Lebanon: Friends in Need, an NGO for deaf children, supported by Bioforce
In Lebanon, the crisis has hit civil society organisations very hard. Friends in Need, in Tripoli, is one of the organisations Bioforce has been supporting in the country since 2018 in structuring its fundraising campaign and in its project management capacity. Find more in our interview with Katia Farah, a social worker who has been involved with Friends in Need for 30 years.
Interview with Katia Farah from the Lebanese NGO Friends in Need
To display the closed captions in English or Arabic, click the Settings icon and choose a language in the Subtitles menu.
“In Lebanon, the problem of money, of financing, is becoming more and more severe”
“Friends in Need is a Lebanese national organisation based in Tripoli that works with children who cannot hear. They follow an academic programme with the help of a multidisciplinary team: a speech therapist working onlanguage, a psychologist….
Every year, about 80 children come to the class. There are also children who come for speech therapy or private lessons only.
We have been working with Bioforce since 2018. They came here, to our premises, to carry out an assessment to identify our needs. We worked on two levels: first of all, “How to set up a project and how to manage it”. We did a lot of sessions and meetings to understand project methodology , to follow up the necessary steps etc. We then worked on a second level, on fundraising. At the beginning of this year, we were very afraid that the beneficiaries would not come to us because of the economic crisis and transport issues. We have a very big problem, because we depend partly on the money we receive from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and in Lebanon, the problem of money, of financing, is more and more severe.”
“The support of Bioforce is very important for us, to put us on the right track”
“We get great satisfaction from working with Bioforce. Project management is something new for us. Crowdfunding too, of course: there are methods to follow, different steps and that’s very good for us, we need that, especially in the situation we are in in Lebanon today. All this is thanks to the time and effort that Bioforce has given us. Bioforce’s support is very important for us, to get us on the right track and know what to do for our organisation.
I would like to thank Bioforce for this support and I hope that this support will continue so that our NGO can continue its path. Because it is very difficult, especially with the economic crisis we are going through.”
Support Friends in Need
“We did a lot of sessions and meetings to understand project methodology , to follow up the necessary steps etc.”
At Friends in Need, in the centre of Tripoli, Lebanon, classes are held in sign language.
80 children come to the class each year.
“We were very afraid that the beneficiaries would not come to us because of the economic crisis. In Lebanon, the problem of financing is more and more severe.”
Bioforce has been supporting Friends in Need since 2018, initially for a needs assessment.
“Crowdfunding and project management are new to us.”
“The support of Bioforce is very important for us, to put us on the right track”
