This Friday, October 18th, our colleague from the Projects team in Valencia, Irene Aparicio, participated in the opening of the exhibition ‘Voices and stories of Palestinian refugees in the Bourj Al Barajneh and Nahr Al Bared camps, Lebanon’. This exhibition can be visited from October 18 to 31 at the Higher Technical School of Aerospace Engineering and Industrial Design (ETSIADI) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
The event, organized by AIDA, began with a round table discussion on the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, in which Irene Aparicio participated alongside Javier Gila, president of AIDA, Rodrigo Hernández, representative of Save the Children and special Lebanese guests.
In order to explore the challenges facing the country, Irene Aparicio has intervened by offering some data on the current situation faced by Palestinian refugees, aggravated by the impact of the conflict that has been intensifying in recent weeks.
Between 2023 and 2024, Lebanon is the country with the highest number of refugees. With 5.2 million inhabitants, it is estimated that between 20 and 25% are refugees, Irene explained.
This reality, exacerbated by the current war, plunges these people into a situation of extreme vulnerability from which they must face challenges related to their legal status, housing, employment, access to services, psychosocial problems, and much more.
Our work in Lebanon
In this context, Irene also presented our experience in the region through the development of development cooperation and humanitarian aid projects with which we try to support the most vulnerable population in the country and, specifically, these refugees, with the aim of helping them develop their own means of livelihood to get ahead and try to improve their conditions and those of their families
Specifically, she recalled, “Foundation Promotion Social began its work in the Middle East in 1992, with a cooperation project in Lebanon, aimed at strengthening the economic activity of farmers in the northern region of the country.” In this regard, Irene underlines the Foundation’s priority to work in sectors of activity of singular importance for human development such as education, care for people with disabilities or job creation.
In addition to mentioning the READI Network and the Think Tank of the Centre for Arab Studies (CEMO), both created by The Foundation, Irene explained some of the projects that we currently have underway in the region, such as the convenio that we are implementing in consortium with AIDA, thanks to funding from AECID and the local partner ADR, to promote the economic strengthening and social stability of vulnerable and displaced local communities in southern Lebanon.