To let the community feel the importance of heritage and natural resources, by exposing it to samples and providing it with relevant information.

1- To strengthen and preserve the community

1- To continue collecting prototypes from old ages.

2- To continue collecting fossils

3- To make prototype of animals and plants.

4- To make prototype of the region

RootSpace is committed to supporting civil society and social entrepreneurship in Lebanon. As part of that, RootSpace works as a shared/community office space (co-working) where individuals and small groups (project-based, or as part of a small or newly developing company or organization) can rent office space, either desks or a private office, with all the amenities of a real office space: internet, telephone, fax, printer, kitchen, and more, all in a prime location overlooking downtown Beirut, BIEL, and the port area (we are in Saifi, just near the EU headquarters and Smart Car). This is a developing project, but we are trying to set things up so we can help other people/groups do their work better/quicker/easier.

More information is online:
http://therootspace.org/site/workatrootspace

Or email for more info or for any questions:
innovate (at) therootspace (dot) org

Prices are reasonable, with some flexibility.

To provide a community work-space individuals, groups, organizations, or small businesses, for working towards social change, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
To foster collaboration and support.
To hold meetings and gatherings.

A variety of activities related to sustainable development, tech/ICT for development, innovation, open source/systems, social entrepreneurship, green tech, etc.

In the year 2004, the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) started a new awareness campaign aiming at opening job opportunities for people with disability (PWD). The campaign is framed within a multi-component program, tackling the following issues: misconceptions and prejudice among civil society mainly in the private sector through wide awareness activities; low level of education; dropping out of school and exclusion from the educational sector; institutional capacity building; capacity building for PWD and their families; and skills enhancement for pwd.

The core part of the campaign is the creation of a job center to act as a facilitator for job seekers with disability, aiming at creating a real and concrete help-desk for matching job offers with demands from the private sector. The job center was opened at the end of 2004 in Bar Elias, situated in the middle of the Bekaa, close to Zahl̩; from this location, the job center serves Mid and West Bekaa.

The job center has started to respond to the urgent needs highlighted by a survey conducted among PWD and employers of the targeted areas. The result of the survey showed that the majority of those interviewed are unemployed and many of those had never been employed before; the study confirmed a picture of an overworked, underpaid workforce, with no job security and low income.

The first year

1)To achieve the social and economical inclusion and participation of PWD within their communities and the broader society
2)To promote a leading policy of diversity at work among a network of employers
3)To monitor the implementation of the national law on disability

A. Organize a meeting and sessions with employers from different sectors on disability and ability to work
B. Training and job coaching for employer already contacted
Follow up with employers that have employed a disabled worker: interview, assessment, feedback collection from the employer and from the employee
C. Organization of a Job Fair for disabled and non disabled job seekers
D. Pilot experience of making accessible a workplace
E. Explore opportunities for on the job training

The SMART Center project entitled “Women Advocates for Women’s Votes”, “WAW Votes”, aims to raise public awareness on the important role of women in regards to their right of representation and to expand women’s political participation to build a better democracy in Lebanon. To reach this aim, the center will implement through the project, the following: a) training prospective campaign managers from three governorates in Lebanon (North, Mount Lebanon, South), to act as consultants and agents of change in the empowerment of women’s political participation, b) A field study about the role of campaign managers in Lebanon, c) seminar including participants from three geographical groups and prospective women candidates, to introduce them to the importance of campaign managers and to announce public debate events in each region, c) Public debates about the “Role of Women in Politics”, to encourage more women to be involved in the political life as voters, political activists and as candidates. 

Objective 1:Empower campaign managers with necessary skills and capacities to support women candidates before the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2013.

Objective 2:Introduce women socio-political activists to the important role of qualified campaign managers for the success of their campaign.

Objective 3:Improve the participation of women in the political process as voters, political activists and as candidates.

The major activities the project will carry out to reach these objectives are listed below:

First : Empower campaign managers with necessary skills and capacities to support women candidates before the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2013.

You can fill the application summaries below the criteria of applicant :

Educational Background: Law - Political Science - Sociology - Business Marketing - Media
Age Category: 25 – 40
Familiar with the following: Gender equality - Women Rights - Political Process
Resident of the following: North - Mount Lebanon - South

Second :Introduce women socio-political activists to the important role of qualified campaign managers, as a major contributor to the success of any social or political campaign.

Seminar: We will launch the field study and prospective campaign managers will present the role of campaign managers in the success of women candidates in Lebanon and any campaign for civil society organizations. Participants will include prospective campaign managers and women potential candidates, women politicians, or/and previous candidates, presidents of NGOs, representatives of civil society organizations, women leaders.

Third : Improve the participation of women in the political process as voters, political activists and as candidates.
Public debates will be organized by the trainees about women in politics and decision making positions. The debates must encourage women to be more involved in the political life as voters, political activists or candidates. Each debate will take place in one governorate (North, Mount Lebanon and South)
During the 3 public debates we will be conducting a survey for women attending the public debate before the event and after it to show the impact of the debates in increasing the number of future voters.
A small report will show the primary results before conducting a comparison with the elections’ results.