| Country: |
Lebanon |
|
Organization: |
Dar Al Amal
/ The House of Hope
|
| Address: |
P.O Box: 55329
Beirut, Lebanon |
| Tel: |
(961-1) 483 508 / (961-1) 241 164 |
| Fax: |
(961-1) 483 508 |
| E-mail: |
daralamal@lynx.net.lb |
| Coverage: |
National organization operating in: Bourj Hammoud, Sin El Fil and Baabda Prison. |
| Objectives: |
1. To safeguard the rights of women and children;
2. To welcome women and girls who are in situation of prostitution and/or in conflict with the law, in order to offer them support and provide them with opportunities for skills development;
3. To ensure the necessary conditions for them to re-establish their dignity and recapture the meaning of their lives;
4. To receive the children, who live in difficult social and familial conditions, in order to support their struggle against delinquency and help them in constructing their life project.
|
| Approach: |
Training; advocacy; raising awareness; development programs. |
| Intervention Sectors: |
Education: Literacy and vocational programs, ICT literacy, special education for school drop-outs.
Employment: Income generating projects, equal opportunities, employability strategy.
Health: Family planning; nutrition education, sexual and reproductive health, HIV-AIDS, anti-tobacco.
Social Integration: Special programs and services, participation and rights of vulnerable young women, juvenile delinquency, integration opportunities, employment opportunities for vulnerable young women.
Young women rights: Equal opportunities, gender based violence.
Capacity Building; Environment.
|
| Leadership: |
Percentage of young women’s membership: 42%, as staff members.
Young women’s participation at decision-making levels
As board members --> None
As committee members-->None
As partners in program planning and decision-making-->None
As participants and volunteers-->None
|
| Networking: |
Partners at the national level: Scouts; Rotaries; and YWCA.
Member of a regional platform: Arab NGO Network (Al Shabaka) |
| Guidelines/ Participation: |
Existing policies and guidelines to ensure young women’s participation:
1. Encouragement and support;
2. Training opportunities;
3. Creating an enabling environment. |
| Project: |
Al Safa Day Center: A Specialized Prevention Center |
| Objectives: |
To enable young women and girls at risk to develop their potential, consolidate their identity, realize a life project, and act for change in their environment. |
| Brief: |
The center addresses the needs of girls, aged 12-18, in difficulty of adaptation, weakened by their family and social conditions. It welcomes per year an average of 75 girls who are potential but not actual delinquent. They suffer not only from poverty, but also from lack of awareness, illiteracy, unemployment, drug risk, health and psychological problems.
The center provides them with safe constructive educational and recreational activities, in addition to medical and psychological counseling. |
| Duration: |
Since 1987 |
| Location: |
Al Nabaa Bourj Hammoud. |
| Challenges: |
Lack of funding and human resources, hence the inability to ensure all needed follow-up, especially at the family level. |
| Results: |
Through group activities they learn how to interact with each other, gain self-confidence and feel part of a community. |
| Project 2: |
Rehabilitation and Social Re-Integration Day Center. |
| Objectives: |
1. To welcome girls and women in situation of prostitution and exploitation, and ensure their social rehabilitation through reinsertion programs;
2. To empower them to regain their dignity, develop their potential and discover better alternatives to life. |
| Brief: |
Dar Al Amal is the only institution in Lebanon to welcome and work with women and girls in situation of prostitution and exploitation. The center provides them with support, medical and psychological care, vocational training, and opportunities for social development. |
| Duration: |
Since 1970. |
| Location: |
In Beirut: Horsh Tabet Sin El-Fil. |
| Target Group: |
Women and girls who want to abandon prostitution. They are victims of violence, maltreatment and abuse. A third of them are minors and some are even under 14. |
| Challenges: |
The center is too small to help all women and girls who want to abandon prostitution. Due to financial constraints, Dar Al Amal is unable to provide a night shelter. This keeps them at risk of going back to the street and under the threat of their “ pimps ”. |
| Results: |
Success stories of women and young women who gradually learned to earn a living through productive projects and became strong enough to abandon prostitution. |
