Social Welfare Institutions – Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya

The Social Welfare Institutions (SWI) were created in 1917 as a modest orphanage located in Zokak EL Blat (Beirut) and pursued their charity mission and developed since then. Today it can be defined as a non-governmental national charity organisation which offers a whole range of general and specialised social services through 54 centres covering the whole Lebanese territory, to a population of approximately 11,000 persons belonging to the most disadvantaged categories of the society, from abandoned new born babies up to elderly people. These services are provided by a specialised and high qualified staff of almost a thousand employees.
The SWI are funded by individual donations and charities, and are supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs which contributes in part to the cost of services destined to determined social categories.

Main Beneficiaries
The most disadvantaged social categories, including:
- Orphans
- Abandoned children
- School drop-outs
- People with learning difficulties
- People with special physical needs (hard of hearing, visually impaired, disabled) and special psychological needs (fit for schooling and training)
- People with social difficulties
- Vulnerable women
- Working women’s children
- Needy families
- Widows
- Elderly (autonomous)

The Vision
The Social Welfare Institutions (S.W.I.) have succeeded through their history in establishing for themselves a solid reputation in Lebanon and the region. Starting as an orphanage, they have evolved into a national charity group with common perspectives covering a whole range of specialties in harmony with their environment and complying with humanitarian and social principles. The vision of the S.W.I. has developed into a permanent commitment to the improvement of the community and the happiness of its citizens.

The Mission
To address the community needs and to promote the development of the society by:
- Implementing humanitarian actions and providing programs with a view to serve the community
- Providing help to the disadvantaged in order to allow them to answer to their own needs within their families and social environment
- Solving problems of orphans and finding foster families and benefactors
- Providing appropriate care to the orphans, the needy, the homeless, all people in need of specific help (but still able to be schooled and trained) and women in difficult situations, in order to foster their own abilities
- Protecting old people’s dignity and fostering their experience acknowledgement with a view to benefit the society
- Promoting moral principles and national values within young people