Dear supporters and friends of nafda,
At nafda, community isn’t just a word—it’s the foundation of everything we do. It’s what drives us, what keeps us focused on our mission, and what reminds us of our responsibility to be transparent and honest with all our stakeholders.
A Setback We Didn’t Expect
Like many organizations affected by recent U.S. State Department funding cuts, we find ourselves in an unexpected crisis: one of our most promising initiatives, Roots of Change: Leveraging Youth Agency through Agripreneurship (LYAA), has been terminated. Despite ongoing assurances to continue the project after a 3 month launch, we were recently informed that the program will no longer receive the crucial funding it was promised.
However, we remain unwavering in our commitment to the 6 schools and 180 youth who were eager to embark on this 1.5 year journey to design with their communities agricultural social enterprises that drive sustainability, economic opportunity, and environmental awareness. The program goes beyond classroom learning — building partnerships with the private sector, engaging local experts, and equipping students with tangible skills to shape their futures.
This initiative was inspired by the beekeeping project at Rachayya Public School, developed through nafda’s programming, which earned them a spot as a Top 10 School globally in the Environment category. Building on their success, we are committed to supporting more schools this year in unlocking students’ creativity, problem-solving abilities, and environmental leadership.
Hear from the students of Rachayya Public School, who embody civic values and a commitment to environmental stewardship.
A Community Response to a Funding Crisis
We have worked diligently to significantly reduce project costs while ensuring the bare minimum requirements needed for the program’s success. The project budget has been streamlined to $84K, meaning each school’s involvement now requires approximately $14K in funding.
This support will cover critical elements, including: social enterprise development, essential business development training and ongoing support, engagement with corporate partners and additional funding opportunities through two winning projects at the program’s closing.
We are deeply grateful to the Anthony R. Abraham Foundation for its generous commitment of $20k, and we hope that other supporters will be inspired to step in and help secure the remaining 64k in funding to ensure the continuity for the remaining schools that were rigorously selected:
Al-Wadi Al-Azhar High School – Semi-private school in Rachaya, Bekaa.
École des Religieuses de Nazareth – Private school in Zgharta, North Lebanon.
Maroun Abboud Official High School – Public school in Mount Lebanon.
Bahia Hariri Official Girls’ High School – Public school in Wadi Khaled, North Lebanon.
École Al-Carmélia – Semi-private school in Zgharta, North Lebanon.
Makassed Khalid Bin Al-Walid – Semi-Private school in Beirut.
Challenging Times Call for Collective Action
These circumstances highlight the vulnerabilities in our sector and reinforce the urgent need for sustainable, locally driven solutions. While we work toward a future where Lebanon thrives independently of foreign aid, we are immensely grateful to all those who stand with us in this moment of challenge. Your support is critical in helping us close the remaining $64K needed to sustain this initiative for our selected schools, as well as the additional $75K required to meet our fiscal budget—bringing our total goal to $139K.
We thank every supporter who joins us in ensuring that students across Lebanon continue to have the opportunity to learn, innovate, and create meaningful change.
For further discussions, please reach out to [email protected]. To make a donation, kindly find the information below.