"enhancement Of Social And Economical Conditions For Prisoners And Their Families For A Better Community"
The project target group will be prisoners in the prisons of southLebanonand their families. The project main focus will be on the social and economical level of prisoners' families paying attention also to prisoners inside their prisons. This extremely neglected part of the community will be targeted through a variety of activities aiming at enhancing their social, mental, health, and economical situation as much as possible. The ISF (internal security forces) who has the responsibility to manage all prisons in the country will be targeted also through the project with a program of training workshops aiming at raising the level of management of the prisons in the south.
The project will start with a deep assessment targeting an estimated number of 100 inmates' families concentrating on their social, economical, health and educational status, after which will be the phase of intervention. Due to the severe lack of data regarding the social and economical situation of prisoners and their families in Lebanon, particularly in the south, the first period of the project will be dedicated to designing and conducting a deep assessment for the prisoners, both inmates and detainees and their families, regarding their social, economical, health, and educational situation. This assessment will be done in coordination and cooperation with official and civil entities that deal with such issues.
When the assessment is done, the phase of intervening according to the outcomes of the assessment will start. It is important to point that there are general and obvious needs for the prisoners and their families as well as the ISF, already known to the authorities as well as the civil society including SHEILD through the fresh experience in the prisons. The deep assessment will be the tool for more focused and advanced intervention. The beneficiaries will be divided into two main domains with three target groups. The two main domains are inside and outside the prisons with the prisoners and the ISF as target groups inside the prisons and the prisoners' families as a third target group outside the prison. The prisoners will be targeted by health and psychological activities and workshops through medical and social experts, including mental healthcare and conflict resolution workshops. The ISF will be targeted by a capacity building program targeting mainly their capacity in dealing with prisoners, human rights, and training workshops with prisoners aiming at conflict resolution and stress management and other needed skills that will be assessed.
The third category which is the most sensitive is the prisoners' families outside the prisons. Actually the lack of a regularly updated database regarding this category as well as the lack of attention by all related entities is resulting in a severely unpleasant situation. There is no data regarding the life situation for these families as well as their social and economical situation, the deep assessment will assess the situation and will provide necessary data for the intervention. According to the data provided, the families will be targeted through women who were supported by the prisoner (wife, mother, sister, adult daughter) by a vocational training program that will provide these women with necessary skills to master a certain craft to start a small business after being supported by necessary equipment and tools (IGA kit) to start an (IGA) income generating activity. The kits will be bought for a limited number of beneficiaries according to previously set criteria within the project budget and the amount of money will be considered as grants. These women also will be connected to entities offering micro credits for small businesses as additional financial support, especially those who will not benefit from IGA kits. This is on the economical level while on the social and health level, they will be targeted through a variety of social and health activities in coordination with related partners as well as they will receive social assistance from social experts according to their needs and in coordination with related entities. The families also will be targeted through children of prisoners. The educational and psychological status of the children will be assessed and supported where needed by reintegration in schools (if possible) for those who dropped out of schools and educational support for those who are still in schools. The children also will be included in certain activities aiming at integrating them with other children to reduce the feeling of isolation that the community attitude towards them often creates.