3. Justification

Relevance of the action to the priorities of the programme

Identification of perceived needs and constraints

Identification of the needs and constraints

Description of target group(s) Reasons for the selection of the target group(s) and criteria for the selection of the direct beneficiaries

Reasons for the selection of the activities

Relevance of the action to the target group(s)

Relevance of the action to the priorities of the programme

Due to financial constraints facing UNRWA in Lebanon , schooling and extracurricular activities for children and youth have declined in quantity and quality. In the Palestinian context, NGOs play an important role in the absence of involvement by the Lebanese government and the reduced resources of the main service bearer for Palestinians â €“ UNRWA. The development needs of the Palestinian refugee society make the involvement of both local and international NGOs necessary.

The project strengthens NGOs and civil society and participatory development as stated in the aims of the EU co-financing budget line guidelines (1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME AND PRIORITY ISSUES FOR 2004) by introducing efficient and sustainable tools for NGO management and by giving support in service provision for the period of the project. This is also in line with Neighborhood Policy and the Lebanon Strategy of the EU, which defines the primary political concerns for the European Union as involving good governance, democracy, and civil society in development. In addition, the Euro-Med Partnership Country Strategy Paper for Lebanon concludes EC cooperation efforts should concentrate in areas where it has the highest value added in comparison to donor assistance. These areas include human resource development, poverty alleviation through carefully targeted social programs, consolidation of good governance and human rights. This project addresses these priorities by assisting NGOs in investing in their human resources (middle management) in order to sustain effective, efficient services for the long term. Included in this capacity building effort is promotion of good governance practices. These five local partner NGOs implement social programmes that specifically target the most disadvantaged children and youth by providing them with the educational support they need to secure a better future. Furthermore, SCS aims to encourage the use of a child rights based approach in the service provision programmes implemented by the local partners. Some of the local partners have already begun to integrate a child rights component into their policy and activities. SCS will further this effort through workshops and project design support. Thus, the relevance of this proposal is twofold. The capacity building component of the project develops human resources and institutional capacity of local NGOs, and the service provision component promotes poverty alleviation among vulnerable children and youth through educational support.

Identification of perceived needs and constraints

The local NGO community: The situation of Palestinians in Lebanon is often considered to be in a chronic crisis. After 15 years of emergency NGO work during the civil war, postwar efforts during the nineties in Lebanon have fallen short of effectively creating a linkage of relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) activities. However, due to donors shifting priority to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza , and the implications of the Oslo agreement for refugees in Lebanon , the role of NGOs was significantly weakened. In addition, opportunities to mobilize funds for service provision have also declined. Therefore service delivery takes place in a difficult environment. The internal organisation of many NGOs has not yet adapted to the new situation. Also political circumstances, internal and political rivalries, and power struggles contributed to a relative vulnerable and inefficient Palestinian NGO scene. All the same, the need for NGO assistance is greater than ever before and the welfare and development of Palestinians in Lebanon is primarily the responsibility of the international community (especially UNRWA) and the local NGOs. The Lebanese state rejects any role and responsibility. UNRWA resources are in constant decline with respect to per beneficiary allowances. The per person ratio of assistance for Palestinians has declined from $200 to $75. To develop Palestinian society in general and the local NGOs in Lebanon in particular, NGOs must be empowered with effective management capable of meeting the standards of international donors so that they may effectively meet the needs of their beneficiaries. Also, NGOs are based on a hierarchical structure with a lack of delegation, ownership, and democracy within the decision making process. Middle management is often not empowered or simply missing. Transparency is, as a consequence, low. For the considerable size of some NGOs, such structural weaknesses cause serious constraints. Also qualified staff, like university graduates, are often not recruited or appropriately utilized due to financial and organisational constraints. On top of this, political differences, personal reasons and competition for power and funds cause further constraints for good governance and cooperation with other NGOs.

