himaya, the Lebanese non-governmental organization (NGO) working on child protection and enhancing the well being of childhood in Lebanon, celebrated its eighth anniversary.
An event was held at Arnaoun Village in the presence of its multidisciplinary team that includes 155 social workers, psychologists, facilitators, trainers and other professionals spread throughout its seven different centers across Lebanon (Baalbeck, Zahle, Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Saida, Akkar and Zgharta).The outing served as a celebration of the milestone, as well as an opportunity to exchange know-how based on 8 years of on-ground expertise and learnings.
Despite the achievements realized, be it from himaya, volunteers and other NGO's, the road ahead is still a long one. The latest statistics from cases reported to himaya show that child abuse is still on the rise, growing from 711 cases detected in 2014 to 1,278 in 2015 and 1,742 in 2016.
Ms. Viviane Debbas,Founder and President of himaya, stated: "l am proud to be part of this very active and positive team that has been dedicated to preventing child abuse, detecting cases and treating them for the past 8 years."
himaya is one of the leading associations that believes that child protection from any type of abuse is mandatory and to establish a solid national protection network, there are still a lot to be done.
