
Transferability
The major difference of this initiative is that part of the working team is composed of Syrian students, i.e. the refugees themselves. Therefore, possible to replicate this idea in the partner institutions which will be very helpful in gaining sustainability.
Innovative character
This program, notable of both its efficacy and it ripple effects, represents an important example for the benefits that flow from connecting highly-motivated Syrian university students to opportunities to serve and work within their own communities.