Lebanon Development Union

It all started with an email I received from a friend in which she wrote: “the moment I saw this award announcement I thought of the Youth and Culture Center (YCC) and your wonderful city of Zouk Mikael. I have a feeling you can win the award, I strongly encourage you to apply”.

I have to confess that I was a bit skeptical at the beginning: Can we compete? Was it worth the effort, the time and the emotional commitment? What made our experience so exclusive, so deserving of an international award? And why would the judges choose us while our initiative was not unheard of globally? And then it hit me! It was not the idea; it’s the experience, it’s the “parcours” that matter, and the Lebanese context that makes YCC a successful example of a pioneering initiative in urban human development from the Global South.

And so, under…