Author Archives: cosv

Let’s Comics! A comic competition on multicultural societies

The project realized a series of workshops on comics with the participation of youth from different sectors of Euro Mediterranean region. Through the participation of young participants, expression of various sectors of the Lebanese society, plus the intervention of students coming from other parts of the EuroMed area, teh project established a set a fruitful dialogue, enriched also with a web-network create during the project. A specific competition has been realized involving EuroMed youth already skilled in comics. Six winners (from italy, Netherlands, Jordan, Macedonia and Morocco) have been invited in Lebanon to meet Lebanese comics writers of the same age who participated to a similar competiotion and also 30 youth aged 18-25 who attended workshops where comics have been used to glue together different stories and backgrounds. All the youth gathered in the end in a big final event in Chatila, in Beirut, where culutre and comics became a bridge between social and cultural aspects that often have troubles in a daily co-existence.

Three Lebanese participants have been then invited to attend Lucca Comics and Games exhibition in Italy, where thanks to the project a link with the Lebanese comics production has been created and Lebanon has been the host Country during the whole initatives with a specific exhibition displayed during the full length of the festival. This has been a further opportunity for young artists to meet a specific market caring of quality and innovation.

Lebanese Comics Festival – A cultural EuroMed window for young comics artists

Continuing the process begun in 2010 for the promotion of intercultural dialogue through comics, this project will strengthen the intercultural exchange among young comics artists of the Euro-Mediterranean region through the organization of the 2012 Lebanese Comics Festival. Comics, so popular among young people, is a direct and effective tool to express and share cultural values amongst people of different backgrounds: it is dynamic and immediate, and even those who approach comics for the first time can see its expressive potential to convey feelings, emotions and ideas.

In different cities of Lebanon, we organized comics workshops open to young artists under 30, to improve their skills and prepare them to attend Beirut Comics Festival.

A competition for young comics artists was launched, to award a special place for winners at the Festival: an important opportunity for young Lebanese artists to show their work to a wider international audience, including professionals.

International stakeholders attended the Festival, allowing the establishment and strengthening of euro-Mediterranean connections, and ensuring the sustainability of the project.

The CleanEnerTech projetc – towards clean energy technologies and innovative environmental solutions in Lebanon

The electricity sector in Lebanon is in the middle of a deep crisis, it is still not able to provide the minimum necessary electricity for homes, offices and industries. Since 1990, after the end of the Lebanese civil war, the production of electricity began to soar and energy needs are met mainly (87%) importing petroleum products. Despite the improvements in distribution networks, the system suffers from severe imbalances due to requests from the center of Beirut – and in the poorest and peripheral areas blackouts are very common. If in the capital city energy coverage is 21 hours a day, out of the city it falls between 12 and 18 hours a day. The enormous funding that the sector requires entails sacrifices in education, infrastructure and health; and it compromises the macroeconomic stability of the country.

In the region of Baalbek, we are implementing a pilot project for the promotion of renewable energy through the construction of a biogas plant and the restoration of a historic building with energy saving technologies. The development of renewable energy resources in Lebanon may allow a diversification of resources: increasing domestic production and reducing external dependence paves the way for a major socio-economic growth of the country. Increased availability of energy services helps to improve education and health care in many rural areas. The introduction of renewable energy technologies will also open new employment opportunities for energy production, distribution, operation and maintenance.

The CleanEnerTech project comprises 4 components: BIOGAS: a digester biogas, built and connected to a waste disposal site in the city of Baalbek, for the production of the electrical energy required to maintain the entire system; ECO-BUILDING: demonstrative prototype of an eco-construction, built on the renovation of an old “menagerie” in Baalbek; LAW: support of energy policies integrated into national planning cycle; AWARENESS: awareness campaigns on issues such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and the Bio-building to involve the population on the importance of renewable resources.