Celebration For Lebanese-Palestinian Soccer Tournament For Solidarity

April 8, 2014|Beirut: ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid) is pleased to announce the closing ceremony of the Lebanese-Palestinian soccer Tournament for Solidarity. The ceremony will take place in Bebnine Municipality Hall (Akkar district) on Sunday April 13 at 5 p.m. Trophies will be awarded to the winning teams. Speakers at the event include the mayor of Bebnine, the representative ofpopular committee of Nahr El Bared, and ANERA Lebanon Country Director.
The three-week-long tournament brought together 32 sport clubs in an effort to empower youth and promote social cohesion in North Lebanon. Teams participating in the event included Lebanese teams from Akkar district and Palestinian teams from Nahr El Bared Camp, which included refugees from Syria.
With funding from Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), ANERA organized the tournament in cooperation with its community-based partner the National Institute for Social Care and Vocation Training (NISCVT) and 15 municipalities of Akkar.
The closing ceremony on Sunday comes after the final match at Al-Irshad field in Bebnine, which takes place Friday 11 April at 9:00 p.m. The final celebration Sunday underlines the new horizons of cooperation between Lebanese and Palestinian communities in North Lebanon, especially newly arrived refugees from the Syrian conflict.
Sports in an integral part of ANERA’s holistic non-formal education program to provide youth with essential life-skills and build peace between communities. In light of growing political, economical and security tensions in Akkar region, ANERA strongly encourages this initiative, where community-based actors and local government are creating an enabling environment for youth, and building bridges between refugees and host communities.

About ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid)
For more than 45 years, ANERA has been a leading provider of development, health, education, and employment programs to Palestinian communities and impoverished families throughout the Middle East. ANERA reaches the region's most vulnerable people with health, education and economic development programs and provides humanitarian and emergency relief in times of crisis. In FY 2013, the relief and development agency delivered $63 million in programs to the people of the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Jordan. For further information see www.anera.org
About ROTA (Reach Out to Asia)
ROTA is a non-profit organization launched in December 2005 in Doha, Qatar, by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Operating under the auspices of the Qatar Foundation, ROTA is committed to providing high quality and relevant primary and secondary education, encouraging relationships among communities, creating safe learning environments and restoring education in crisis affected areas across Asia and around the world. For further information see www.reachouttoasia.org
About NISCVT (National Institute of Social Care and Vocational Training)
The National Institute of Social Care and Vocational Training, also known as Beit Atfal Assummoud, is a Lebanese non-government organization that provides health and social services for residents of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. For further information see http://www.socialcare.org/
ContactLouise Le Marié - Communications Officer, ANERA Lebanon
Tel.: +961 (0)1 382 590 ext.107
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ANERALebanon