From Potential to Power: WSC Empowers Youth for a Brighter Future

The Water Sanitation and Conservation (WSC) project is a USAID-funded activity which aims to enhance conservation and protection of Lebanon’s water resources. Lebanon faces many water management challenges aggravated since 2019 through unprecedented political, banking, and socio-economic crisis that crippled Lebanon’s water establishments' ability to sustainably operate an effective water management system and to engage with the public on water provision and conservation needs.
To ensure flexible responses while still responding to the key development objectives of the project, WSC used a deliberate CLA process to reshape its support in promoting sustainable and responsible water management practices. Evidence from a Civil Society Organization (CSO) needs assessment and a women and youth-targeted assessment conducted at project inception showed that Lebanese communities and civil society groups lacked expertise in the water sector especially among the local youth and women, two of the most under-represented groups in society. To respond to these identified needs, WSC decided to design and adapt its grants program by customizing and awarding grants to educational institutions to implement a CSO development program to build their capacities in water related topics. WSC also developed an extensive youth and women engagement program through working with primary and secondary schools, universities, and youth groups to promote a culture of responsible water consumption. Since then, WSC has engaged 14 civil society actors and results are already blossoming with more than 50 establishments engaging nearly 20,000 youth and women. In addition, over 2,000 students benefited from the school-based program comprising hands-on training mixed with classroom learning opportunities on water issues. WSC recently signed a grant with the “Scouts of Lebanon”, a youth group, where roughly 10,000 youth members from ages 8 to 18 will participate in 55 small-scale community-based water management and protection activities.