Lebanon Support
Lebanon Support is a non-governmental information and research centre which aims to enhance civil society capacity, efficiency and effectiveness. Its approach is to create public spaces for reflection, collaboration and debate on and for civil society in Lebanon. Lebanon Support promotes and supports knowledge sharing between organisations in Lebanon through the exchange of experiences, ideas and information across sectors and among civil society actors in Lebanon. It was founded in 2006 in the aftermath of the Israeli-Lebanese war as an online space facilitating aid related information sharing and management. It was officially registered as an NGO in 2008. The Lebanon Support Office is located in Furn el-Chebbak, Beirut.
Mission and activities
Lebanon Support adopts a multidisciplinary approach and evidence as well as fact-based methodologies in civil society work in Lebanon. It aims to support and develop a civic voice and work towards more accountability and societal change in Lebanon. It is within Lebanon Support’s beliefs, that information and knowledge are at the heart of developing adequate strategies and interventions to reduce existing vulnerabilities and marginalization in the country. The organisation therefore focuses on information and knowledge sharing, management, production and delivery. In 2008, Lebanon Support launched a nationwide mapping of non-governmental organisations operating in Lebanon in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) , covering more than 1,000 organisations.
In 2011, the online portal Daleel Madani was created as a platform connecting civil society in Lebanon. Two years later, Lebanon Support launched its second programme, the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, a multidisciplinary research platform. The CSKC is the first and most developed online platform for knowledge management for civil society organisations, professionals, academics, and activists in Lebanon. It covers issues ranging from humanitarian, recovery, development and human rights. The platform constitutes a seminal and innovative knowledge base and publishing platform for original research and analysis on civil society work. It supports and encourages civil society cooperation and collaboration. In 2016, Lebanon Support began to provide informal support and coaching through The Civil Society Incubator.
Cooperation with forumZFD
Lebanon Support and forumZFD first cooperated in the Dealing with the Past (DwP) programme in 2015. Research on past and present initiatives addressing conflicts in Lebanon conducted by forumZFD was made available online by the CSKC and its History of Conflict project. The research was part of forumZFD`s effort to further empower partners to engage actively in multiple narratives of contested historical events in public. The aim of the online catalogue containing initiatives launched since 1990 is to provide an overview to enable civil society and researchers to identify potential collaboration opportunities.
A year after the database went online, both partners decided to continue the project. Within that second part of the collaboration, the database was revised by Lebanon Support and expanded by developments in 2016 and 2017. Alongside with the expansion of the database, an infographic (also available in Arabic) was designed and a report published. On the 18th of September, Lebanon Support and forumZFD launched the study in an event.