In English

The Right to Psychological Well Being for Everyone
Project Mission and Advocacy Work

Background of our work in Lebanon

Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility (FiPSR) assist the National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training (NISCVT) also known as Beit Atfal Assumoud (BAS) in helping Palestinian refugee children and their families as well as poor Lebanese families. BAS and FiPSR have been partners since 1984.

BAS was founded over thirty five years ago in Beirut to care for the children who lost their parents in the massacre at the Palestinian refugee camp of Tel al-Zaatar in 1976. In 1982, the children had to be evacuated from Beirut to Syria to escape the bombings in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps due to the war. At the end of the civil war in Lebanon the children returned. Gradually, BAS expanded and began working in several areas of Lebanon.

After nearly thirty years of cooperation with BAS, we consider the organisation a very reliable partner. With the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland we have assisted BAS to develop the work in the mental health field for more than fifteen years. Currently BAS runs five Family Guidance Centers in Beirut and in Southern and Northern Lebanon. We appreciate the competent, consistent and steadfast humanitarian work of BAS. They are active in ten refugee camps  http://www.socialcare.org/.

Current FiPSR Cooperation Project:
"Mental health Interventions in High Risk Conditions - Family Guidance Center (FGC), Saida"

FiPSR supports the services for children and families in the large camps around the city of Saida in South Lebanon. We financially support the services delivered by the multi-professional team.  A psychiatrist always makes the first assessment. Other members of the team include two psychologists (a psychotherapist and one who performs the assessment), a speech therapist, a psychomotor educator and a social worker. The Director of the center is Ms Ibtissam al Khalill, a senior social worker.

In addition to these services, FiPSR financially supports workshops for parents, adolescents, and the training of social workers, kindergarten teachers and FGC Saida staff.  We organize activities such as the Extreme Survival team  (physical activities and Beirut Marathon), picnics for mothers and Storycrafting.  We help cover costs of cleaning of the center, transports, printing materials, maintenance and some overhead expenses.

Accounting and auditing is carried out in Finland in cooperation with the Financial department of The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training (NISCVT).

The Family Guidance Center project in Saida is kindly supported by Official Development Aid of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. (Proj 85202501, 2011-2013).

Donations from abroad can be made via SWIFT to our account number in IBAN-format:

FI33 8000 1900703 530
with SAMPO Bank plc, Helsinki, Finland
SWIFT Address/ BIC CODE DABAFIHH

When donating, please add the index or reference number to specify your donation: 

Mental Health
Index or reference # is 1656 Mental health interventions in high risk conditions- Family Guidance Center Saida. Donations are used for psychological services.

Sub-projects for mental health promotion:

-Index or reference # is 4996 Extreme Survival Team. BeirutMarathon & physical activities

-Index or reference # is 3230 Schooling of special needs children. Support for families who cannot afford the rehabilitation or special education for their children

-Index or reference # is 8507 Women’s Day Off. Activity which alleviates the pressure of the stressful living conditions of the refugee camps by providing a fun day away from their immediate environment.

Warmest thanks for your interest