A three-year peace- building initiative for the Baalbek-Hermel region is now in its third month. “Networks of Peace” a project funded by The Kingdom of the Netherlands and executed by The Lebanese Organization aims to improve intercommunity citizen relations in the five targeted zones and find peaceful mechanisms for tension and violence. The five zones are Baalbek, Hermel, Deir El Ahmar, Ein and Chmistar.
For this month the project team is recruiting Volunteer Mobilization Committee (VMC) members in each of the five zones that were classified in the first month. There are a total of 22 cities/villages in the five zones. The VMC consists of 10-15 members from all the levels of the community starting at college students and reaching municipality and community stakeholders. This committee is the center and the most vital part of this initiative for they are the role models for their individual villages to follow.
Each zone has religiously mixed villages where people from different religious backgrounds have claimed a town and don’t have contact with their neighboring villages. In fact, history shows that violent outbreaks caused by sectarian differences have outnumbered casualties than any other conflict revealing itself between cities and villages in these zones. So to decrease and eventually eliminate this culture of hate speech and violence, the VMC will partake on small community activities together that address a common need. The members will join each other under one umbrella, learning to see past the religious label and work together to achieve common interests in tangible areas.
For ensuring a future of stability and peace, LOST is taking action to encourage and facilitate dialogue and interactions between community members and aspiring younger generations through giving the people the tools needed to reunite community through conflict transformation and common interests.
