Youths Play a Big Part in Anera’s Humanitarian Response in Lebanon

The economy in Lebanon has been catastrophically bad since 2019. Unemployment is rife and brain drain a major problem. Now the country is in a full-blown war with Israel, which has displaced almost a quarter of the population. In the midst of it all, Anera – with support from UNICEF and KfW – is training young people in useful job skills, in areas like nursing, cooking, sewing, electrical maintenance, hairdressing and farming.

Anera puts these newly trained youths to work right away using their skills to help their neighbors as they struggle with homelessness. This is a signature of Anera’s humanitarian work in Lebanon: the direct engagement of young people in responding to the needs crises like the current war brings.

In Akkar, our sewing students, and graduates, for instance, have sewn more than 3,000 snug sleeping bags for displaced families. They began the work in advance of the escalation of the war on September 18 in anticipation of the need and our teams got to work distributing them in the south and in Mt. Lebanon right away. And our students continue to make more, as winter comes and over a million people have been displaced.

In this film, you’ll meet students in one of our cooking courses who are finding so much gratification in making hot meals for families living in shelters.

In this film, Anera’s barber students in Lebanon showcase how a simple haircut can mean so much more. Through grooming and self-care, these aspiring barbers offer displaced individuals a sense of normalcy and renewed confidence, even amidst the harsh realities of war.