Phone
+961 3 319 815
The Social Advancement Association ‘SAA’ is a non-profit and non-governmental Lebanese organization, based in Beirut and tackling the most vulnerable groups. Its official registration No. is 653/AD. Being a social welfare and charity association for more than 50 years, the main aim of SAA is reducing the poverty in the local community, through empowerment and participation. It has always been renowned for being highly effective in times of crisis.
Low-income families (and individuals) mainly accumulating vulnerabilities such as poverty, illness and illiteracy, benefit from the SAA programs, and due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, aid needs are increasingly growing. Women are particularly the main target in the SAA intervention, as well as children, especially dropouts.
The SAA is working for women and run by women. In fact, the majority of members (105 volunteers and employees) are women. All of them are highly qualified, competent, experienced, and dedicated to intervening with the families.
They are strongly committed and determined to empower and raise awareness on the intersectional issues of poverty, gender, and development.
Evidence from crisis over history indicates that women and children are the principal bearers of the burden of humanitarian disasters.
Women find themselves suddenly in charge of their household. Limited literacy, skills, and access to job information impede decent employment. However, the small percentage of women who work, face low-wage, unstable, abusive jobs with minimal benefits and higher risks of harassment.
These arduous circumstances force children to drop out of school and find employment in order to supplement the low income of their working mother.
After deep analysis of the problem and its implications for the lives of women-headed households and working children, both in the short and in the long term, SAA has initiated a work plan with the objective of contributing to:
⇒ Developing the low-income local communities by empowering women.
⇒ Limiting children’s work by ensuring that needy children have access to education and offering them all necessary support to guarantee their success as well.