AMURT has been active in Lebanon since the start of the Syrian crises in 2012. In the early days the focus was on essential needs distribution such as food, bedding and heating with cash and in-kind contributions from various embassies and the United Nations.

Since 2013 AMURT entered the education field with grant from the German charity Kindernothilfe and started to provide support to refugee children to integrate in to the public Lebanese school system. The schools themselves were also given support to accommodate the increase of students.

As the number of refugees increased in 2014 this work was expanded to offer Child Friendly Spaces for the refugee children that had been out of school and traumatized by war, displacement and domestic abuse. The activities are designed to assist healing, re-socialization and discovery of the joy of learning.

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In 2015 the work was further expanded by a two year grant from the federal government of Germany to offer more preparatory education services and expand the public school support under the theme of social stability.

As of January 2016 AMURT runs the following services in in 39 mountain villages of the Chouf District of the Mount Lebanon region with a staff of 63 and 31 sub-contracted drivers.

1. Pathway to Education
   125 children at a time are enrolled in 3 months of Child Friendly Space.
2. Basic Literacy & Numeracy
   60 children are exposed to the very foundation of learning for six month so that they can move on to formal education programs.
3. Kindergarten and grade 1
   150 children attend a full scholastic year for their grade in the Community Learning Program and get public recognized certificates.
4. Back to School
   1,200 children are supported to go to public school with transportation and psycho-social support. 15 public school receive donations of equipment and facility repairs to better accommodate the influx of refugees. Teachers of these public schools are offered workshops to better cope with the challenges of working with refugees.
5. Outreach
   AMURT’s community outreach and protection teams supports 1,500 refugee families with information, referrals and social help to better navigate their difficult situation.
6. Women’s Programs
   Besides support in support for domestic issues and gender based based violence, refugee women are offered the opportunity to join vocational training groups coupled with awareness session.

See more images from the projects:

Lebanon CPE photos Dec 31 2015

Lebanon BMZ photos dec 31 2015

Visit www.amurt.net for more detailed information.