Advocacy & Lobbying projects

Youth in ActionYouth in Action

Why Youth In Action?

Lebanese youths are often unaware of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, as well as the practices of a democratic society. They lack skills on how to be active and take part in the decision making process in the country. Moreover, Lebanon has not witnessed one single lawsuit to bring corrupt public officials to justice in the entire 53-year history of Law 154/99 “Min ayn laka Haza.” The law is simply inapplicable in its present form. Essentially, limited civic participation by citizens and the lack of accountability in politics have played a large role in delaying the emergence of a strong and progressive democratic society.

What is Youth In Action?

Youth In Action aims to empower a 128-member youth lobby group in order to advocate for the implementation of a proposal amending Law 154/99 drafted by Nahwa al-Muwatiniya’s legal expert Mr.Sleiman Takieddine.

There are three phases to the project:

  1. Four Awareness Seminars: Legal experts will conduct training sessions with selected youth to help explain the existing law (154/99) as well as the concept of public service accountability and its values. From these sessions a bill will be created dealing with the implementation of the law.
  2. Interactive training sessions: 128 youth from varying regions and confessions will be gathered from universities and NGOs. They will be mixed and divided into 6 groups, one for each Mohafaza, before attending a one-day workshop where they will be trained on lobbying.
  3. Lobbying & Advocacy: MP’s from all 6 Mohafazat will be contacted by lobbyists and appointments will be scheduled. At each appointment, the lobbyists will present the the draft legislation to the MP and lobby for its application. Once all appointments have finished, a report will be produced and presented in a press conference.
    The project ends with an evaluation session with the 128 youths to discuss their experiences, lessons learned, as well as how to sustain this project in the future.

Expected outcomes of Youth In Action

We have identified three outcomes from this project:

  1. Empowerment of 128 youth lobbyists
  2. Increased transparency and accountability in the administration with the introduction of a new law proposal
  3. Increased awareness on the subject of illicit wealth
    Impact will be measured by evaluation sessions with the lobbyists after the project. To assess the impact of the law and the change in the political culture, short questionnaires will be distributed in all regions of Lebanon.