Child Social and Financial Education Program

Beirut, a group of children between eight and nine years of age have gathered in half a circle in the classroom. The teachers, Violette and Rita, have been preparing this workshop for quite a while and can’t wait to start. Also, the children are getting enthusiastic as they see the two trainers prepare their material for today: Paint, dolls and… the Aflatoun-character.

Rita and Violette are fourth-year students of the Lebanese University. They received specialized training in social work in the community through a municipality in Beirut, the municipality of Sin el Fil. The municipality of Sin el Fil has been the first municipality in Lebanon to recognize the importance of social-financial education to strengthen the local community and future generation.

In a partnership between the municipality of Sin el Fil with YMCA Lebanon, the municipality has created opportunities for students like Violette and Rita; they received the training and work in local schools. Violette and Rita teach the Aflatoun program for grade 3 and 4 in two schools. They are very thankful for the support of the municipality and the materials they provided for their classes.

A few months ago Violette and Rita met with Mr. Fadi Khoury (YMCA Lebanon), a master trainer in the global Aflatoun network. Fadi taught the students everything about the program and how they could implement it. They proved to have talent and even created their own personal adaptation of the program by developing a painting activity for children to recognize their identity, ages, names and fingerprints with the goal of letting children understand that every person is unique. The doll-play introduced the children to the Aflatoun figure, who will accompany every child on their learning path.

YMCA Lebanon, the lead partner for Aflatoun in Lebanon, has started this successful cooperation with the Sin El Fil municipality and is planning to reach more children by working together with other municipalities. Through multiple programs, YMCA has reached over 12.000 children in Lebanon with the Aflatoun program.

Find more about how the municipality of Sin el Fil and their work is strengthening Beirut on http://sinelfil.gov.lb/