A young female achiever from Lebanon contributes to the development of UNESCO’s Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025)
Putting her vision and belief into practice, Dana decided, after her graduation, to put her knowledge in biochemistry at the service of youth. After completing more than 1000 hours of volunteering within a period of two years, and after attending several trainings on sustainable development and entrepreneurship offered by international organizations (UNIDO, UNICEF, British Council), she came up with an innovative project to improve the welfare of her community, in particular the welfare of youth in Lebanon : creating an online platform that boosts youth’ s productivity and improves their welfare, despite the many setbacks and obstacles they face in their daily life, from unemployment, to limited engagement in the policymaking process. This is where her encounter with UNESCO acted as an accelerator of her career: following a “Training of Trainers on Youth Entrepreneurship”, she acquired key technical skills that allowed her to launch her start-up.
Called “Live Love Minds”, the online platform she launched in 2017 aims at raising awareness on youth’s health, and promoting healthy practices for youth to improve their well-being while at the same time boosting their productivity. It connects neuroscientists, psychologists, specialists in biochemistry, as well as youth, who share their expertise, research and trusted information on how to improve youth’s well-being through sciences. “In the Arab region, because of the different problems and issues encountered in daily life, youth become less productive because they tend to feel depressed and socially distressed”, Dana says. “Yet, latest research in biochemistry shows that being productive in the professional/academic life has nothing to do with the environment. Having limited productivity is first and foremost linked to hormones, blood circulation, and gland activity”.
Because of her engagement for youth causes and her creative mind, UNESCO Beirut Office nominated Dana to participate in UNESCO’s Expert Meeting on the UNESCO Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy, held in Hamburg, Germany, on 28-29 May 2019. Dana was one of three young delegates from the Arab region, and the youngest participant at the meeting. Her feedback and suggestions on the draft review, as well as her recommendations on UNESCO’s priority areas in the field of youth and adult literacy, received high attention. Shortly after the meeting ended, she received a letter from UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning informing her that her remarks and suggestions will be incorporated in the next version of the strategy, to be submitted to the 2017th Session of UNESCO’s Executive Board in October 2019. “In my various interventions at the meeting, I suggested that the Strategy devotes a special attention to reforming the education system, especially across the Arab region, to introduce in curricula knowledge about key scientific facts related to health. Youth should know how their body works to be able to feel well. They should connect to their body. When you are connected to your body, when you are mindful or your body, you develop a positive and healthy mindset”.
At this conference, Dana acquired first-hand experience of the work of international organizations, and UNESCO in particular. “The fact that I was invited to contribute to this meeting, and that my comments and suggestions were truly taken into consideration, is a proof that UNESCO’s Strategy is drafted in a way as to really respond to the needs of the key beneficiaries and stakeholders: the youth”.
Building on her experience, Dana says to her peers: “No matter what our dream is, what really counts is not the dream. What counts is what we do to make it come true. The key to achieving one’s dream is to learn from the success and failures of others, to be happy for others’ achievements, and to set the right action plan while keeping ourselves ready to change it and adapt it as circumstances evolve”.