Education among Palestinians: Once the backbone of Palestinian development, education has become one of the main problems for the Palestinian Refugee community in Lebanon . UNRWA is mandated to provide education for all Palestinian refugee children from the age of 6. In Lebanon , most of the Palestinian Refugees go to UNRWA schools (94 percent). Since the access to public schools is basically restricted, the UNRWA programme in Lebanon is the only UNRWA programme in the region offering secondary education. Also, NGOs are the only providers of preschool education. Resources are scarce. Classes are overcrowded with an average of 36 students per classroom (UNRWA 2004, DOPS, MTP, Education, 8) and teachers overwhelmed and not motivated. UNRWA schools operate a shift system that provides classes in the morning and afternoon. The dropout rate is significant. 33 percent of children older then 10 living in gatherings and camps have not completed any education ( Fafo 2003, 110). As the last Fafo report on Lebanese Refugees living in camps and dwellings shows, dropout is often caused by failure in school and lack of motivation (p. 19). There is little contact between the school and the parents, who are not encouraged to be involved in school activities. School is seen as an institution separate from the rest of children's lives.

The Lebanese educational system is currently undergoing a process of reform with the introduction of a wider syllabus and more child centred teaching approaches. Although UNRWA schools follow this reform process, the resource for the implementation and training and materials are not sufficiently available.

Due to the abovementioned needs and constraints, the ongoing provision and improvement of educational programmes run by local NGOs to support children and youth is essential.

Identification of the needs and constraints

1) The five local partners: Through SCS financing previous or current projects by GKCF and CYC and intensive consultation with Nabaa , WHO and NAVTTS, deficiencies in the performance, or absence, of middle management were identified as a constraint. The reporting skills were often not at the level of international standards. Programming and administration tools were often not developed or applied because service provision was deemed more important. Also, donors often did not pay the necessary attention to such deficiencies or did not do necessary follow up. The funding situation for the five NGOs is delicate; to improve the financial opportunities of the organisation, advanced project implementation, administration and PR tools need to be used to involve new donors and reach new funding opportunities. Furthermore, often NGOs did not include the necessary middle management staff in their budgets and work routine. Due to the financial constraints, NGOs emphasized field staff, neglecting administrative staff, causing shortcomings in project planning, monitoring, documentation and evaluation. Therefore local NGOs need to develop their resources and their organisational capacities in order to become more self-sufficient.

2) Beneficiaries of service provision : Deficits in the education sector necessitate a multi-track approach. The performance of UNRWA is poor. Improvement of the educational service by this UN organisation needs to come from within. Still, NGOs can play an important role in complementing UNRWA services, by assisting children and youth to improve their performance through formal and non-formal activities. Also NGOs can offer new approaches to education by way of non-formal activities to motivate the children and youth and their communities. Due to overcrowding, the necessary attention is not paid to the students, and weak children often feel unmotivated. Also, children who have already dropped out are not served by UNRWA, and NGOs need to fill the gap.

The approach of the five NGOs is holistic, and targets the children or youth as members of the society. Children and Youth in Shatila face many social and economic problems. Activities supporting children are very important due to the situation of UNRWA schools. Space is restricted inside and outside the UNRWA schools. The same needs and constraints can be identified in Ein el-Hilweh camp. Support for marginalized children in danger of dropping out of school, and also for children with special needs, is often not adequately received by local institutions. Also due to the specific situation in the camp, children lack space to develop.

After the killing of child inside an UNRWA school in 2004, in Nahr al-Bared, the necessity to involve the community to a greater degree in children and youth activities became even more obvious. The efforts to coordinate among stakeholders of the community within Nahr el-Bared are still restricted. Often, political and power related struggles block a common action and involvement of the community. Also, UNRWA schools cannot achieve their purpose without NGO support. Extracurricular activities, sports, skilled computer tutoring and activities focusing on social skills are generally missing in the second largest Refugee camp in Lebanon . Only lately have socio-psycho interventions been made by an Echo project with Handicapped International / Beit Atfal al- Sumud . Socio-psycho counselling is needed in general and in Nahr el-Bared in particular.

Due to the situation of the job market, and the situation of Palestinians in general, the youth is un-occupied (UNRWA/SDC 2004 “Promoting the Socio-Economic Development of the Palestine Refugees, Discussion Paper� , p.9f). As this recent assessment discovered, unoccupied youth are generally male and female youth (ages ranging roughly from 15-25 years) who have been frustrated in their search for meaningful and productive activities and life opportunities, including but certainly not exclusively paid work. (p.17). Often VT graduates do not find a meaningful occupation or any job at all. These youth must be a part of a discussion with their communities to allow them to exert a positive influence and contribution to their society. Also, youth need educational support to supplement their academic and vocational training. They need to be empowered with life skills, decision making and leadership abilities in order to compete in the labour market. Also, in order to be a positive influence in their communities, youth must be able to express their thoughts freely, learn to accept one another and direct their energy towards constructive actions.

