Lebanon

Youssef Dib, a French GPC member based in Paris and originally from Lebanon, organized a visit to Lebanon for GPC members, with the help of Iara Lee, a GPC member committed to help advance the social agenda in the region, presently based in Lebanon, and Helen Knapp from Synergos' New York office.

The purpose of the trip, held in March 2006, was to:

• Discover this country of major contrasts, which has been a unique model of religious coexistence for centuries, and have a better understanding of local as well as regional issues and challenges
• Have the opportunity to connect with local leaders and philanthropists
• Explore collaborative ways to promote more prosperity and peaceful change, through investigating successful examples of cooperation and dialogue across economic, ethnic and religious divides. Themes explored included education, health, microfinance and the use of the media to promote tolerance.

The trip agenda is online.