Lebanese Youth as Change-Makers

The term youth is very elusive and debatable. Some authors define it through biological markers bracketing it between the ages of puberty and parenthood (cited in Santrock, 1999, p.387), and others use specific cultural and social markers determining status (USaid, 2004). These are a few examples: For the United Kingdom Youth Parliament, youth comprise ages 11 to 18 (2010), for the United Nations General Assembly, it is 15 to 24 (2010), the Commonwealth Youth Programme, 15 to 29 (2010), and the Danish Youth Council, 15 to 34 (2010). This research defines youth through social markers depicting the minimum age as that of civic autonomy and independence, and the maximum as that of emotional, financial and social settlement. According to this definition, youth in Lebanon would belong to the age bracket of 18 to 30 years old. The autonomous age in Lebanon varies depending on religious sect, gender and civics, ranging from 14 to 21 years old, with 18 being the age of legal majority (Figure 1). On the other hand, the average age of marriage in Lebanon is 27.5 years for females and 31 years for males. This is based on Pan Arab Project for Child Development statistics in 1996 (cited in UNDP, 1998). For this reason, 30 years was chosen as the mean age across the two genders, before individuals settle into their social groups.

Despite the debatable age bracket of youth, a number of authors, governments and organisations agree that it is vital to include and engage youth in processes affecting their lifestyles, and that they play a crucial role in positively transforming conflict situations (Cited in Del Felice & Wisler, 2007, p.3). For example, the Home Office Community Cohesion strategy calls for establishing well resourced programmes that engage young people in decision-making processes affecting their communities (Cantle, 2001, p.30). Similarly, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs warns that the constant exclusion of youth in dialogue and social planning contributes to the disintegration and alienation of these stakeholders, and drives their shift towards negative behaviours (Confesor cited in UNDESA, 2005, p.19). Youth should be today, more than ever, at the forefront of social, economic and political developments (UN, 2010).

However, Celina Del Felice and Andria Wisler identified that the potential of youth as change-makers and peace-builders has unfortunately been unexplored to its full capacity by both policy-makers and academics (2007). Correspondingly, Dr. Kaouaci and the United Nations refer to youth as the ‘invisible’ stakeholders (cited in UNDESA, 2005, pp.34, 38). This is how Siobhan McEvoy-Levy phrases this idea:

Neither children nor youth appear as important variables in the literature on peace processes. Nor, authors of important UN reports admit, have adolescents been separately or well considered… A neglect of adolescents and older young people is short-sighted and counterproductive in terms of peace building (McEvoy-Levy, 2001, pp.2-3).

Del Felice and Wisler argue that youth are often seen as either victims or perpetrators, rather than participants in peace-building, and therefore decisions impacting their lives are made for them rather than with them (2007, pp.8-12). A number of case studies such as the International Youth Parliament, Rosario’s Youth Center, the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, and Otpor, demonstrate that youth have succeeded in positively transforming conflict and segregated societies.

Youth’s transformation capacity is supported by a number of reasons, collated by Del Felice and Wisler after extensive observations of case studies and examples. The reasons are that youth are more open to change, they are future-oriented as they have not witnessed the wars and memories of their parents and older generations, they are idealistic and innovative in solving old problems in imaginative ways, they are courageous risk-takers, and they are knowledgeable and experienced in issues relating to their peers (2007, pp.24-25).

These reasons are highly relevant to the case study of Lebanon, as social segregation is a problem dating back at least to the 1970s, with all generations over 30 having actively and physically witnessed or participated in the violent conflict. Their vivid memories of the war and its direct impact on their lives renders this group incapable of tackling the matured problem of social segregation. This leaves youth the healthier group to target and engage for innovative solutions towards integration. According to McEvoy, “youth are the primary actors in grassroots community development/relations work; they are the frontlines of peace building” (2001, p.25). On youth in Lebanon, the United Nations write that “youth must constitute an important focus of development policy”, and that they must be prepared for “full participation in the political, economic and social life of the country” (1998, ch.4, p.58).

Youth in Lebanon form more than one fifth of the country’s population, with a more or less even distribution across different districts in the country (UNDP, 1998, ch.4, p.58). Their rush to higher education means that 96% of both males and females are literate (UNDP, 1998, ch.6, p.76) and that their age at first marriage has now become higher than in most countries of the world (UNDP, 1998, ch.4, p.59). These demographic and social transformations render 18 to 30 year old Lebanese men and women a substantial and valuable asset to target, engage and collaborate with, to develop social integration interventions in Lebanon.

References:

Cantle, T. (2001) Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team. UK: Home Office.

Commonwealth Secretariat (2010) What is CYP? Commonwealth Youth Programme. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/152816/152828/what_is_cyp/> [Accessed 29 October 2010].

Danish Youth Council (2010) About DUF. [Internet] Available from: <http://duf.dk/home/about_duf/> [Accessed 29 October 2010].

Del Felice, C. & Wisler, A. (2007) The Unexplored Power and Potential of Youth as Peace-Builders. Peace Conflict & Development, vol. 11, November. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.peacestudiesjournal.org.uk> [Accessed 27 November 2008].

McEvoy-Levy, S. (2001) Youth as Social and Political Agents: Issues in Post Settlement Peace Building. Kroc Institute Occasional Paper, No. 21:OP:2, December. Research Initiative on the Resolution of Ethnic Conflict (RIREC).

