Youth Change Lab was created in response to the widening gap between formal education and the real skills young people need to thrive, lead, and create positive change in fragile and underserved communities. In Baddawi and across North Lebanon, youth face compounded challenges including limited access to quality education, digital tools, safe spaces, and meaningful opportunities for civic participation. While young people hold enormous potential, many remain excluded from decision-making processes and lack platforms to express their ideas, develop leadership, and contribute to their communities.
Ribat Association created Youth Change Lab to bridge this gap by transforming education into a pathway for leadership, wellbeing, and social action. The innovation was designed to respond directly to youth aspirations for learning that is practical, engaging, and connected to real life. By operating from the Baddawi Cultural Center—equipped with training rooms, a media studio, and a computer lab—Youth Change Lab creates a holistic learning environment where youth can build digital, life, and leadership skills while addressing real community challenges.
Ultimately, Youth Change Lab was created to shift youth from passive recipients of education into confident changemakers who shape their future and contribute actively to the development of their communities.
In practice, Youth Change Lab operates as a dynamic, youth-led learning ecosystem based at the Baddawi Cultural Center. Youth participate in structured after-school programs that combine life skills, digital skills, leadership development, wellbeing, and civic engagement through project-based and real-world learning.
Each week, participants rotate between three core spaces:
• Training rooms for interactive sessions on leadership, communication, critical thinking, wellbeing, and community problem-solving.
• A fully equipped media studio where youth create digital content, short films, photography projects, and advocacy campaigns that amplify their voices and address local issues.
• A computer lab where they develop digital literacy, research skills, basic coding, design, and online collaboration.
Learning is hands-on and youth-centered. Participants work in teams to identify real challenges in their community—such as education access, mental wellbeing, environment, or social cohesion—and then design and implement practical solutions, from awareness campaigns to community initiatives.
Games, digital tools, and collaborative projects are used to keep learning engaging and inclusive. Youth are mentored by trained facilitators and gradually take leadership roles as peer trainers and project leaders.
In practice, Youth Change Lab turns the cultural center into a living laboratory where learning, creativity, wellbeing, and social action happen together—transforming youth from le
Youth Change Lab has been spreading organically through youth networks, schools, community groups, and local partnerships in Baddawi and across North Lebanon. As youth participants share their experiences with peers, families, and schools, demand to join the program continues to grow through word-of-mouth, social media, and community referrals.
Teachers, parents, and local organizations increasingly request to collaborate with Youth Change Lab after witnessing the positive changes in youth confidence, leadership, digital skills, and community engagement. Youth-produced media content, photography, and digital campaigns have further amplified visibility by showcasing youth voices and community impact online.
In addition, Ribat Association leverages its long-standing partnerships with municipalities, schools, youth groups, and civil society networks to expand outreach and replicate activities in new community spaces. The model’s flexible design allows it to be easily adapted to other communities using existing cultural centers, schools, and youth hubs.
Youth Change Lab is spreading not only through physical expansion, but through a growing culture of youth-led action, where trained participants become peer leaders and inspire new youth groups to engage, create, and lead change.
Youth Change Lab has continuously evolved through feedback from youth participants, facilitators, schools, and community partners. What began as a leadership and civic engagement initiative has expanded into a multi-dimensional learning model that integrates digital media, wellbeing, and employability-oriented skills alongside social action.
Based on early learning cycles, Ribat Association added a fully equipped media studio to enable youth to use storytelling, photography, and short films as tools for advocacy and self-expression. A computer lab was also established to strengthen digital literacy, research, design, and online collaboration skills—responding directly to youth demands for future-ready competencies.
The innovation has also been adapted to include mental wellbeing and psychosocial support elements, recognizing the emotional stress faced by youth in fragile contexts. More participatory learning methods were introduced, including peer-to-peer training, youth-led workshops, and community challenge labs, allowing participants to co-design projects rather than only receive training.
Additionally, the program structure became more flexible, enabling implementation in short cycles, after-school formats, and community-based modules that can be replicated in different locations. These continuous modifications ensure that Youth Change Lab remains youth-centered, adaptive, and aligned with emerging community needs.
Anyone interested in trying Youth Change Lab can start by reaching out to Ribat Association to express interest as a youth participant, educator, school, or community partner. Participants can join through open youth registrations announced via community networks, schools, and social media, or through direct referral from partner organizations.
For organizations or schools wishing to replicate the model, Ribat provides an onboarding process that includes an orientation session, implementation guidelines, facilitator training, and access to adaptable learning modules. The model is designed to work within existing spaces such as cultural centers, schools, and youth hubs.
Interested partners can contact Ribat to co-design a pilot cycle based on local needs, available space, and target age group. Youth Change Lab is flexible and can be implemented as an after-school program, short innovation bootcamp, or ongoing youth leadership hub.