In the urban refugee camp of Bourj el- Barajaneh , which houses around 19,000 registered refugees, seven UNRWA elementary/preparatory schools for 2,897 enrolled pupils in 2001/2002 serve the camp. Unemployment is high and social problem are numerous, including drug abuse and violence. Due to the large classes and poor classroom management, violence in school is common. Also, due to the civil war long-term socio-psycho problems are often found. Community involvement in the matters of children is often low and healthy forms of cooperation and tolerance are often difficult to find. Children and especially girls and young woman are often suffering from these circumstances.

Description of target group(s) (social category and economic situation, age group, gender, etc.); estimated number of direct and indirect beneficiaries

Five Local NGOs and their beneficiaries: The five NGOs are, as medium sized NGOs important members among the Palestinian NGOs community in Lebanon . All are children or youth centred and have a good track record. Geographically the projects involved in this proposal cover four regions: Ein el-Hilweh camp (GKCF, NAVTTS, South), Buss camp (NAVTTS, South), Beirut (CYC, Shatila camp, WHO, Bourj el- Barajaneh camp), and Nahr el-Bared camp ( Nabaa - North). Ein el-Hilweh is the largest camp with a complex security situation, over-crowed housing and poor infrastructure. Beirut with its urban refugee camps faces difficult social conditions as a poor area with marginalized inhabitants. Nahr el-Bared, as the second biggest refugee camp, lacks services and is also overcrowded. GKCF, Nabaa and NAVTTS have activities in different camps, whereas CYC and WHO operate centres only in Beirut (WHO has a centre Community Disability Care Centre in Sour, which is administered independently). All child focused activities target marginalized and socially weak children from the camps. The gender balance is even, although may vary according to activities. The NGOs have declared policies to involve equally both sexes to offer mixed activities, although schools are generally uni -sex. The projects target 1605 beneficiaries in total.

Children and Youth Centre â €“ Shatila (CYC) centre was established in 1997 with contributions mainly from UNICEF and Save the Children Sweden. With a day-to-day programme, the centre supplies children and youth of Shatila Refugee camp with tools, skills, knowledge and awareness to pursue their interests and to build their future. The centre offers educational and recreational activities for children between the ages of 6 and 18. Representatives from the youth are democratically elected once a year to be part of the organizational team at the centre, taking responsibility and an active role in the running of its daily life, as well as the planning of its future. The organisational structure of CYC lacks a middle management and has reached its limit to grow. CYC´s donors are not numerous and new and diversified sources of funding must be located. Also, the reporting and fundraising skills are limited. The target group of the project are marginalized children and youth from the area, some of them identified by UNRWA.

Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation (GKCF) was founded in 1974 two years after the assassination of the author, journalist and Palestinian activist Ghassan Kanafani , and is one of the oldest registered Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon . GKCF has established kindergartens in seven locations, two rehabilitation centres for children with disabilities to develop their educational potential and social skills (est. 1999), and has opened two public libraries and art centres (est. 1996, 2004) that provide art and other creative educational activities. Most of the activities work to integrate children with special needs. In addition, GKCF has published the literary works of Ghassan Kanafani . The centres enjoy often independence, where as the head office in Beirut is understaffed and fundraising and organisational tasks are not efficiently shared.

The target groups of the project are marginalized and children with special needs from Ein el-Hilweh. Some of them are dropout students and others have special needs. An additional group is targeted through the library, as are children and youth from the camp, ranging from children and youth with problems in school to children with no specific profiles.

Nabaa â €“ Developmental action without borders ( Nabaa ) was founded by former local employees of Save the Children â €“ UK . Nabaa was established in July 2001. 2004 NABA´A was officially registered by the Lebanese Government. It has a total of eight centres in four refugee camps ( Rashidiye , Buss, Ein el-Hilweh, and Nahr el-Bared). Nabaa´s head office is in Saida with three employees; the remaining fourteen working in the other centres, all n addition to a network of 35 volunteers that assist in current projects. Nabaa works with children and parents in partnership with the local community, social authorities and volunteers. The NGO pursues a holistic approach to insure children´s right to learning and education.

Each centre has a director which is responsible for the activities and the coordination of the centre. Weekly staff meetings offer secure collective decision taking and flow of information. The executive director has the overall responsibility of the NGO. The staff is gender balanced, with 10 men and 11 women. The skill of the staff is well developed in child-rights aspects. Most of the employees (70%) are living in the camps.

