Long life school – Expansion of the Early childhood centre at Mar Elias Palestinian camp

Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp is the smallest in Lebanon. Established in 1952 in a South-Western area in Beirut, the camp hosts today around 1,400 Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) runs a school inside the camp.

Due to overcrowding, there are no public spaces in Mar Elias camp, that children could benefit from, to carry out recreational or integration activities. The only accessible spaces are those provided by the few structures of support for children, among which the Early childhood center, run by Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation. In this context, the project intends to strengthen the socio-educational services in favor of the Palestinian children, expanding Mar Elias center, by constructing and equipping a second floor, which will host a storage room, a terrace and a multipurpose room, where children can perform artistic, physical, educational and cultural activities.

Thanks to the expansion of the building’s spaces, the Center will have the capacity to host a numerous number of enrolled children and have them carry out – in any weather conditions and in large numbers simultaneously – physical, educational and social activities, important for the wellbeing and development of the child’s cognitive, affective, relational and social potential.
Improving the quantity and quality of the socio-educational services for the children in Mar Elias, means, furthermore, to increase the opportunities of education in a perspective of integration and facilitation of employment in the future, in such a way as to contribute towards allowing those children to lead a dignified life.

Summary data

Implementing agency: Cooperazione nei Territori del Mondo – CTM 

Local partner: Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation – GKCF

Area of Intervention: Lebanon – Beirut

Beneficiaries: 76 children; 7 educators and staff at GKFC; 380 parents and other children family members

Duration: 12 months – beginning : January 2015

Budget: Euro 54, 817 17, of which Euro 46, 417 17 : co-funding by Waldensian board (Tavola Valdese) / Funds 8 x 1000 2014