forumZFD in Lebanon
Based in Beirut and operating all over Lebanon, our 16 staff members work together with local partners in supporting and strengthening conflict transformation through four main areas of engagement: Dealing with the Past, Peace Education, Community Mobilising and Non-Violent Communication.
Our theories of change
We advocate for non-violent conflict transformation on an individual and institutional level by strengthening networks of dealing with conflicts in a constructive, sensitive and responsible way, encourage individuals and communities within the Lebanese society to reflect on how to deal with the past, and support local partners through training, peace and conflict trainings and mentoring to enhance processes towards a culture of dialogue, inclusion and social cohesion which will contribute to reducing tensions and conflict in Lebanon.
Partner Organisations
All our projects are developed jointly and co-implemented with local partners. At the moment we support our partners the following partners by training and mentoring their local project staff:
Find out more about our current and previous partners in Lebanon here.
How we got here?
It was in response to the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s that peace and human rights groups developed the idea of a Civil Peace Service. They wanted to challenge wars and military action by offering a peaceful alternative. In February 1996, they founded Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e. V. (forumZFD). As the “advocate of the idea”, forumZFD campaigned from then on for the introduction of a Civil Peace Service. Nowadays, we are currently working with more than 150 colleagues in 13 countries worldwide to transform conflicts peacefully.
In 2009, the escalation of political tensions and sectarian division in Lebanon evidenced the need for support of civil society organizations in Lebanon to work on conflict transformation was evident. forumZFD together with GIZ-CPS started a joint CPS program funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with 7 staff from Germany and their colleagues from Lebanon. The support of the CPS work was increased in 2014 due to the new challenges caused by the escalation of the violence in neighboring Syria. GIZ-CPS and forumZFD work independently within a joint country strategy.
