Lebanon

Second Summer School on Conflict Prevention and Transformation
Filippo Busconi, Italian IUNV Intern

Lebanon has suffered from a long and rough war, which has left its mark both on the country’s economy and infrastructure. This blood-spattered war, which included inter-religious, regional and even international conflicts, has as well left a huge devastating mark on the social and psychological fabric of the society, which deems the post war reconciliation initiatives as particularly urgent. 15 years after the end of the war, the Lebanese society still suffers from injuries pertaining to the time of war. As a form of political creed, and as individuals still affiliate their identity with that of their religious background, sectarianism keeps Lebanon from building a healthy political system where individuals would be respected upon their individual merits not according to their political or religious affiliations, thus threatening, if not handled properly, of repeating the same mistakes. Nevertheless, Lebanon has shown, in the past years, signs of recovery as the civil society has been more active in tangling and handling these urgent issues and has been able to mobilize the Lebanese towards building a sustainable peace.

Why the Summer School?
The Summer School on Conflict Prevention and Transformation was initiated by the UN in August 2004. The idea was to bring together Lebanese nationals from different backgrounds in order to train them on subjects of conflict prevention, transformation, and non-violent communication in a suitable environment where they can share their experiences, and study the war objectively with the help of specialists from all over the world.

It is this ability to handle the issues at hand from different perspectives and points of views that renders the Summer School efficient in creating a unified team of youth that are able to break their sectarian divides by giving them the proper tools.

The Summer School is particularly important as it provides a forum for the interaction and collaborations of many institutions and individuals that renders it a real teamwork.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO) with the collaboration of the Lebanese American University (LAU) started this program in 2004. Two Italian United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Francesca Giovannini and Stefano Recchia took the responsibility of developing the project of the Summer School and were followed by Filippo Busconi, another Italian UNV, who continued their work and was able to organize the second session of the Summer School. The UNRCO was able to involve educational institutes that added credibility to the program and gave it its academic dimension. On the other hand, the involvement of the civil society was very strong, as NGO’s like the Forum for Development Culture and Dialogue (FDCD) and the Mennonite Central Committee in Lebanon took part in developing and initiating this program. Furthermore, the Summer School had many contributions from different financial institutions like Banca di Roma, and Fransabank that sponsored part of the program. The Swiss Embassy also supported this work, which made the Summer School by itself a meeting point for many institutions from different fields.

The United Nations recognize that education acts as an important agent for inter-communal reconciliation in Lebanon, as well as for social development and sustainable growth. Thus, it is particularly important for the UNRCO, and following the objectives of the UN charter and the millennium declaration, to develop such programs in collaboration with the Lebanese civil society. Only by intervening now through educational programs we can prevent future conflicts from occurring.

Program, Speakers and Tools:
Experiential learning and interactive teaching were an essential part of the School’s methodology. The participants had an essential part in the learning process. The trainers used lots of case studies, role-plays and other interactive methods that made the work more fun. The program was designed to enable students to attain skills in conflict prevention, resolution and transformation; on the other hand, the trainers elaborated more upon the political economy of violent conflicts, for without understanding the roots of violent conflicts the participants cannot understand the way to prevent them. Mr. Omar Razaz, Country Manager of the World Bank, explained through his experience in the World Bank the socio-economic and political reasons of violent conflict. On the other hand, Mr. Andrea De Guttry, Associate Professor of International Law from “Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa”, explained the legal framework of peacekeeping missions following the visit of the students to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters and the blue line in Southern Lebanon. The interactive methods were excellent in bringing the best off the students and Jasmine Kaidbey, a participant, said: “It feels like I am in a room full of a every single identity you could find in Lebanon”. This diversified group had its own impact on the learning process, therefore, the participants learned from each other as much as they learned from the school. The participant Samer Ghalayini said: “The subjects weren’t new to us, yet what’s new was the way of approaching the issue!” This interactive approach that handled the issues of conflict in a very dynamic and objective way insured the success of the program which was covered by the media for the whole two weeks of the program.

Some of the testimonies:
“It was a fascinating experience, the participants were great and I think I have learned a lot from them” Khaled Sabeh - participant

“For me, it was really a great experience; it helped me to better understand the Lebanese Culture and to appreciate the diversity of this country. I believe this country is a live demonstration that religions can co-exist together peacefully” Filippo Busconi-UNV

“It was very a nice experience; I had practical and theoretical knowledge. Most of all I met wonderful people coming from different backgrounds, and had the chance to practice my skills with them” Fadi Syriani - participant

“I feel we have a very big responsibility to carry on after this Summer School, which is to continue working together as participants and to spread the skills we attained during this course to as many people as we can” David Sacca - participant