In response to the growing needs of displaced communities, UNESCO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture Lebanon, the Norway Embassy in Lebanon, and Lebanese Board on Books for Young People, has piloted an initiative in schools repurposed as collective shelters across Lebanon. The project aims to support children affected by crisis by promoting reading as both a learning tool and a source of comfort.
The first phase of the initiative reached more than 250 children in Beirut. Through storytelling sessions and shared reading activities, children were introduced to reading kits designed to encourage engagement, imagination, and routine in unstable environments. These activities were complemented by mental health and psychosocial support components, helping children express themselves, process emotions, and reconnect with a sense of normalcy.