About Us

Sourire de Reda, founded in 2009, aims to help young people in distress and to prevent suicide among this community. The activity of Sourire de Reda revolves around the following three axes. The awareness axis: Sourire de Reda has institutionalized the day of February 5th, as National Suicide Prevention Day. The prevention axis: In the field of prevention, Sourire de Reda has been organizing interactive workshops for a decade. These workshops are intended for middle school and high school students, but also for their teachers, the administration, and the parents. Their purpose is to demystify issues related to harassment and cyberbullying and more generally to the suffering of young people and to provide resources and courses of action. The intervention axis: Since 2011, Sourire de Reda has been running an emotional helpline, Stop Silence, in French, Arabic, and English. Stop Silence is an anonymous, confidential, and free chat-based hotline, accessible from a website and/or a mobile application.

Himaya is a Lebanese NGO created in 2009, dedicated to making child protection an inviolable right for all children across Lebanon, regardless of nationality, gender, or religion. In Lebanon, 1 in 7 children is a victim of sexual abuse, a heartbreaking and unacceptably high number. Himaya's mission is to fight child abuse in every way possible and to protect every child’s right to a happy, healthy childhood. Himaya aims to break the silence that surrounds this taboo subject and offers children a safe space, protection, support, and ultimately the life skills they need to defend themselves against all types of abuse. Himaya also supports survivors of abuse and gives them the psychosocial support they need to overcome their experiences. In order to be as effective as possible, Himaya works with children, their families, teachers, schools, governmental organizations, etc.

The founding mission of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do, providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards, and advocating related education reforms to integrate National Board Certification in American education and to capitalize on the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers. Recognized as the “gold standard” in teacher certification, the National Board believes higher standards for teachers mean better learning for students.