In collaboration with Terre des Hommes- Italy, Ana Aqra implemented a project that aimed at promoting the access to quality learning pathways to respond to the educational and psychosocial needs of the most vulnerable children among refugee and host communities in Mount Lebanon.

The project main outcomes were:

• Provision of educational preparedness activities (Early Childhood Education) for out-of-school Syrian refugee girls and boys:
  Ana Aqra Association delivered two cycles of Community-Based Early Childhood Education to 320 total out- of- school Syrian beneficiaries (160 per cycle), aged 3-5 years, residing in Barja-Mount-Lebanon.


• Provision of structured, long-term capacity-building for education practitioners:
  Ana Aqra organized and implement a tailored capacity building/training component that targeted 8 ECE teachers


• Awareness-raising activities targeting Syrian and Lebanese caregivers to address the root causes of educational dropout:
  Ana Aqra Association delivered psycho social support sessions to caregivers of 360 learners, targeting both male and female caregivers. The topics varied and covered: barriers to education, child protection risks, hygiene, nutrition, COVID-19 awareness, self-care tips for caregivers.

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.

The Just Right Start project aims to prepare Syrian children and disadvantaged host community boys and girls aged between 4-6 years old to be enrolled and retained in formal schools. Many outcomes are set to reach this main goal. The project aims to:

• Equip learners, who have no access to early childhood preparatory programs, with the needed skills to transition to formal education.


• Increase the retention rate of the learners who transition to public schools through Ana Aqra’s retention support program.


• Empower parents of out of school Syrian and host community girls and boys and build their parenting skills through “I Can Also Teach” and other parental programs.


• Improve teachers’ skills in adopting best practices in differentiated teaching for the provision of safe and enabling learning environments

The project was concluded in December 2020, a total of 2164 unique learners, 1051 unique girls and 1113 unique boys, had access to 8 shortened community based ECE cycles. 7 cycles were implemented in regular classrooms and one cycle was implemented in virtual classrooms through distance learning modality
A total of 790 learners were ready with the needed skills to transition to public schools and transitioned from ECE level 2 and ECE level 3 to preparatory classes in formal schools or to grade 1 in public schools. These learners were also enrolled in Ana Aqra’s retention support program.
More than 80% of parents provided safe and enabling learning environments and improved their parenting skills. 61 teachers received different capacity building workshops and coaching sessions as part of their continuous professional development plan. More than 75% of the teachers improved their skills and adopted more advanced practices in differentiated teaching.