Partner profile: Amel Association, Lebanon
Amel Association International (Amel) is a Lebanese non-sectarian NGO established in 1979. It represents a social movement for reform, aiming to promote human dignity for all, to ensure access to fundamental rights and to support social justice. First partnering in 2014, Amel and International Alert have worked together on improving conflict sensitivity in healthcare centres and enhancing social cohesion in schools.
Amel reaches out to the most underprivileged areas in Lebanon, including in Beirut, its southern suburbs, Mount Lebanon, Bekaa, and South Lebanon. Currently operating a network of 32 centres, eight mobile medical units, two mobile education units, and a protection unit, it has provided emergency responses to security crises and population displacement for more than 40 years. Its 15 programs are grounded in a community-based approach to embed sustainable change, with focus areas including health, education and gender-based violence.
In recent years Amel has followed an international strategy aimed at bridging the gap between the Global South and North. It has disseminated learning from its innovative programs via branches in Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and the USA, and has ambitious plans to extend its presence in Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia. Gaza, Guatemala and Sri Lanka.
Alert’s first partnership with Amel focused on primary healthcare centres (PHCCs), which had been a source of tension between Syrian refugees and host communities in Lebanon. This project sought to develop the capacity healthcare staff in conflict resolution, including communication and stress management, and to promote dialogue and awareness between communities. This collaboration combined Amel’s grassroots presence and community trust with Alert’s peacebuilding and conflict sensitivity experience.
Since 2021, Amel and Alert have collaborated as part of the Nataf3al consortium, aiming to increase school access and enhance social cohesion. This partnership focuses on improving school environments, ensuring they are inclusive and violence-free, and supporting community-based school improvement projects to address protection concerns and expand access to safe, quality learning environments.
Nataf3al consortium partners have trained and mentored Amel staff and school teachers to integrate social cohesion into education and address conflict in classrooms and the wider school community. Events and community activities have engaged parents and community members in dialogue, helping foster a sense of togetherness and stability.
Amel credits these partnerships with improving its capacity to integrate conflict sensitivity into its health and education programs. Its education and health services have become more attuned to local conflicts, leading to more effective and equitable provision. Training from Alert has enabled Amel’s staff to better understand and manage conflict dynamics within their communities.
Partnering with Amel has allowed Alert to integrate health and education responses into our peacebuilding framework in Lebanon. Amel’s deep community ties have provided valuable local insights that inform Alert’s peacebuilding strategies, making them more relevant and impactful. And Amel’s extensive network across Lebanon allowed Alert to extend its peacebuilding initiatives to areas it might not have reached on its own.
Together we have worked to support community groups living with the day-to-day effects of conflict in Lebanon. Health and education workers often bear the brunt of social tensions but participants of the projects now have the skills and support to help deal with these challenges. The partnership has facilitated greater trust and cooperation between community groups, improving overall social cohesion.
Both organisations recognise the critical role that education can play in fostering long-term peace and stability.
The work on conflict sensitivity in health and social cohesion in education build on the same trust and collaborative spirit that underpin successful peacebuilding programmes. Amel believes that its partnerships rely on maintaining open and consistent communication to help align goals and expectations.
Looking forward, both organisations recognise the critical role that education can play in fostering long-term peace and stability. We will continue joint efforts to develop educational materials and toolkits that promote social cohesion and conflict resolution skills, as well as conducting regular context analyses to adapt to changing dynamics.
Ongoing collaboration has enabled both Amel and Alert to achieve outcomes neither could have accomplished alone. By combining local insight with international expertise and by being prepared to adapt to changing and challenging circumstances, partnerships like these represent a strong example of fair and mutually beneficial collaboration.
