Hear Us Now! Youth Voices promote transparency and accountability in North Bekaa
ARK is proud to be working with numerous Lebanese civil society partners to promote transparency and accountability on behalf of US-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the US Department of State. We recently worked with Peace of Art in North Bekaa to deliver research informed advocacy campaigns designed to tackle barriers to freedom of speech in the community.
The North Bekaa area has been impacted by sectarianism and conflict. Peace of Art had observed that young people often suppress their own opinions around their families and communities but were freer to express differing opinions when attending Peace of Art activities. They wanted to understand why and how they could help young people to be more confident expressing their ideas and to overcome cultural barriers to freedom of speech. ARK supported Peace of Art to design research to understand local youth concerns and the barriers young people face when speaking out about political and social issues. Based on the findings of their research, Peace of Art were able to design and deliver on and offline advocacy campaigns. They held citizen engagement events, webinars, and projected infographics in public spaces to encourage the community to engage with their research and to challenge community leaders to involve youth voices in decision making. Their online campaigns reached over 100,000 people in Lebanon on Facebook alone, directly engaging a range of community stakeholders from activists and teachers to local NGOs.
The campaigns have been catalytic, with networks created through the advocacy campaign already forming new local groups who have started implementing activities for young people. Since the campaign launch, Peace of Art have received calls for further activities from community members and are now planning follow up initiatives with likeminded organisations in the North Bekaa area.
There is a desperate need for civil society to be empowered to provide young people with a safe space to call for greater transparency and accountability from their elected representatives in the North Bekaa area. Partners like Peace of Art are essential for facilitating this.
“I feel safe talking about my thoughts and beliefs at [Peace of Art], because no one judges me”
This grant was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State.