Community engagement is a vital part of many projects, and the benefits are well documented. This engagement moves in parallel with the volunteerism concept and matches highly with its principles.
Unpaid volunteers are often the glue that holds a community together. For individuals, there are benefits like meeting new people, and gaining new experiences, but a key motivation for people to get involved is to make a difference to others and to their local communities. The most important benefit of volunteering is the creation of linkages between people and the places in which they live, helping to build stronger communities.
With most of us leading super busy lives, the idea of volunteering, giving your time and energy to a cause without financial reward, may seem an impossible task. However, the observed situation is completely different and the people’s willingness and enthusiasm to be involved for the community’s interests is clearly noticed. When people see the impact of their interventions, they feel good knowing that they were involved in something that benefits the community.
“Bina III” is a project that was launched by LOST and BFZ in November, 2019. It aims to build the vocational skills of the participants, motivate them, and provide a work-based learning opportunity. These goals are more achievable when the acquired inputs are appropriately used for the interest of the community.
In collaboration with the Eastern Baalbeck Municipal Union, the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) opened on January 2020 a vocational training class within the water and sanitation profession. This class combined the practical and the theoretical parts. Each topic was supported with a set of activities that serve the learning methodology. As a part of the water and sanitation class, the participants and the trainer installed water networks and a PVC system in Tobshar Mosque in the village of Nabi Sheet. This renovation took three weeks. The participants constructed two bathrooms and a place for ablution. They didn’t request any kind of materials and resources, and they benefited from the old training remaining materials available within the Bina School.
