Lebanon’s myriad confessional and religious divisions have long been a factor preventing the country from achieving social and political stability. In recent months, political events contributed to increasing tensions in Lebanon and the region as a whole. In spite of this, IREX and its partners are implementing the One Community [7] program to promote inter-faith and inter-confessional cooperation to develop peace and tolerance, and with the help of young journalists, will show youth in Lebanon that the differences in their country can be overcome.
In a major step forward, IREX’s One Community program recently held its first training session for young journalists. The journalists will soon play an important role in the program, which engages faith-based community organizations and their leaders in Lebanon. These groups will organize community development projects supporting religious tolerance. Using traditional and digital media, the journalists will report on and raise awareness about the projects and the ability of religious organizations to contribute to inter-faith cooperation and dialogue.
Partnering with Lebanese youth organization Nahar Ashabab, IREX prepared 15 youth journalists for the role they would play in fostering and reporting on efforts to build religious tolerance. In addition, Lebanese organization SMEX trained the journalists in the use of social media applications and tools and explained how these could be used for advocacy and journalism. The youth journalists learned how to express views and publicize activities via social networking platforms. They will record projects by religious leaders and faith-based community organizations, and disseminate the results through digital documentaries, blogs, YouTube, and other social media networks. As the religious leaders work to create opportunities for development projects that all members of Lebanon’s many faiths can take part in, the youth journalists will record their progress, and show more Lebanese citizens an avenue to a less divided and more cooperative society.
For a write-up of the event, please visit the Nahar Ashabab’s website [8].