Beirut, 19 December 2017 (United Nations Information Centre)—For the second year in a row, the United Nations Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC Beirut) has launched its outreach activity on the work and priorities of the UN in Lebanon, entitled “UN Aware” Certificate, in collaboration with UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States, World Youth Alliance-Middle East (WYAME) and the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO (LNCU).
After the success of the first edition in 2017, the initiative is being implemented for the second time, and will include lectures, field activities and fundraising campaigns aimed at educating high school students on the work and priorities of the United Nations. The initiative requires schools and participating students to abide by a set of criteria to receive merit certificates, which will be distributed in a special ceremony to be announced in due time.
In this context, UNIC Beirut Director Margo Helou said that the success of the initiative in the first year was the main motivation behind its launch for the second time, “as we have received a great response from students and school officials.” She explained that in the first year, the initiative involved private schools, while this year it will include public schools. It is expected to include schools from both sectors next year.
For his part, Director of UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States, Hamed Al-Hammami, stressed the UNESCO regional office in Beirut’s commitment to promoting awareness of the values of the United Nations. He commended the project, which is “a great initiative that contributes to raising youth’s awareness of SDGs and to giving students at schools incentives to take action, at their own level, to promote sustainable development”, he said.
WYAME Regional Operations Director, Nicolas Maalouf, said that the UN Aware project was a success in its first year. “The school children we visited with UN representatives learned a lot from what we had to teach them and eventually applied the knowledge that they learned about the SDGs and the importance of Human Dignity into their activities,” he concluded.
LNCU Secretary-General, Zahida Darwiche Jabbour, said for her part that LNCU “is pleased to contribute to raising awareness about the United Nations and SDGs in schools and educational institutions. Education is the key to the world of development.” She also thanked the Ministry of National Education and Higher Education for its support this year to launch the initiative in public schools.
Ten public schools from all the governorates of Lebanon are participating in the initiative: Dr. Hassan Saab Mixed Public High School; Zahia Kaddoura Public High School for Girls; Zahle Public High school; Jawdat Rustom Haidar Public High School for Girls – Baalbek; Al Murabi Fadl Al Moukaddam Public High School for Girls – Tripoli; Zgharta official secondary school; Nabatieh Public High School for Girls; Maghdouche Public High school; Amchit Public High school; and Hussein Massoud Public High School – Bchamoun.