The joint project between the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOE), the Educational Center for Research and Development (ECRD), the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and UNFPA was activated directly after its signature in 2004. An executive committee, formed especially for that purpose, is currently managing the project that aims at integrating population concerns into the school curricula and extra-curricular activities .

The first set of activities is currently being carried out and expected to be completed towards the end of 2005. These activities consist of a series of studies that aim at assessing the needs for the integration of population issues, including reproductive and sexual health information for adolescents, through various activities at curricular and extra-curricular levels. The results of these studies will be used as evidence based in the advocacy activities, sensitization meetings and orientation workshops for incorporating priority concepts and issues in sexual and reproductive health and gender in the curricular and extra curricular programmes.

The studies that are currently being implemented are the following:

• Reviewing and assessing all past experience and projects related to Population Education and implemented by various entities.
• Content analysis of school textbooks to assess the scope and amount of Population, Gender and Reproductive Health concepts.
• Qualitative and quantitative studies to assess the needs and attitudes of intermediate and secondary school teachers’ vis-à-vis Gender and Reproductive Health issues.
• Opinion survey among parents on Sexual and Reproductive Health issues and gender .

In parallel, a common intervention between the UNFPA-supported project LEB/02/P02: Information, Education and Communication (IEC) in support of RH at community level implemented by the Ministry of Social Affairs on one hand and the ECRD project, on the other hand, is being carried out. The intervention aims at assessing the suitability to use, at the school setting, the educational and awareness materials developed by the IEC project and currently used in the community level. The intervention also aims at identifying the type of technical support needed from the IEC project to institutionalize awareness interventions on Sexual and Reproductive Health in schools. To do so, a workshop was organized in June 2005 by both the IEC project (MOSA) and the Population Education project (ECRD) consisting of a pilot number of schools from different Lebanese regions who were exposed to the resources produced by the IEC project. These resource materials consist of an animated cartoon movie “Ashabi wa ana” and its related storybook, and the theatre play “ Hiwar”. Various concerned groups took part in the workshop, such as school principals, representatives from parents associations and school counselors to share their ideas on the materials and to suggest suitable approaches for addressing SRH issues in such educational settings.