"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -
Teach For Lebanon (TFL) is a Lebanese NGO working to ensure that all children in Lebanon, regardless of socioeconomic background, have access to quality education. The model of Teach For Lebanon is an education innovation that focuses on youth capacity building to provide quality intervention and systemic support for students. TFL employs and trains Lebanon’s most promising graduates, “TFL Fellows”, and places them in schools serving underprivileged refugee and Lebanese children. These Fellows receive on-going training and support to address educational disadvantages by providing transformational teaching that places their students on a path of academic success. Along the way, they become leaders and advocates for a better Lebanon. Teach For Lebanon is part of a global network of 61 countries called Teach For All.
The first Access Alumni training was held virtually on December 12, 2020, and focused (at the request of the participants) on women empowerment. The 30 Access Alumni who participated were welcomed before the sessions by Kristina Hayden, the US Embassy’s public affairs officer. After the first session, the alumni were also joined by Edith Bitar, the US Embassy’s cultural affairs coordinator.
Thanks to a grant from the Access Program (sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut), Access Alumni Nour Lakkis and Mada Yazbeck are currently implementing their project, "Women Entrepreneurship Hub" which is aimed at providing entrepreneurship training sessions to 80 women from North Lebanon and Bekaa in order to empower them to start their own small businesses ...
On Monday, March 28th, 500 Access students
congregated on Zoom for a motivational session by Dr. Joyce Azzam.
Joyce is a Lebanese woman who surmounted gender stereotyping, a chronic lung condition, a potentially debilitating hypermobility syndrome, and socio-economic challenges to go on and become a conservation architect and a mountaineer, with a Ph.D. in Landscape and Environment and three Master’s Degrees.
On the occasion of the visit of the USA’s Regional English Language Officer (RELO), Eran Williams, to Lebanon, accompanied from his base in Amman-Jordan by the Regional Public Engagement Specialist (REPS), Sacha Fraiture, he held meetings with select Access alumni and students at the American Corner in Tripoli, which were attended by officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
On March 23, 2022, Teach For Lebanon hosted at its office at Badaro Street, Beirut, the Regional English Language Officer (RELO), Eran Williams, accompanied from Amman by the Regional Public Engagement Specialist (REPS), Sacha Fraiture, along with the U.S. Embassy in Beirut’s Public Affairs Officer, Kristina Hayden, and Cultural Affairs Assistant, Edith Bitar. The four-hour visit tackled the implementation of the three components of the English Access Microscholarship Program by TFL’s Access Program team: Scholarship, Teachers Training, and Alumni.
In continuation of its Access Teachers Training program funded by the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, the program provider Teach For Lebanon (TFL) held trainings on May 28-29, 2022 for a total of 94 teachers largely from Lebanese public schools, with the rest from semi-private schools.
On October 15, 2022, 29 Access alumni attended a training on critical thinking and problem-solving at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut.
On Sunday, January 22, 2023, Teach for Lebanon (TFL) held the opening ceremony for the 2022–2024 iteration of the English Access Microscholarship Program in Lebanon at the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand hotel.
The English Access Microscholarship Alumni Program, funded by the US Embassy and executed by Teach for Lebanon, launched the INCLUSION+ program to train, equip, and empower 86 Access alumni to lead community initiatives under the theme of inclusion, during the month of February, in a two-day retreat in these regions: Mount Lebanon, the North, Bekaa, and South, and Beirut.
On Saturday March 18, 2023 the Access Alumni Program honored the winners of the INCLUSION + Mini-Grants at an award distribution ceremony that took place in Padova Hotel, Sin El Fil, Beirut.
For celebrating the winning projects, the event was attended by the US Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer Ms. Melissa O’Shaughnessy who gave its keynote, English Language Coordinator, Public Diplomacy Ms. Edith Bitar, and Management Officer Mr. Michael Moise, in addition to TFL’s interim CEO and Access Program Director Mr. George El Assad, Access Alumni Coordinator, Miss Rodaina Boushaheen, and other staff. Members of the broader Access Alumni base in Lebanon, who participated in the Inclusion+ Program overall, were also on hand to cheer the achievements of their winning peers.
With the unswerving support of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and that of the U.S. Regional English Language Office (RELO), TFL’s Access team held a Field Day for the 500 students of Cohort 16 of the Access Program which TFL stands as provider of in the country. The students, teachers, teacher assistants, Access alumni volunteers, and TFL staff converged from all parts of Lebanon to the event’s venue at El Rancho Resort in Ghedrass on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
During May and June, four Alumni Networking Events took place as part of an extra Alumni grant by the US Embassy in Beirut to Teach For Lebanon. The events aimed to bring together Access alumni to provide them with the opportunity to connect with each other and with external opportunity providers to widen their horizons and enrich their networks.
As part of the Teachers Training component of the Access Program, Teach for Lebanon has organized a series of 4 workshops entitled “Training for Educators” for 25 teachers of the English language at public schools in Beqaa region. The teachers committed to attend the 4 workshops that elaborated the following three topics: Trends of Teaching English Language, Universal Design Learning, and Wellbeing as an Essential Teaching Element. The four training modules were held at Delora Hotel – Chtaura in the Beqaa region, Lebanon
On February 25th and March 3rd, 2024, half of the 500 Access Cohort 16 (2022-2024) students, and the other half, respectively converged from all around Lebanon on the campuses of the Lebanese American University (LAU), Byblos, and Beirut, for the Career Day event which marks the last step of their personal development under the Access Program.
In a crowning of their journey through the English Access Microscholarship Program, the 484 active students of its Cohort 16 in Lebanon received their graduation certificates in a memorable ceremony on Sunday 21st April 2024.
Under a workshop titled “Wellbeing for Optimum Performance”, the Access Alumni Program of 2023-2025 kicked off its training events. Held on July 27, 2024, this training was organized for Access alumni from Tripoli and the surrounding North Lebanon region.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -