Lebanon’s green thumb: ILO trains workers from rural communities in landscaping activities across local agricultural schools

ABDEH, Akkar Lebanon – A total of 140 trainees joined the ILO’s landscaping and garden maintenance course run across agricultural schools in Lebanon this year.

Lebanese Amana Ghoumrawi and Syrian Mona Ibrahim Hussein were among the participants who joined the course in Lebanon’s northern town of Abdeh.

“I was sitting with my girlfriends who told me: ‘You have to join this course, it looks like it’s made for you,’” Ghoumrawi said. “They were right. The information I have received provides a person who’s passionate about nature like me with the skills needed to open their own activity, and the know-how to run it successfully. This is something crucial amid the current crisis Lebanon is facing.”

Mona Ibrahim Hussein also took part in the training. She was motivated by her passion for nature and the will to find a job matching her skills.

“I joined this course as something I really love. I come from a village in Syria, and although I already knew a bit about agriculture, I did not know about flowers, seedlings nor landscaping,” she said. “Following the training, we will receive a certificate. With this certificate I feel I can get a job for which I have experience.”