Funded by The Asfari Foundation, IDRAAC created a portal to empower the elderly living in Beirut and Mount Lebanon by reintegrating them back into the community at large. 

As IDRAAC’s research has found a strong correlation between lifetime mental disorders and social disability as social disability can increase the lifetime risk of having a mental disorder by 6.4 times, these findings emphasized the importance of social interventions (ie. support groups, volunteer/work/networking opportunities etc.) when targeting the mental health of the elderly.

The project consists of two components:

• The first component aimed to map out the organizations in Beirut and Mount Lebanon who are willing to assist the elderly living in these regions to be active members of the society by offering them volunteering or job opportunities. By screening the businesses in these regions, a database will be created so that it’s readily available for the next phase of the project when a platform for these opportunities is created.
• The second component aimed to increase public awareness about the social rights and the needs of the elderly.

As a result, 50 local and international organizations agreed to be part of the platform once created and an awareness campaign was to created to highlight the importance of reintegrating the elderly back into the society and the effect this has on their mental health.