Located in Akkar Lebanon, Bani Sakher, which is on boundary district, has been neglected for years. With a population of approximately 27,000, the community of Wadi Khaled suffers from a lack of development on different levels. The ministry of education runs 17 public schools in Wadi Khaled, including the Bani Sakher public School. This school was encountering severe difficulties in providing its students with the appropriate studying environment as well as the decent national standard of education. The extent of the deprivation reached the extent where three students were forced to share a single chair and desk.

UNDP Live Lebanon’s initiative, thanks to the generous contribution of its Goodwill Ambassador Bouran Hallani, made it possible for every student to have his own chair and desk by providing the school with 60 chairs and 60 desks. The project that was implemented in September 2013, also entailed redesigning and renovating the science laboratory to ensure a modern education in the deprived remote village of Wadi Khaled.

200 students now have access to an appropriate study environment where they can focus on their education and work for a better future.

“Our biggest concern and joy is benefitting the students. This project made us so happy and we hope to work again with Live Lebanon in the near future”

Villages with weak sanitation infrastructures and poor waste management are not appealing to local residents, investors, or tourists. Such areas also tend to have poor living standards.

Living in a clean and healthy environment is a basic human right, that is why a critical intervention was necessary in the villages of Deir Al Ahmar, Btedhi, and Beshwat, where residents faced waste-related problems on a daily basis due to the lack of waste collection vehicles.

The inability to collect garbage had several repercussions that started with contaminating the soil and infecting humans and animals who consumed plants grown in that soil, to the foul toxic odors that invaded the villages.

Live Lebanon’s initiative, thanks to the generous contribution of Goodwill Ambassador Fadi Salameh, intervened in April of 2013, and provided a waste collection vehicle that ensured the cleanliness and sanitation of the villages.

“18,000 residents enjoy a healthier living environment thanks to your contribution. It is a project that our villages needed urgently”.

Physical education should be a part of every school system given the mental and physical benefits associated with sports activities, but unfortunately, with the lack of funds allocated to public schools in Lebanon, most of the institutions do not have well-constructed sports fields and school sports remain an unaffordable luxury. This is the case at the Mansouri Public School in South Lebanon. Students do not get to participate in proper physical education because they lack equipment, material and space.

In April 2013, UNDP Live Lebanon constructed a multifunctional sports field with the generous contribution of Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Mohammad Khashab and the Mansouri municipality.

The field not only benefits the 300 students at the school, but also all the children and young people of the Mansouri village, all year around.

Sustaining their families and gaining financial independence is the ultimate goal of the “Nejmet El-Soboh Women Cooperative”, a female-owned and operated cooperative that processes and packages traditional food products (jams, syrups, dried fruits... etc.) in Mheidthe, Bekaa.

In January 2013, to empower the 22 female members of the “Nejmet El-Soboh Women Cooperative”, the Live Lebanon provided the cooperative with new processing machines and a van to aid in increasing the production, meeting the high demand, and accessing new Lebanese markets.

In addition, through the help of the network of Fair Trade Liban, the cooperative became able to sell its products in foreign countries reaching a wider range of consumers and making higher profit margins.

Through the contribution of UNDP Live Lebanon Goodwill Ambassador Mrs. Bouran Hallani the women at “Nejmet El-Sobh Cooperative” are now able to make their business more efficient, profitable, and sustainable, bringing them closer to their ultimate goal.

“The machines we received helped us with the speed of production and increased our income. We now have more clients thanks to the donation and the car provided.”

“The ceilings were compromised and could fall at any moment. The students had to walk under the rain and get soaked before they get into class. This has all been taken care of now”

Public schools’ core mission is to provide the underprivileged with an equal opportunity at education, but often the poor conditions of the buildings and the inability to perform proper maintenance cost the children health problems and psychological stress.

Students at the Bzebdin public school have always had to endure the effect of the poor condition of their 100-year-old building. The walls were eroding and the wooden roof was at risk of collapsing, and during the winter, rain would seep through the cracks into the classrooms. During the winter, the 150 students had to walk under the rain from the playground to their classrooms since the stairs were outdoors and fully exposed.

The life threatening condition of the building and the health issues that the children suffered from were reasons enough for the Live Lebanon team to jump into action as fast as possible. In January 2014, and with the generosity of Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Elias Saab, the initiative was able to completely change the roof, strengthen the integrity of the walls, and build a solid tent to shelter the children from the rain while going in and out of their classrooms.

The change was real and so were the smiles of the students and teachers alike who endured years of unhealthy conditions for the sake of education. Being a key component of the Live Lebanon initiative, protecting and nurturing the youth of Lebanon will always be given high priority.

In Lebanon, natural clean spring water was commonly found and accessible to everyone in so many villages. This blessing has been lost in Aramta following the pollution of Al-Saha spring which was traditionally the main source of potable water in the village.

In July 2012, Live Lebanon’s intervention was essential in order to save the underprivileged inhabitants of Aramta and make potable water accessible to them once again by installing a fully-functional filtration system for the entire village.

“We are so grateful for the clean drinking water. It has been polluted for so long, but thanks to Live Lebanon, now we have drinking water again in our homes”

Over 5,000 farmers and their families who had to endure the unbearable financial burden of buying bottled water were desperate for a new source of free clean water. Through the implementation of this project, Live Lebanon has helped the village avoid health and environmental problems that were also a direct consequence of the pollution of natural water sources. This project would not have been possible without the generous contribution of Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Mohamad Khashab whose contribution made the lives of the farmers easier through the transparent platform of Live Lebanon.