Workshop: An Alternative Approach to Development
Alternative Beirut and Jibal offer a two-day workshop directed at donor organizations, development aid workers, and diplomatic staff. The workshop seeks to provide a space to critically reflect on development and aid work, while giving an alternative and holistic approach to history and politics in Lebanon, avoiding the dangers of single-story narratives. The workshop is multidisciplinary and takes into consideration history, society, development, socio-culture, geography, and economy.
Learning Objectives
A change in perspective to the understanding of the context and politics of Lebanon, through a multidisciplinary approach considering: history, geopolitics, class struggles, sectarianism, and economy. The aim is to bring more critical thinking to the understanding of local social dynamics;
Exploring topics of stereotypes, prejudices and privileges;
Acquire tools for thinking about our roles and interventions within a more equitable manner.
Acquire tools for mapping society’s actors and placing oneself
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9.30 Meeting in front of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate - walk through Beirut
11.30 Coffee break
12.30 Snack break and start of the stakeholder mapping exercise - continuation of the walk
14:00 end of the walk - moving to a coffee place (transportation provided)
14.30 Lunch
15.30 Debrief discussion
16.30 (max) end
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9.30 Welcome
9.45 - 11.15 My own story of working in Development
11.15 - 11.30 Break
11.30 - 12.30 Questions Interview Development Aid
12.30 - 13.15 The danger of the single story
13.15 - 14.15 Lunch Break
14.15 - 15.30 Reflection around specific situations
15.30 - 15.45 Break
15.45 - 16.30 How can I act? What can I change?
16.30 - 17 Closing and Evaluation
Trainers and Co-Creators
Alternative Beirut and Jibal are committed to advocating for and implementing sustainability and environmental and social justice, in all their aspects, including the built and natural environments, human societies, and economic and social policies.
Angela Saade
Angela Saade grew up in Lebanon and studied in France and Spain, where she also worked for 10 years. She earned a Master of Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (INPG) and a few years later a Master of Applied Anthropology from the University Lumière Lyon 2. In parallel to her engineering work, Angela co-founded the French NGO Tabadol which aims to build a more equitable society reflecting its diversity and centering on social justice. Angela moved back to Lebanon in 2016. She has been the technical advisor for the youth program of the Lebanese NGO Mouvement Social, mainly working with underprivileged young people from different areas of Lebanon. In 2017, she co-founded the NGO Jibal working on environmental justice, and is heading its ‘Food Sovereignty Program’.
Moustafa Fahs
Founder and general manager of Alternative Beirut. Moustafa specializes in organizational culture and creativity management within the public and private sectors. He is currently working on establishing the organization’s operational processes at the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds Initiative. Moustafa is an expert in all the different aspects of project management including planning, budget management, and coordinating all its working parts. He has been working with Eedama since 2018, through collaboration on responsible tourism in Lebanon between Alternative Beirut, Eedama, and Jibal, as well as delivering inspirational workshops about ideation and idea validation to startups.
Ounsi El Daif
Ounsi El Daif is originally a physicist who studied in France and Switzerland, he got his Ph.D. in 2007 from the Ecole Polytechnique F￩d￩rale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland). Until 2015 he was a researcher in the field of solar photovoltaic energy in world-class scientific labs. Since 2015, he is a serial social entrepreneur, having founded Eedama Advisors, and cofounded Jibal NGO for environmental justice, Alternative Beirut Social enterprise, as well as agroecology-related projects and startups. He has been doing startup mentoring and coaching for the past 5 years in the frame of Eedama for varied institutions such as The Science and Innovation Park in Al Ain (UAE University), Berytech (Beirut), Beyond group (Beirut), StartAD (NY University in Abu Dhabi), the Lebanese League for Women in Business and others. He develops educational and training content for the various organisations he works with.
Workshop Registration
Logistical Information
Duration: 2-days
When: The workshop will be held on the 27th and 28th of September. This workshop can also be delivered privately and curated specifically to your needs and schedule.
Price: $200 per participant, including lunch and breaks (up to 15 participants)
Meeting Points:
Day 1: Across the street from the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate
Day 2: To be communicated on Day 1 (indoor session)
For more information, contact us at contact@jibal.org or call +96171447944.