The beneficiaries (children 6 â €“ 18 yrs., plus volunteers from the community) of the service provision are mostly deprived children from the camp with different social backgrounds. Some of the beneficiaries have been identified by the Community Development Project in cooperation with UNRWA schools. The activities will be directed at both sexes, and gender-balanced groups are intended, but due to the uni -sex schools and the social limitation, sometimes specific groups will not be balanced. Overall, gender balance of the beneficiaries will be achieved.

National Association for Vocational Training and Social Services (NAVTSS) was established in 1983 and specializes in vocational training (VT). With centres in seven locations ( Rashidiye , Buss, Ein el-Hilweh, Beirut, Bourj al- Barajaneh , Mar Elias, Nahr el-Bared), NAVTTS recently decided to add non-formal activities to their VT centre´s program in order to offer students and their peers additional activities to encourage and reinforce youth participation in matters of their community and as a more holistic approach to their needs. The NGO is one of two NGOs whose long term VT-course is officially approved by UNRWA and the Lebanese ministry of foreign affaires. Also the NGO is one of the five benefiting institutions of the MEDA programme Improve Employability of Young Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon (Regional Financing Plan 2004 ) to support VT training among Palestinians in Lebanon. Recently the NGOs employed a young university graduate to tackle middle management tasks. The target groups of the project are students and graduates of NAVTSS and their peers in Ein el-Hilweh and Buss camps. Described as un-occupied youth, they come from different backgrounds from the camp with middle or below educational backgrounds.

Women's Humanitarian Organization (WHO) was founded in Bourj el- Barajaneh in February 1993, started activities in September 1993 and registered in October 1996. It provides a range of services to Palestinian women, children and youth focusing on education, raising awareness about social issues and health programmes. Their activities include a nursery, a preschool educational programme for children under 6 years old, an elderly care and rehabilitation programme and a community disability programme for children and their families in Sour. Some of the NGOs activities for elderly take place in Shatila Refugee Camp. WHO is partner of Caritas Lebanon / Austria in their programme for elderly Palestinians, financed by ECHO (Community Health Education, Elderly Home Care and Rehabilitation Programme for Palestinian Refugees). WHO employs 55 staff, over 80 percent of which are women. The director and founder, Olfat Mahmoud , assumes almost all major responsibilities including project design and management and fundraising and strategic planning. Middle management has not yet been introduced. The target groups of the project are 200 marginalized children and students (gender balanced) from Bourj al- Barajaneh , their families and the community. Through previous activities, but also through cooperation with the local UNRWA schools, students will be identified to be targeted by the different activities.

Reasons for the selection of the target group(s) and criteria for the selection of the direct beneficiaries

SCS is a child rights organisation and due to this mandate is primarily interested in supporting NGOs working with these target groups. The five NGOs have a strong interest in child rights and are interested in improving their child rights approach. The five organizations SCS has selected for this project have significant experience with international donors and therefore are familiar with demanding guidelines. The service provision projects all include a holistic approach to child and youth problems that address the community and the environment of the child in their support. With respect to SCS´s work in Lebanon , organisational development is a goal in the long term strategic planning. One of the objectives of SCS´s strategic plan for 2005 â €“ 2007 is to empower organisations on an organisational level. These efforts will complement previous non-organisational capacity building efforts that the CYC, GKCF and (recently) Nabaa have worked on together with SCS, such as children´s participation, democracy awareness, the specific situation for girls, inclusive education, youth-led organisational development, and finance management.

The combination of organisational and non-organizational capacity building with the five local partners will lead to their increased sustainability and quality of service provision, thus enabling the NGOs to better support their beneficiaries. Furthermore, the local partners were selected due to their size, their potentiality to seek funding in the international community, their previous exposure to up-to-date development tools, reputation and relatively low politicization. The direct beneficiary of the capacity building, the middle management, is often a neglected strata of the NGOs. All NGOs have are gender sensitive and have integrated gender equality in their work as an important standard. Also, three of the five partner NGOs are founded or headed by women. These NGOs are staffed by over fifty percent women.

As an important agency, the middle management can assist the senior management to prepare and take decisions. Their empowerment must be accompanied by training and the exposure to necessary tools. Therefore the on-the-job training by SCS with extensive follow-up prepares the benefiting middle management to take over more responsibilities.

