Life skills support and well-being sessions for vulnerable Syrian refugee women and their children residing in underprivileged suburbs of Beirut through occupational trainings The proposed project seeks to contribute to the reduction and prevention of protection risks with a focus on GBV among vulnerable Syrian refugee women and their children living in underprivileged suburbs of Beirut. In order to ensure a comprehensive approach, this would be achieved through protection activities and socio-economic empowerment enabled by Ninurta’s established and functional Handicraft Workshop and Educational Center in Beirut. Since the beginning of its activity in May 2016, Ninurta’s team has identified several protection concerns among its beneficiaries. Throughout the training sessions and during the recreational and educational activities with children, trainers and staff have indeed observed signs of protection concerns, including exposure to trauma, signs of domestic violence and cases of early exit from childhood for girls (at 12 years old on), which is one of several factors that can lead to early marriage and early labour for boys. Based on its two years field experience and also on the field work done by its president during the first months of 2018, Ninurta considers today that protection starts with the building of the self, for women as well as for children. Furthermore, in order to provide a comprehensive response to protection risks, Ninurta wants to provide both awareness sessions and activities to the women and children and parallel technical trainings and product purchasing to empower the women economically and socially, which in turn would indirectly seek to bring them psychological safety and self-dignity. The technical trainings on inherited know-how bearing a cultural value added to the general behavior at Ninurta based on self-respect and respect of the others, promote the necessary confidence between the beneficiaries and the ONG, a confidence which is the key to any awareness field work.  

As the workshop is seen as a positive space by the women and their children where they feel that they can express themselves and take a break from their difficult living conditions, it can serve as a channel to conduct protection activities, psycho-social in particular, further benefiting its targeted groups. 

Through a 6-monthes intervention, Ninurta proposes conducting GBV awareness sessions to an estimated 80 women (two groups of 40 each for a period of three months), while also continuing the technical trainings to build their skills for potential income generation. The technical trainings would also serve the purpose of providing an incentive to attend the awareness sessions and indirectly empowering the women socio-economically, which in turn is expected to decrease protection risks. Already, since May 2017, Ninurta’s technical trainers and other staff have been attending discussion groups in order to help them to deal positively with our beneficiaries and to identify the women and/or children at risks and refer survivors of GBV to specialized organizations. 

As the women visit the center accompanied by their children, Ninurta proposes for the children as well a sensitization program targeting approximately 60 children (two groups of 30 each for a period of three months) between the ages of 6-11. The program deals with very different topics from gender roles and identity in society to home safety, health information and environment concerns. This is implemented in connection with the recreational and educational activities at the Children’s center which promote (as it is in the workshop) respect of the other and self dignity, peaceful communication, non-violent behavior and hygiene (refer to the PowerPoint to be downloaded on our website : Ninurta-ong.org)