Youth Education Programmes

Building on 9 years experiences and best practices to respond to learning needs of youth with different academic pathways and profiles, UNHCR looks now into flexible blended approaches taking in consideration the volatile social situation in Lebanon, the covid-19 health concerns and its direct impact on education and the dire economic situation striking the vulnerable communities and driving youth out of learning.

Social cohesion, peer support and innovation are cross-cutting pointers across the Youth Education Programme, for a duration of three years, including:

A- Tertiary Education Programme (for refugees) based on the DAFI global guidelines
B- Vocational Training Programme (for vulnerable Lebanese and refugee youth)

The proposed youth education programmes will be realized through an implementation arrangement with a national or international education partner and/or academic institution. UNHCR partner will rely on its technical knowledge and outreach experience in the refugee/vulnerable community to identify refugee youth eligible to enlist in the programmes, select, adapt and deliver the vocational, Foreign Language and Basic Literacy sessions/courses, implement DAFI scholarship and mobilize educators and monitor the learning outcomes of the activities.

The programmes require a collaborative approach to coordinate a successful delivery; the development of durable partnerships with a network of youth education stakeholders is key to increase the refugee youth access to post basic education and support UNHCR to contribute to fill the gap of educational opportunities for refugee adolescents and youth in Lebanon.

The partner that will implement the project will be expected to work closely with the Ministry of Labor, to assist refugees wishing to participate in vocational training programmes, through the delivery of short-term Vocational Training modules that increase the transferable skills of refugee youth and provide the greatest opportunity for their employment in the future. The partner is expected to advocate with MoL-NCVT (National Centre for Vocational Training) towards the improvement of the delivery (and curriculum) of Vocational Education in Lebanon. Also key is the collaboration with UNICEF, ILO and other actors implementing youth programmes that aim at boosting the level of literacy, numeracy and life skills for the vulnerable youth. The implementing partner will be expected to liaise with the youth actors and academic institutions active at national level in order to ensure a well-coordinated response under the national TVET framework; a referral system will be established to ensure vulnerable youth are referred to the appropriate educational pathways that meets their educational needs and benefit from access to learning opportunities where possible.

For the Tertiary Education component, in addition to the provision of DAFI scholarships, the implementing partner will be expected to build a strong collaborative relation with the Lebanese University (LU) to get firsthand information on students’ enrollment, academic and protection trends.

Partners will have to work across the education and livelihoods pillars to drive results for refugee youth, and liaise with development agencies such as UNDP and ILO to advance the operationalization of the National TVET strategic roadmap and jointly advocate with the line ministries to improve the TVET system in Lebanon.

Addressing multiple vulnerabilities of refugee out of school youth requires a multi-sectoral approach in order to support youth to overcome the barriers to learning. The selected partner might be requested to provide supplementary education services such as provision of Internet Bundles to ensure connectivity, cash assistance, psychosocial support, and other essential services to support out of school youth access learning opportunities.