The five NGO are as medium sized NGOs important members among the Palestinian NGOs community in Lebanon . The larger local NGOs, General Union of Palestinian Woman , Beit Atfal as- Sumud and Najdeh were assessed as to large to be positively influenced by such a capacity building project.

In addition, most of the NGOs not only their voiced interest, but had already identified the need to develop a middle management structure to stay up-to-date with current donor requirements. NAVTTS has already employed a university graduate to work in a middle management position.

The involvement of the local NGOs in the preparation of the project was considerable and a four month-long consultation process was kicked off in July initiating the project design.

Reasons for the selection of the activities

1) Capacity building: activities are grouped around on-the-job training with extensive follow-up and periodic enlarged workshops to broaden the exposure of beneficiaries beyond capacity building activities to specific topics, but also to expose the project to a greater audience in the NGO community. The widespread (theoretical) workshop approach (without on-the-job training and no follow-up), was not considered, since the efficiency and success of this strategy is often questionable. Also, on-the-job training enables SCS to cater to the individual needs of the NGOs.

As several needs assessment showed (Welfare 2004, World Vision 2004) the local NGOs have identified the need for capacity building activities in general. The proposed set of activities to practice, implement and to exercise administrative procedure, follow the general logic of the project cycle management. The activities touch upon all different periods of project development, implementation etc. The Capacities related to project Implementation (Planning tools, implementation / monitoring tools, Evaluation tools), institutional capacity building including fundraising, and PR Development are important tools to achieve financial sustainability and efficient administration and management procedures.

2) Service provision :

As a child rights organisation, SCS primarily supports NGOs with child-focused mandates. All the activities are with a high degree community involvement dealing with the problem in a holistic approach that includes children with special needs. For the on-the-job training approach the activities are suitable, since they include many activities which can be utilized for training. The different activities of the NGOs also offer the opportunity to exchange experience and knowledge among the NGOs.

The NGOs differ in their approach. SCS feels that Nabaa´s community approach and the complementary work with UNRWA, the inclusive methodology of GKCF and NAVTSS attempt to enlarge their specialized VT programs by targeting un-occupied youth are examples of good practices to other NGOs.

Last but not least, quality service provision is in need of active support by donors since they are currently often hesitant to support such activities. The NGOs in this EU project are offered the possibility to include long-term service provision activities with a significant amount of human resources in order to develop their institutional capacity. The important role of NGOs play in employing Palestinians, who are restricted numerous occupations, should be mentioned as well.

Relevance of the action to the target group(s)

1) Capacity building: NGOs, as important stakeholders and service providers, need to be efficient and sustainable. Better and more efficient management of projects leads to sustainability and good practice of the NGOs, more independence from donors, better internal control and steering and better use of resources. The five NGOs are encouraged in this project to make better use of their existing capacities in the community. The coaching system by SCS also is unique and innovative.

The time frame of three years also allows a continuous re-assessment and adaptation of the training and the projects. The high level of involvement of the NGO also guarantees constant relevance of activities to the NGO.

2) Service provision by NGOs is and will stay, regardless of the political development in Lebanon , essential. Funds for service provision by local NGOs are difficult to obtain. This is due to the funding guidelines of most major donors for projects in the region which focus on capacity building and advocacy and often exclude coverage of running costs or service provision in general. Therefore, covering expenses for service provision is important in order to guarantee sustainability of the NGOs work, while further developing the internal structure of the organisation.

As a project targeting the youth and children sector, the activities of the NGOs have different relevance. Cases of dropout and poor performance in school have become, in recent years, more common and are accordingly addressed in this proposal. The Nabaa project in Nahr el-Bared, that supports weak students, dropout children and their social environment as beneficiaries, targets these marginalized groups more intensely than other NGOs in the North.. The urban refugee camps suffer from social problems, which are in need of NGO intervention to enhance their academic performance. CYC offers in Shatila important services for children and youth in difficult social situations and in danger of dropping out. The same is true for WHO in Bourj el- Barajaneh . GKCF´s project also includes children at risk and children with special needs and offers a safe and supportive environment through daily care in Ein el-Hilweh. NAVTSS activities in Ein el-Hilweh are to support the VT activities by addressing life skills of students of the VT centre and their peers in the camp. These un-occupied youth lack space to develop. NAVTSS´ approach will encourage and reinforce youth participation in matters of their community which is missing in other VT centres.