Educating for a Just and Sustainable World

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Our Work with Palestinians

What we do

Our Work with Palestinians

Since 2017, CGE has managed education programmes for Palestinian and Syrian children living in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.  The projects have been funded by Irish trade union partners and delivered in seven of the twelve UN-run Palestinian camps in Lebanon: Burj Barajneh and Mar Elias camps in Beirut; El-Buss and Rashidieh camps in Tyre; Ein-El Hilweh camp in Saida; and Nahr El-Bared and Beddawi camps in Tripoli.  CGE’s project partner in Lebanon is the Women’s Programs Association (WPA), a non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 2008 and operating in seven Palestinian camps in Lebanon.  The projects delivered with the WPA have the following aims:

  • To provide Palestinian and Syrian children who have either dropped out of school, or at risking of dropping out, with formal education classed in a community setting to support their reintegration into the education system or transition to vocational training.
  • To deliver classes in Arabic, English, Maths and Science, the core subjects in the school’s curriculum in Lebanon.
  • To provide the children with psychosocial support through the support of a social workers who provides group and one-to-one counselling, stress management and, where necessary, referrals for further support to address behavioural and mental health problems.  
  • To provide psychosocial classes to the parents of the children to support them in extending mental healthcare to the home.
  • To enable the children to develop higher levels of aptitude in talking, listening and   discussion and life skills which are key areas of education of the school curriculum. 
  • To provide structured play activities that support team work and skills in extra-curricular areas such as arts and crafts, song and dance, and role play.
  • To provide life skills such as critical thinking skills, creative thinking, and vocational skills such as hairdressing and digital skills to strengthen the children’s prospects for employment after school.
  • To deliver classes with skilled facilitators who can support inclusive, participative and structured learning.
  • To provide the children with field trips where they can build their team working skills and escape the pressure of life in the camps.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been subjected to a severe economic crisis that has seen the depreciation of its currency and a sharp increase in the cost of everyday essentials.  This has increased the poverty experienced by Palestinians in Lebanon who were already living on the margins of society.  Palestinians have also been impacted by Israel’s war on Lebanon.  The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which started on 8 October 2023, sharply escalated in late September 2024, when Israel launched one of the most intense aerial bombardments in recent history as well as a ground offensive in the south of the country.  Around one million people or one-fifth of the population has been displaced, 3,400 have been killed and 10,300 injured.  Scores of villages in southern Lebanon have been levelled by Israeli forces and 133,800 people are displaced across 634 collective shelters.  Many of these emergency shelters are schools which is denying many young people an education.  CGE is currently delivering education classes to displaced Palestinian children living in Nahr El-Bared and Beddawi camps in northern Lebanon.