The UN Refugee Agency (2007) Lebanon: Age of majority, particularly for females; paternal custody rights over female children. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/469cd6b31c.html> [Accessed 14 November 2010].

The UN Refugee Agency (2010) Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa 2010 – Lebanon. Freedom House. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4b99012177.html> [Accessed 14 November 2010].

US Agency for International Development (USaid) (2004) Youth and Conflict: A Toolkit for Intervention. Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/crosscutting_programs/conflict/publications/docs/CMM_Youth_and_Conflict_Toolkit_April_2005.pdf> [Accessed 16 January 2011].

UK Youth Parliament (2010) About Us. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/4655/index.html> [Accessed 29 October 2010].

United Nations (2010) Youth and the United Nations. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/mdgs.htm> [Accessed 29 October 2010].

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2005) Final Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Dialogue in the Social Integration Process: Building peaceful social relations—by, for and with people. 21-23 November. New York: Division for Social Policy and Development.

United Nations Development Programme (1998) The Demography of Youth, ch. 4. [Internet] Available from: <www.undp.org.lb/programme/governance/advocacy/nhdr/…/chptr4.pdf> [Accessed 29 October 2010].

United Nations Development Programme (1998) Youth and Education, ch. 6. [Internet] Available from: <www.undp.org.lb/programme/governance/advocacy/nhdr/…/chptr6.pdf> [Accessed 16 January 2011].

Link Tracing Helps ‘expressions corner’ Tour Lebanon

I have been silent… but BUSY. ‘expressions corner’ has toured every governorate in Lebanon, and in some cases quite a few districts in the governorate. It is almost incredible that from a handful of close friends, relatives and colleagues, I established links that span through a wide network of social activists and designers who were able to help me organise ‘expressions corner’ in their local area. Their help involved finding a venue, scheduling a day, recruiting participants and/or putting me in touch with someone who could help me better than they can.

To establish these connections, I relied on a method that we often use at Uscreates. This is Link Tracing, and it is a snowballing method which involves relying on your contacts to build more contacts, and then asking these new contacts to provide you with even more contacts, and so on until you reach the right person who is willing and capable of hosting ‘expressions corner’ in his/her local region. I refer to these hosts as ‘gatekeepers’ as they provide me with access and insight into their communities. Having only ever used this method in the UK as part of my work at Uscreates, I was dubious as to whether it would prove efficient in Lebanon as the two countries have various behavioural and cultural differences. Additionally I was concerned that long distance communications may not be reliable in Lebanon as I would need to liaise with contacts that I have never met or seen, through the only mediums I could use: Email, Skype, Twitter and Facebook. Nevertheless, the method has proved surprisingly successful, and this might be a result of the favour-exchange and socially active culture prevalent in Lebanon. The gatekeepers were not only willing to offer their time and contacts for ‘expressions corner’, but (being social activists themselves) they were also genuinely interested and passionate about this project aligning with their social integration aspirations.

Below is a Link Tracing diagram illustrating the initial contacts I had (in black), and the links established from there to finally reach the group of participants engaged in ‘expressions corner’ (in red):

Here is a quick update on the 43 participants who have expressed their views in ‘expressions corner’, and following is a mapping of the regions covered and those in progress:

7 February 2010: Tyr – 6 Participants

7 February 2010: Shouf – 1 Participant

6 March 2010: Tripoli – 4 Participants

11 April 2010: Nabatiyeh – 2 Participants

17 April 2010: Mina – 5 Participants

16 May 2010: Zahleh – 8 Participants

12 June 2010: Batroun – 3 Participants

4 July 2010: Metn – 4 Participants

11 July 2010: Sidon – 5 Participants

17 July 2010: Keserwan – 5 Participants

I am still hoping to host ‘expressions corner’ in the following locations, and any help in finding a venue and participants is much appreciated:

Shouf, Beirut, Bsharreh, Zgharta, Akkar, Baalbeck, and any other regions in the South east and Beqaa areas.

I would like to thank all those people who have contributed to this project, and particularly William, Hanane, Habib, Tonnie, Maya, Laurice, Fouad, Sarah, Roy, Mireille, Nahi, and Suhair. Your have been so amazingly supportive. And finally the biggest thank you must go to my dear brother Cedric who has helped facilitate most of ‘expressions corner’ sessions and who has proved to be extremely reliable and efficient. Strangely he had studied Hotel Management and I, Graphic Design, and somehow many years later our interests collided with this project.

An ‘expressions corner’ lunch will be held in August in Beirut, and will bring together all the individuals who were involved in Link Tracing. This is an opportunity for myself to finally meet and thank collaborators face to face, as well as for them to meet one another and share their common interests within this topic area. The lunch will also help gather feedback on ‘expressions corner’ and find out about other similar projects happening in the regions.

‘expressions corner’ in Kazamaza

Kazamaza is a new online and print magazine launched in Lebanon beginning of 2010. It’s mission is collaborative and non-conformist, building its content from the creative wealth of young adults 18 and older. Kazamaza and my PhD share many commonalities, including the target audience we are reaching. Therefore, ‘expressions corner’ was hosted as part of a number of Kazamaza Studios held with young adults to to generate content for the online and offline magazine.

Below are two articles about ‘expressions corner’ published in Kazamaza Issue 0+ and 1 respectively. The first article summarises general findings from ‘expressions corner’ Tyr, and the second draws on findings from ‘expressions corner’ Tyr and Tripoi in relation to Issue 1′s theme: Power and Authority.