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Hariri’s Legacy of Leadership
Under the slogan of “Educate, Empower, Engage,” the Hariri Foundation launched Friday an academy from the very place where late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri received his primary school education.
The Outreach and Leadership Academy, established in partnership with the Lebanese American University, will organize various workshops on subjects such as engagement in civil society and the importance of emotional intelligence. Joint programs between the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development and LAU Network are also in the works.
OLA will train both teachers and students on the newest theories in different fields such as economy, finance, diplomacy, human rights, environmental science, health and public affairs.
The launch ceremony took place at OLA’s headquarters, situated in an Ottoman-era house in Sidon’s old downtown, and brought the city’s rival politicians together. Aside from MP Bahia Hariri, the late prime minister’s sister, and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, former MP Osama Saad was also present.
Giving a speech to the attendees, Hariri revealed that the building where OLA is now housed has a special place in the nation’s history.
“This is where the first days of Rafik Hariri were, here is where he learned the alphabet [and] here is where he learned honesty and regularity before the academy closed its doors six decades ago,” she said. The project, she said, was made possible by Hariri’s son, Bahaa Rafik Hariri, “who wanted to rehabilitate the first school from which his father, martyr Rafik Hariri, took off.”
The opening ceremony was attended by Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli and a host of other officials. “We are happy to see attendees from all the categories of society,” LAU’s president Dr. Joseph Jabra said.
“This is being done to build a new society, which is very important not only for Sidon but for the whole society, because change come from the youth’s thoughts and capacities.”
Hariri and Jabra signed a cooperation agreement between the HFSHD and LAU.
The agreement is “about enhancing citizenships through social development,” said LAU’s Assistant Vice President for Outreach and Civic Engagement Elie Samia.
“The academy brings together all the different people and movements in order to establish the culture of civil integration and social awareness, as well as to hone leadership skills,” he said.
Samia highlighted the institute’s emphasis on both leadership and civic engagement.
“We have an important strategy at the academy which is teaching young students how to become leaders and including this in our educational curricula,” he said. “We are a tool of communication.”
Sidon’s Mayor Mohammad Saudi spoke at the end, thanking Hariri and Jabra for their help and care while stressing the basic importance of the academy. “Through these sessions the students’ leadership talents get discovered,” he said. “Talents exist, they just need a place to grow and get refined.”
Aside from being the site of Rafik Hariri’s earliest scholarship, the academy’s building has a long history. The building which now has 14 rooms, one main office and a backyard, is located at the entrance of al-Shakiriya street in Sidon. It was built by Ali Hammoud in the early 1730s. It was used at first as a residence for the Hammoud family, then as a school in the second half of the 19th century. In 1997, the al-Makassed al-Islamiyya organization and the HFSHD signed an agreement that gave the foundation permission to rehabilitate the building.
Other notable attendees at the ceremony included former Minister Raymond Audi, the Muftis of Sidon and Tyre, Sidon’s Greek Catholic Bishop Elie Haddad and Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya’s political representative in south Lebanon Bassam Hammoud.
Delegations representing ministers, deputies and other political, religious and business officials were also present.
Source: www.dailystar.com.lb