News
Educational Symposium @ ISF
11/01/2020
Imam Sadr Foundation organized a dialogue meeting entitled “Partners in Development and Humanitarian Action” gathering a number of educational and philanthropic organizations and institutes active in the South, to discuss the challenges of the current stage and figure out ways to alleviate the repercussions of the crisis on vulnerable groups. A number of religious authorities, social and media activists also participated in the meeting.
Ms. Rabab Sadr, Chairperson of Imam Sadr Foundation, welcomed the attendees and referred to the motives and objectives of the meeting. Over the course of two hours, a presentation was made of the experiences of Dar Al-Aytam Al-Ismaliah, Cadmous School and Imam Sadr Foundation.
Ms. Salwa Al-Zaatari presented the experience of social welfare institution – Dar Al-Aytam Al-Ismaliah, its goals and policies. She also talked about the funding problems and challenges related to the needs of workers and beneficiaries, as well as the difficulties faced by donors in tranferring their money, the departure of youth from voluntary work, and the decline in state contributions and irregularity.
Father John Younes, the manager of Cadmous School, talked about the importance of feeling a sense of belonging and being close to each other, especially in these difficult days and thinking positively nomatter how difficult the circumstances are. He referred to the experience of Cadmous School, its history, development, and educational tasks now especially in the department of learning difficulties and current challenges due to the weak official support for social care institutions. He also stressed on the spirit of openness and coexistence as a major title for bringing up generations, and presented recommendations from the school’s point of view.
Mr. Nijad Charafeddine presented for Imam Sadr Foundation, and explained the compelling dangers that our country Lebanon is going through, in addition to the structural, cultural and social obstacles that hinder the work of associations and organizations. He also identified key issues and strategies for organizations to intervene, namely population migration, scarcity of employment opportunities, protection of vulnerable people and environmental degradation.
He stated that the organizations used strict austerity measures to face the current stage, while giving preferential attention to critical social cases, and focusing on positive concepts of citizenship, tolerance and social solidarity.
The meeting was introduced by Nour Talib and moderated by Diana Al-Sayah.
After a short break, an extensive discussion took place on the themes of the meeting, and a series of suggestions and recommendations were deliberated.