The programme funds small projects ranging from $10,000 up to $15,000.

Bilateral Programme Budget Projects in Lebanon: 2009-2010

Criteria and selection process

The British Embassy in Beirut manages a Bilateral Program Budget for small scale projects in Lebanon. They are chosen in line with the UK’s government strategic priorities.

• The programme funds small projects ranging from $10,000 up to $15,000
• Projects that target youth; women; underprivileged- marginalised segments of society and focus on development; human rights; environment and conflict prevention are welcome.
• There is no deadline for submitting the projects, however we do encourage applicants to send their concept notes/ project proposal from April 09 till January 2010. Our financial year, starts in April 2009 and ends in March 2010 of the following year.
• There is no standard format required. Interested civil society organisations and educational institutions are to send a one-page concept note outlining the project aim, outcome, beneficiaries and project cost.
• The project is chosen for its ability to demonstrate: community outreach, sustainability and its relevance to the embassy’s objectives.

  For further information please contact Press and Public Diplomacy Section.

Bilateral Programme Budget (BPB) 2009

You will find a selection of some of our approved projects for this financial year 2009-2010

• NGO: IndyAct
  Project: Green carpet event: Screening of Age of Stupid
  Duration: 1 month
  Budget: $15,000
  Location: Beirut

The Age of Stupid is an enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid which stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance. The movie aims at raising awareness on climate change it will be launched in Lebanon on October 24, 2009 – on the global day of action against climate change, and in 600+ cinemas in 50+ countries as well.  

The British Embassy in Lebanon teamed up with the local environmental NGO IndyAct, who obtained its own screening rights’ to show the movie in Lebanon in the context of  raising the concern regarding climate change and the current climate change negotiations, and also to strengthen Lebanon’s engagement in the Copenhagen negotiations. It also aims more specifically to increase the concern of the Lebanese public and decision makers on climate change, and to put their focus on Copenhagen negotiations.

Events leading up to, and on the ‘Green carpet event’ launch day on 22 October will include ‘The Cube’ and Clock countdown to Copenhagen. In brief, the green carpet event is a way of having the formal red-carpet events eco-friendly and raise awareness on environmental issues. The Cube is to have someone live in a 2x2m see-through room on Ain el Mrayseh, experiencing the direct impact of climate change. The Clock countdown to Copenhagen IndyACT will replace the Cube after three days with a countdown clock until Copenhagen. The digital clock will also have a moving viral message on climate change that will change every few days.

• NGO: Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTD.A)
  Project: Active Citizenship, Gender & Social Entitlements (ACGEN)
  Duration: 1 year
  Budget: $20,000
  Location: Lebanon

CRTD.A started the first intervention on Gender, Active Citizenship and Social entitlements more than 3 years ago through an information gathering action research which objectives revolved around building the capacity of NGOs to promote active citizenship so as to increase women's active citizenship and access to social entitlements.  The objectives during that phase were to ascertain how both government and NGOs that provide health, education and welfare services implement their activities and assess how and if these activities contribute to notions and practice of women's active citizenship, and map NGOs and assess their relationships with both the state and their client communities and the extent to which they are a vehicle for active citizenship.  

The purpose of the proposed ACGEN Advocacy Project is to increase women's active citizenship and access to their social entitlements and as such, address the issues of gender and confessional discrimination in national social policies. The ultimate goal is to develop a policy structure from which national stakeholders can support action on the issue of gendered social entitlements in a systemic and sustainable manner.

• NGO: Lebanese Centre for Human Rights
  Project: Truth and Justice National Reconciliation Programme
  Duration: 1 year
  Budget: $20,000
  Location: Lebanon

One major topic that concerns all Lebanese communities is the fate of thousands of missing persons who were victims of enforced disappearance during the war. Resolving the question of enforced disappearance is not only quintessential but also a necessary first step towards implementing a more general national reconciliation and justice process. Human rights organisations and civil society can play an active role in the creation of this much needed national truth and justice reconciliation process through lobbying, legal, advocacy and awareness-raising actions.

The program that is run by the Centre for Human Rights aims to help launch a process of national reconciliation and advance the cause of victims of enforced disappearance through legal, lobbying, advocacy and awareness-raising actions. This will be done through the organisation of capacity building and advocacy workshops with national experts and key civil society organisations, as well as providing legal and logistical assistance to the families of victims of enforced disappearance and their lawyers.

• NGO: UNRWA School
  Project: "What a Drama!" - Drama workshops for Palestinian Children 5th-9th October.
  Duration: 1 month
  Location: Lebanon

Working with UNRWA, the British Embassy supported a week of drama workshops with a team of British trainers led by renowned actor David Morrissey. 65 children aged from 11-16 came from across Lebanon to take part in a range of activities including music, movement, dance and drama, culminating in an impressive performance at the end of the week.

The workshops gave the children opportunities to express themselves and to be heard that are not possible within the confines of their normal school lives. Education and learning were shown to be about more than simply copying from books.  Importantly they incorporated English within this learning approach and the children's confidence and skills in the language grew over the course of the week. UNRWA teachers taking part also learnt about ways in which they could incorporate different styles of learning into their wider teaching.  

David Morrissey and his team plan to be back to build on the workshop. They filmed a documentary as part of the week's work, which they hope will raise awareness of the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon and generate support and funding for further work with the children in Lebanon.