The Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST) conducted the second day of its Peace Building Strategies in Baalbeck-Hermel Forum on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 in Baalbeck in partnership with Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, zivik, and in the presence of international participants, national figures, local stakeholders, and social activists. The day was concluded with round tables around which drafting a strategy for building peace in Baalbeck-Hermel region took place.
The first session was dedicated to discuss the role of the local community in conflict resolution. LOST’s founder, Dr. Ramy Lakkis, stressed the crucial importance of service providing in settling peace. “Responding to people’s needs is the key to unlock the door to peace building,” he said. Two religious figures of the region gave speeches in which they underscored the positive role religion can play in promoting a culture of peace.
In the second session, the role of international programs and institutions in conflict resolution was the focal point. Sara Chouman, the representative of Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF representative in Lebanon, underscored the need to give youth the chance to participate in public life to end up with a peaceful community. In his speech, Nicolas Masson, the first secretary in the Swiss Embassy in Lebanon, spoke at length about the role of the state and the local bodies in responding to the community needs en route to attain peace. Mikael Staaf, Deputy Head of Mission in the Embassy of Sweden, highlighted the vital need to engage women in public life in the process of peace building.
The final phase of the forum was sitting to round tables which included a blend of the all participants. The roles of religious leaders, educational institutions, armed forces, media, women, youth, CSOs, municipalities, political parties, local problem-solving committees, state-service bodies, and international organizations were thoroughly conferred to draft a peace building strategy in Baalbeck-Hermel. Peculiarly, lots of participants shed light on the inevitability of responding to people’s needs as an entrance to a peaceful society, in the light of the sharply increasing needs with the huge Syrian influx to Lebanon and drainage of resources.
The two-day forum is a genuine attempt that is being grained by LOST and its partner, zivik, and watered by all potential active bodies to create a framework for a strategy that can make the dream of absolute peace come true.
