Education is vital to maintaining a sense of normality in protracted displacement. With the support of Australian Aid, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA provides inclusive early education to vulnerable Syrian and Palestinian refugees in camp communities in Beirut, Lebanon. The project uses Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) funding to meet early childhood education needs and promote social and educational development for refugee children in Bourj Al Bourajneh and Shatila camps. The local project partner is the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation, which has implemented Australian Aid projects since 1984.
The project provides high-quality pre-schooling for children in the in Bourj al-Barajneh and Shatila refugee camps, and specifically addresses the needs of refugee children for intensive educational and social support. The project ensures the success of refugee children upon entering the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) or Lebanese school systems. The early education centre has provided support for young Palestinian children in the camp for many years. Now the camp populations have doubled with people fleeing Syria. Many of the younger children from Syria have no schooling and are traumatised by war.
The project includes refugee children with physical and learning disabilities in early childhood education. The provision of this early childhood education enables hundreds of children each year to enter the school system without a learning disadvantage. To start primary school, children should have basic Arabic and English literacy. Over 150 girls, 48 with a disability, are expected be supported by this project in 2016-2017.