This project addressed the psychosocial needs of 600 children and families attending three semi-private schools in Beirut that were affected by the explosion. Educational psychologists provided a long-term intervention response to families and teachers through regular school visits and remote interventions. The interventions aimed at supporting caregivers and children in coping with post-traumatic stress disorders by helping them regulate their physiological, emotional, and behavioral reactions. Learners with special needs were also referred to specialized services. Teachers and frontline personnel, who are constantly dealing with various types of vulnerabilities during Lebanon’s period of stress and uncertainty were given well-being and self-care training. Catch-up programs were also provided to learners enrolled in semi-private schools by their teachers in order to close pre-existing gaps resulting from school interruptions.

Ana Aqra Association is implementing the “I Can Always Learn” project as a response to the exacerbating disruptions in education caused by the spread of COVID-19 and the adverse consequences of Lebanon’s economic situation. The project aims to use remote learning to ensure the continuity of essential education services. “I Can Always Learn” provides access to remote early childhood education to more than 800 out-of-school Syrian refugee and host community girls and boys (ages 4-6) in order to increase school preparedness and future retention in public schools. 100 Syrian refugee and host community girls and boys (ages 6-8) in schools have access to a remote retention support program as well. This program seeks to close pre-existing gaps caused by school interruptions while also preserving the continuity of learning and retention in public schools. The project also aims to engage community stakeholders, particularly parents and caregivers, to support the active learning environment by building their capacities to learn skills from an early literacy program called “I Can Also Teach”. Through training and coaching sessions, the project aims to build teachers’ capacities in adopting best practices in teaching during the distance learning modality.

Between October and mid-December 2021, the #QITABI2 program distributed 2,550 Arabic classroom library sets to support grades 5 and 6 learners in all primary public schools in #Lebanon. The Arabic classroom library sets consist of levelled and read aloud books carefully selected, in consultation with #MEHE and #CRDP, to suit the literacy needs of learners per grade level. This distribution complements a previous provision of Arabic classroom libraries made under QITABI (2014-2019) to grades 1 to 4 in all primary public schools.

“My Best Start” project aims at increasing access of vulnerable Lebanese and refugee children to Early Childhood Education and assisting their parents and teachers in the successful use of digital platforms and online education tools. Ana Aqra Association experts mapped the most essential learning outcomes for KG1-KG3, focusing on literacy in all three languages, and designed child-centered units of studies for digitization by the technical experts of Lebanese Alternative Learning. With the support of Their World and Al Fanar, Ana Aqra and LAL combined their respective expertise to ensure access to quality teaching and learning materials for ECE, by producing 100 digitized unit lessons, with tips for teachers and parents.

In response to Beirut Blast, the CHILD project was implemented in 2021 in collaboration with Caritas Switzerland (CACH) and Caritas Austria (CAUT) in partnership with Caritas Lebanon (CL) and Seenaryo. The project had two goals: delivery of quality education and child protection. Quality education activities proposed included delivery of a remote regulated non-formal early childhood education program for 500 Syrian refugee children and a homework support program for 700 Lebanese learners enrolled in seven public schools. Both programs included the the delivery of the Quality Teaching and Learning (QTL) approach, developed by AAA and supported by CACH, as well as the promotion of secure, safe, and participatory school environments. To help with the recovery of education delivery following the blast, further enhance recovery of education delivery after the blast, the project provided training and ongoing coaching to 40 teachers, as well as integrated psychosocial support (PSS) curricula targeting children and their caregivers. In addition, teachers were given a self-care package and all seven schools were equipped with materials supporting education delivery (technological devices, stationary/ home-schooling kits) for 700 learners.